Man Date News: Bush Crafting Cabinet Out of His Inner Circle

WASHINGTON — Despite promises to reach out to adversaries in the wake of his election victory, President Bush is assembling a second-term Cabinet that so far seems to reflect the dictum: Only longtime loyalists need apply.

The personnel changes he has announced would install some of his closest confidants from the White House, and even from his years as Texas governor, atop key Cabinet departments.

That is a clear signal that Bush will continue — and perhaps intensify — a leadership style that emphasizes personal loyalty, secrecy and reliance on advisors with whom he has longtime personal bonds.

Republicans close to the White House say that reflects the president's determination to act aggressively on his second-term priorities and to reinforce the storied discipline of a White House where internal disputes have been kept largely from public view. His appointments also could consolidate the president's power, solidify his conservative agenda and reduce the possibility that Cabinet agencies might undercut administration policy during his second term.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20041118/ts_latimes/bushcraftingcabinetoutofhisinnercircle

When the first 4 yrs of power started, with all those Poppy people being revived from their vampire crypts, it meant that there will be no 3rd act of a continuing Shrub legacy.

Now, as Pat BUCHANAN said, STAFFERS, who are MERE staffers without a body of accomplishment on their own, are being promoted into their bosses' clodhoppers.

It ain't a picture of long range accomplishment.

Even the first group----Thompson, Ridge, Paige, Venneman, Abrahams, Evans, and the rest are a bunch of nonentities. As OLBERMANN said, "What does the Commerce Secretary *DO*? A clue is that Secretary EVANS had the *TIME* to be HERE on this show on Election Eve, meaning he had some time on his hands..."

Actually, all those nonentities bring up the question as to whether those Departments are actually that necessary.

the cabinet positions are, for the most part, window dressing and political largesse/rewards. the real work of these depts is done by career professionals.

of course, we're going to see a purge of the depts too, and probably these pros will be replaced by heritage foundation flunkies and recent Bob Jones U graduates.

Bush is acting like a Sultan, closeting himself in the Porte and listening only to the whispers of his closest Eunuchs.