And a conversation Card had with Bush on the night of his acceptance speech in Philadelphia in which Bush told him to "keep your dance card clear."
And the conversation Bush had with Card in Boston on the night of Bush's first debate with Gore ("when Gore had a little too much orange makeup on"). They were on a boat ferrying them from Logan Airport across Boston Harbor (not as polluted as before, "thanks to the good leadership of the former president Bush").
And how, over breakfast, an annoyed Kathleene Card asked her husband, "Are you married to me or George W. Bush?"
And then the phone rang and it was George W. Bush, who told Card to call his gubernatorial chief of staff, Clay Johnson.
And so Card flew to Austin and met with Johnson, who had a bunch of notebooks marked "transition" on his desk, and Card figured they wanted him to run the transition, which Card calls "a pain-in-the-neck job," but one he'd be willing to do.
And then, on his way out of Texas, Card visited the elder Bush in Houston, where he began to believe they were considering him for The Big One. (Card arrived in Houston at 9, and the Bushes were out when he arrived. Barbara Bush arrived home at 11, the former president at midnight. "I woke up early the next day. I made the bed. I showered. I shaved. I got all dressed."
And then Card flew to Tampa to meet the younger Bush, who was holding a rally in Jacksonville. But Card's flight was delayed and he missed Bush before the candidate went to sleep. ("Karen Hughes was there, her son Robert. Got a bite to eat late at night in the hotel.")
Next morning he met with Bush, who mentioned "The Big One," and the rest, as they say, is in another cupboard.
"Sorry I talked so much," Card says.
Counter Strategy
Shortly after Bush took office, Mack McLarty, Bill Clinton's chief of staff, and Ken Duberstein, who held the same post under Reagan, co-hosted a dinner for Card at McLarty's Kalorama home. Several former White House chiefs of staff attended -- or, as McLarty puts it, "those of us who have held the office of chief javelin catcher in the White House." Guests included McLarty's neighbor Donald Rumsfeld (chief of staff under Gerald Ford), Donald Regan (Reagan) and Samuel Skinner (Bush One).
In a toast at the dinner, McLarty told of how Reagan chief of staff Howard Baker called him when Clinton took office to say, "Congratulations, you just got the worst job in Washington."
It's a job that Card is neatly suited to do. "He has that intangible ability to anticipate the rhythm of the presidency," says Duberstein. Card is "a comfortable shoe," Duberstein says, someone the president has become accustomed to.
Bush will tease Card in meetings for his long-windedness and tendency to veer off on tangents. People who have watched them together say the president will sometimes order Card around in a tone that suggests he's talking to a servant. In "The Price of Loyalty," former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill describes a scene in which Bush impatiently demands that Card get him a cheeseburger.
One former Bush administration official compares Card to a little-brother figure to the president, even though Bush is only 10 months older: Bush regards him as a member of the family and would never doubt his loyalty. "But the president can walk on Andy a little bit," says the former official, who asked not to be identified because he doesn't want the White House to be angry with him. "The president talks to him like he's hired help more than he would someone like Cheney or Rumsfeld."
