Policy Aide's Departure Continues Transformation of Bush's Staff

Of all the aides heading for the door, Wehner had a unique role, one intended to put the Bush presidency in an intellectual framework. He started as a deputy speechwriter, but in 2002, when Rove put him in charge of "strategery," as Bush aides put it in quoting the "Saturday Night Live" sketch, Wehner found himself running his own White House think tank.

He was given the freedom to weigh in on any issue that interested him, as well as regular meetings with Rove to pitch ideas and a license to stop by Bolten's office to offer advice. He organized meetings for the president with historians and scholars, hosted a lecture series and put together luncheon discussions for White House staff members to talk about the Federalist Papers, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. or Alexis de Tocqueville.

"He's developed a tremendous influence at the White House, not by being a policy implementer but by being an idea and argument generator," said former White House senior adviser Michael J. Gerson, with whom Wehner often advocated for initiatives such as AIDS and malaria programs in Africa.

Bolten said: "Pete has the luxury of not having a specific line responsibility so he can step back and read all of the informed commentary, digest it and draw the right conclusions from it."

Wehner became best known, though, for his e-mails. They started out as notes to colleagues pointing out an essay they might have missed and evolved into lengthy musings on the role of the Bush presidency in history or the nature of radical jihad -- sent to 1,000 officials, lobbyists, journalists and others.

"At first, they were distributed like samizdat in the White House," Rove said. "By word of mouth, he ended up with a distribution list of opinion leaders all over."

Self-effacing, mild-mannered and deeply religious, Wehner, 46, nonetheless engaged in robust debate with Bush critics through those e-mails. When columnist George F. Will mocked neoconservative ambitions to transform the Middle East, Wehner blitzed out to supporters and journalists a 2,432-word rebuttal, three times as long as the column, asserting that Will's view "would eventually lead to death and destruction on a scale that is almost unimaginable."

But to critics, the ideas Wehner and Bush advanced have been repudiated by events. Even many who once shared their views now question them in light of the way the Iraq war and the "democracy agenda" have turned out so far. Many neoconservative intellectuals say they need to examine whether the ideas were wrong -- or whether it was just the execution.

As he wraps up his tenure, Wehner admits no such doubts and expresses confidence that Bush will ultimately be proven right on the big questions of his presidency. "Look, we're facing headwinds," he said. "But I don't believe the precepts were wrong, and I believe history is going to vindicate them."