As Bush term winds down, his Texas team gets graded

01/09/2009


0/10 for them all, imo. epic fail @ proper democracy. WASHINGTON — History generally has been unkind to the home-state advisers brought to Washington by recent presidents — and George W. Bush is no different. Jimmy Carter's "Georgia Mafia" was blamed for alienating Congress and embarrassing him. The advisers Ronald Reagan imported from California were frequent lightning rods for controversy. And Bill Clinton's Arkansas crew is remembered more for the suicide of Vince Foster than the outstanding performance of FEMA Director James Lee Witt. "There is a danger in putting people from your home state to work" in the White House, said Susan MacManus, a political scientist from the University of South Florida. Generally, home-state aides are "a mixed bag," MacManus said. But she cautioned that "the ones who get the most attention" are those who embarrass the boss. That's the case with the top Texans who came to Washington with Bush in 2001. Six served in his Cabinet over his eight years in office, and another 12 held high-level jobs. Most of the headlines focused on the controversial Texans, including political guru Karl Rove, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers, the low-key White House counsel who was thrust into the high-stakes political maelstrom of a Supreme Court nomination. "A presidential administration is a group project," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. "When a group project fails, it is difficult for any member of the team to be graded favorably. Nonetheless, some of the Texas posse get higher grades than others." How did the Bush Texans fare on the Potomac? Here are assessments of the job performances of 10 of the most prominent members of the president's home-state team: Karl Rove Bush once dubbed his top political adviser "Turd Blossom" for Rove's ability to turn the stinkiest political situation into a winner. Rove was anointed a political genius for his advice in the 2000 campaign. But when Bush's approval ratings went south and Republicans were routed in two elections, Rove went from brilliant to bone-headed. He can't escape also being cast as the man who politicized the war against terrorism, played a role in the "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and sowed the toxic seeds of his party's bitter political harvest. "The book on Rove will likely be: good at elections, not so good at politics, not so good at governance," said SMU's Jillson. Political future: Rove is more likely to remain a TV pundit and newspaper columnist than run another White House race. But could he give advice in a Texas contest? Perhaps Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's 2010 gubernatorial bid? We'll have to wait and see. Karen Hughes The president's political fortunes started to decline the moment his longtime confidante left her White House counselor's job to return to Austin in 2003. Coincidence? Perhaps, but Hughes gets credit from some Bush insiders for being a counterbalance to the scorched-earth politics of Rove and Dick Cheney. She was particularly good at understanding how average Americans — particularly mothers — would react to policy proposals. Her return to Washington as the State Department's director of "public diplomacy" during Bush's second term yielded mixed results. "Karen is a brilliant communicator, and I think her communications strategy was renowned" said Texas GOP consultant Reggie Bashur. "I, for one, think that it would have been good for the president if she had stayed there." Political future: Most likely, she'll stay on the sidelines for a while, working for corporate clients as a top executive of Burson-Marsteller, the consulting company run by former Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Mark Penn. Alberto Gonzales Only Rove has more detractors than the former attorney general from Houston. Gonzales, who also served as Bush's White House counsel, has been criticized — often harshly — for his role in administration interrogation techniques, domestic spying and the politically motivated purge of federal prosecutors. In the U.S. attorney controversy, the Justice Department's own inspector general said Gonzales had "abdicated (his) responsibility to adequately oversee the process" and approved the decision to fire the U.S. attorneys "without inquiring about the process (a top aide) used to select them for removal." "Gonzales is considered a pariah, a cipher, an incompetent and a hack," said University of Texas presidential scholar Bruce Buchanan. Bashur, however, thinks Gonzales is "a first-class guy" who has gotten a bum rap. Political future: Bleak. Margaret Spellings Gov. Bush's top education staffer in Texas, Spellings came to Washington with the new president and rose from top domestic policy adviser to U.S. education secretary. She was the key behind-the-scenes figure in crafting the bipartisan No Child Left Behind education reforms, where she worked closely with liberal Democrats Edward Kennedy and George Miller. As education secretary, she took flak from all sides — from the right for the federal government's increasing role in schools, from the left for not spending more to help districts cope with the new mandates. Still, the University of Houston graduate wins praise for her flexibility and bipartisanship. "She has maintained a level of integrity and commitment to her duties that was not subverted by any of the machinations of the Bush administration," said UT's Buchanan. Political future: She hasn't closed the door on a run for office in Texas and has been rumored to be a possible gubernatorial candidate down the road. Don Evans The Midland oilman, one of Bush's closest friends, won good grades as commerce secretary during the first term. He was an effective advocate for the administration's trade liberalization policies but was criticized for not doing more to head off the nation's manufacturing decline. The president felt his absence during the second term. Evans "probably left too soon," said Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College. Political future: Business. He now serves as CEO of the Financial Services Forum, a group representing the hard-hit financial sector. Harriet Miers The former White House counsel will be best remembered for her abortive nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. During the painful, 24-day interlude, the Dallas lawyer who made history as the first female president of the Texas Bar Association was slammed by conservatives who called her unqualified for the high court and a political crony of the president. Miers, however, receives high ratings from nonpartisan observers for her performance as Bush's counsel. She was "quiet and effective," said Carleton's Schier, "but not a defensible Supreme Court nominee." Political future: The 63-year-old former Dallas city councilwoman is not likely to be a candidate again. But she might be called on to serve in the possible gubernatorial administration of her good friend Hutchison. Dan Bartlett Bartlett, who first went to work for Bush in 1994, replaced Hughes in 2003 and was a top aide until he left in 2007. Colleagues describe him as loyal, disciplined and unflappable. "Bartlett took the whole ride and lived to tell about it," said SMU's Jillson. "He drank the Kool-Aid, but he served well." Political future: The Rockwall High graduate is working in the private sector and staying in the public spotlight as a CBS News analyst. At 37, Bartlett could return as an operative — or a candidate. Scott McClellan Whistle-blower or traitor? The assessments of the former press secretary vary radically depending on the partisan leanings of the analyst. Before his tell-all memoir, McClellan was dismissed by most liberals as a hapless Bush mouthpiece. Overnight, he became a truth-telling hero. Conservatives and Bush loyalists have little positive to say about McClellan. Political scientists are mixed. "He had a tough time," said Texas A&M political scientist George Edwards. "But he was not a bozo." Political future: McClellan comes from a resilient political family. His mother has been a Democrat, a Republican and an independent. Some Austin Democrats hope that they can recruit him for a future contest. Clay Johnson Johnson, a friend of Bush's since prep school days, has been low-key and competent at the White House Office of Management and Budget. His efforts to outsource some federal jobs drew the ire of unions, but the president's Yale roommate generally gets high grades from Democrats and Republicans alike. Political future: He's a Bush man, not a partisan. His future is in business. Rod Paige Bush's first education secretary carried out the administration's No Child Left Behind reforms. But the former Houston schools superintendent was overshadowed by his successor, Spellings. He was criticized for not being sufficiently flexible in implementing the reforms; he argued that some of his critics were trying to subvert the law. Political future: None. At age 75, he's not running for anything. Referred by: omg_its_jessica SOURCE: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6193291.html classic layouts