Bush Again Picks Veteran of Father's Era

In this Nov. 4, 2006 picture, former President George Bush, left, and Texas A&M President Robert Gates, right, watch as the Corps of Cadets enter the stadium before the Oklahoma-Texas A&M football game in College Station, Texas. President George W. Bush has nominated Gates to be the next defense secretary replacing Donald Rumsfeld. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) (David J. Phillip - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Once again, President Bush has reached back to a veteran of his father's administration to fill a top national security post and help him out of a bind. In this case, he enlisted Robert Gates, who served both as CIA director and deputy national security adviser in the first Bush presidency, to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary.

Bush also is looking to another Bush family loyalist, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to help him find an exit strategy from Iraq. Baker co-chairs a bipartisan commission on Iraq that is to release its recommendations soon.

Bush said the mild-mannered Gates would help provide a "new direction" for the Pentagon, and should be able to work with the new Democratic Congress. Gates, 63, now president of Texas A&M, has held national security jobs in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

While trying to avoid mistakes made by his one-term father, Bush has shown no reluctance in enlisting senior members of dad's old team to help him with some heavy lifting.

Much of Bush's top national security team _ both in his first and second terms _ worked in his father's administration or that of previous Republican presidents.

Vice President Dick Cheney was his father's defense secretary. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the first Bush administration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a national security aide in the first Bush White House, and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton worked in the State Department in the Reagan and first Bush administrations.

"I think it's logical to go to experienced people from your own party _ in this case, people the president knows real well," said Charles Black, a longtime GOP consultant close to the White House.

"Certainly, Secretary Rumsfeld got the reputation of not being conciliatory. Whether that was fair or not, Gates is known as someone who works well across party lines and is a person who sees himself as a problem solver," Black said.

Rumsfeld was not in the elder Bush's circle and advocated a more aggressive course on Iraq. He first served as defense secretary in the Ford administration.

As for Baker, the president turned to him even before arriving at the White House, choosing him to represent the Republican side in the 2000 presidential recount in Florida.

The Iraq panel, which Baker co-chairs with former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, will soon make recommendations on a future course for U.S. policy in Iraq. Gates is a member of the panel.

Baker has indicated the recommendations will fall somewhere between the "cut and run" strategy that Republicans like to say Democrats advocate, and the "stay the course" policy until recently enunciated by the president and widely ridiculed by Democrats.