Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. turned in his resignation over the weekend which President Bush accepted. This morning, the announcement was made that Joshua B. Bolten, Director of the Office of Management and Budget would replace Card on April 14th.
Turning to Bolten, Bush described his new chief of staff as a creative thinker and a strong advocate for accountability and effective management in the federal government.
“He is a man of candor and humor and directness, who is comfortable with responsibility and knows how to lead,” Bush said.
Bush said Card had approached him earlier this month about the possibility of stepping down, and Bush accepted his offer this weekend, when the two were at Camp David.
“He’s been here 5 1/2 years. The average tenure of chief of staff is two years,” said a senior administration official, who spoke before the announcement, but refused to be named so as not to upstage the president. “Change can be good and necessary and that’s what they had discussed.”
The official said the decision was Card’s, not Bush’s: “Andy initiated it with the president.”
I know that lots of Democrats will call this the beginning of some big “Bush Shakeup”. It’s not. Card is tired, pure and simple.