What About The Man Named Karl?

Just wondering, given the Andy Card resignation, what's to become of one of Card's underlings, Mr. Rove? No hints from Scotty today, but maybe by 15 April we will have an answer. Could it be the W, Rove and Co house of cards (pun intended) is in its "final throes?"

Q And one further on Andy Card's move. Should we assume that the current deputy chiefs of staff are staying in place?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, David, I think it's premature to talk about any future decisions that may or may not be made, and so I would discourage you from doing that. First of all, Josh is going to have plenty of time to transition and get in place. And he has the full confidence of the President and his authority to manage the White House staff and to look at personnel issues throughout the administration and within the White House. And if there are any discussions about future decisions that need to be made regarding personnel matters, those are discussions that the President and the Chief of Staff will -- new Chief of Staff will have, and they'll move forward based on those discussions...

...Q Scott, back to his Chief of Staff. Josh Bolten once worked in Congress. Would you expect, or would it be reasonable to expect further changes, say, in the congressional liaison staff, or other places to improve --

MR. McCLELLAN: As I said earlier and as I indicated in previous questions, I think it's premature to get into any sort of speculation.

Q Okay, you're not ruling anything out yet?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not ruling anything in. I'm saying that Josh Bolten will be the new Chief of Staff. He will start on April 15th, and he has the confidence of the President to do what he needs to do to help him advance his agenda and make the decisions that are in the best interest of the American people.

Yadda, yadda, yadda - "good for the American people" isn't always what's good for the whitehouse and vice versa, now is it?

Incidentially, here's what the President had to say about the possible "shake up:"

Q Thank you for the interview. A very busy day at the White House, so I have to ask you, you accepted the resignation of Andrew Card today -- is this a sign of a major shakeup at the White House?

THE PRESIDENT: No, it's a sign of a fellow who has worked five-and-a-quarter years, he's here every morning early in the morning, he stays late, and he put his heart and soul in the job. And he came to me about two-and-a-half weeks ago, or two weeks ago, and said, I think it may be time for me to go on, you know, I've given it my all. And I thank him for his service. I consider him an incredibly close friend. And, obviously, I picked Joshua Bolten to take his place. And now Josh's job is to design a White House staff that meets the needs of the President, which is one of the key -- most important needs is to make sure I get information in a timely fashion so I can make decisions.

Q Any more changes coming up?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Josh has just begun to take a look at the White House structure. And I haven't had a chance to talk to him about the future yet. But right now I'm honoring and celebrating the service of Andy Card.

And here's some final advice Scotty delivers to his pals in the press corps:
M

R. McCLELLAN: No, I think that's another tendency of this town to overanalyze things, and I would discourage that.

Q Thank you.

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.

Perhaps that is one thing we are suffering from: An administration that doesn't do enough analysis (e.g. the intelligence used to start the Iraq conflagration in the first place).

Blog on All. Blog on.