corrente

"Will the nominee please raise their right arm?"

A steady stream of high-level officials are headed for the exits as President Bush prepares for his second four-year term, and the administration is grabbing the opportunity to exert greater influence over agencies that often act independently - too independently, some say - of White House control.

In selecting replacements, the president appears to be taking a course that differs in a subtle way from the manner in which he chose his first Cabinet. In 2001, he displayed a willingness to tab potential public servants - like Powell and Rumsfeld - even if he had no personal ties to them.

This go-round, to a large extent, Bush is nominating people who are close to him and, hence, establishing "there is only one boss in this administration," according to Richard Skinner, a government instructor at Bowdoin College.
(via Scripps-Howard)

Blest be the ties that bind...