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October 21, 2005
The Elephant In The Room
As the Valerie Plame leak investigation drives toward its climax -- independent investigator Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to announce any indictments next week -- a hushed anticipation seems to have settled over Washington.
Today's New York Times intimates that President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff and political architect Karl Rove, and Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby may be on the hook for criminal charges.
Further, today's Washington Post examines the eerie silence about this matter at the White House, as administration officials wait for the other shoe to drop. The piece suggests burnout and a bunker mentality among White House staff.
Indictments of Rove and/or Libby would likely mean profound structural changes for a White House already seemingly in political free fall. Charges against Rove, in particular, who is the driving political force there and the glue holding things together, would have a huge, immediate impact. If indicted his likely departure would leave a very large hole to fill.
These problems inside the Beltway, combined with a national Congressional leader's indictment yesterday, a bad situation in Iraq, and problems more palpable to the public at large, such as high gasoline prices, a lousy ongoing federal response to two major hurricanes, and a sluggish economy threaten the basic efficacy of Mr. Bush's second term.
A long Crawford vacation probably sounds pretty good right about now.
Posted by houtopia at October 21, 2005 08:56 AM