http://www.ft.com/cms/s/09d0e1c8-1f60-11dc-ac86-000b5df10621.htmlBush aides quit amid little sense of purpose
By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward
Published: June 21 2007 02:17 | Last updated: June 21 2007 02:17
When asked whether he was quitting the Bush administration because it would be good for his political future, Rob Portman, the outgoing budget director, replied: “It would be good for my mental health.” Although Mr Portman was joking, a growing list of officials have already acted on that impulse.
At least 20 senior aides have left important posts in the White House, Pentagon or State Department over the past six months, as chaos has deepened in Iraq. “There’s a real sense of fatigue and very little sense of purpose,” said a senior official, who asked not to be named. “My guess is you’re going to see a lot more departures.”
Mr Portman, who had been Mr Bush’s budget director for little more than a year, could hardly have quit at a less convenient time for the administration. His resignation was particularly symbolic because he had taken the job as part of last year’s White House shake-up designed to breathe fresh life into Mr Bush’s second-term policy agenda.
As the Bush official with the most experience on Capitol Hill – having served six terms as a lawmaker in the 1990s – Mr Portman’s role has been critical to what little chances there are for the White House to push through its remaining domestic priorities.
These include the foundering bipartisan immigration bill for which Mr Portman has been lobbying sceptical Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill. It also includes this year’s $933bn (€695bn, £468bn) discretionary budget, which Mr Bush says is excessively spendthrift and portions of which he has threatened to veto.
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