Bartlett Heading Home to the Lone Star State

By Michael Abramowitz
Monday, October 29, 2007

Dan Bartlett, who as White House counselor was one of President Bush's closest aides, is heading back to Texas after several months of mulling job opportunities, he said last night.

Bartlett is joining Public Strategies, a national strategic communications firm headquartered in Austin. He will rejoin Mark McKinnon, Bush's longtime media adviser and the company's vice chairman.

Bartlett announced in June that he would leave the White House, and he said last night that the pull of returning home was too strong to resist.

Public Strategies "has the best of both worlds. It is a nationally recognized firm in a state and city I love," said Bartlett, a graduate of the University of Texas.

Bartlett was working in Austin in 1993 for a political consulting firm headed by Karl Rove when he first met George W. Bush, then preparing for his first gubernatorial campaign. Their professional relationship strengthened over time and, when Bush was elected president in 2000, Bartlett took on shaping the administration's public image, first as communications director and then as White House counselor.

Since leaving the administration, Bartlett has gone on the public speaking circuit. One such appearance, before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in September, prompted media buzz when he assessed weaknesses in most 2008 Republican candidates for president.

Bartlett indicated last night that he will sit out the 2008 elections and will focus on helping grow the business of Public Strategies, where his title will be senior strategist.

"This is where my heart and passion will go to," Bartlett said.

Slow Going on Cabinet Vacancies

The White House can be stealthy and quick with personnel moves. When President Bush decided to get rid of Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary last year, he lined up Robert M. Gates as the replacement the day he went public with the decision.

But in filling out his Cabinet for his final year, the president appears to be stealthy and slow, with acting secretaries running the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs. The VA vacancy is particularly perplexing, given the political troubles facing the White House on that issue and the fact that R. James Nicholson announced his departure more than three months ago.

Veterans groups are sounding restive. "I just don't think that VA is on the radar screen of the White House," said David W. Gorman of the Disabled American Veterans. "They think it is a lower priority in the whole scheme of things."

The groups would probably be happy if Bush gave the post to acting secretary Gordon H. Mansfield, a longtime veterans advocate and highly decorated veteran. But the White House is giving no sign about when or if that will happen.

"We have been working hard on this nomination and are focused on selecting the right person to serve in this important role," White House spokeswoman Emily A. Lawrimore said by e-mail. "We look forward to announcing a highly qualified nominee soon who shares the president's strong commitment to helping America's veterans."

Rove Redux

After laying low for two months since leaving the White House, Karl Rove is beginning to resurface. On Friday, the onetime senior adviser showed up at Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia Beach, where he and the president's younger brother Jeb took on retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey and former Democratic senator Max Cleland of Georgia in a lively debate about whether America should bring democracy to the world.

It was an interesting and eclectic group, given the evident hostility toward Rove and the White House from Cleland. He believes his reelection in 2002 was undermined by GOP ads questioning his patriotism and determination to fight terrorism.

Our colleague Michael D. Shear, who was present, reports that the debate quickly gave way to a sharp exchange about the Iraq war.

McCaffrey called the war "miserably executed" and Cleland, who lost both legs and his right arm as a soldier in Vietnam, called for a withdrawal. Bush, the former governor of Florida, urged patience in the efforts to bring democracy to Iraq; Rove compared the war to U.S. efforts to establish democracy in Germany and Japan after World War II.

An interesting moment came when Cleland accused President Bush of not capturing Osama bin Laden because he was distracted by Iraq. "We let him go up in the Tora Bora mountains. We blew it," Cleland said, directing his remark to Rove.

"The U.S. military and U.S. intelligence agencies made every effort possible to get Osama bin Laden," an irked Rove responded. "I don't think it reflects well on our intelligence and military services to suggest they didn't."

Cleland refused to give in, saying that "attacking Iraq after 9/11 was like attacking Mexico after Pearl Harbor."

The two started yelling over one other, with Rove pointing out that Cleland had voted to give the president the authority to go to war and Cleland booming something about "Cheney" and "Condi" and a "mushroom cloud."

"So, yes, I voted to authorize force in Iraq. But now . . . it's time to pull out and it's time to focus on getting Osama bin Laden," Cleland said.

The spat ended there. But it was clear in the brief exchange that Rove, even as a private citizen, is not finished defending the foreign policy legacy that he helped create.

Cheney's Darth Side

It seems that Dick and Lynne Cheney may actually like one label critics have tried to fix on the secretive and powerful vice president.

Lynne Cheney appeared on "The Daily Show" to plug her new book about growing up in Wyoming, and she appeared to disarm host Jon Stewart by bringing a Darth Vader doll as a prop. The vice president said last Sunday that he doesn't mind the description.

"Most of you knew me long before anyone called me Darth Vader," he said before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, eliciting laughter. "I've been asked if that nickname bothers me, and the answer is no. After all, Darth Vader is one of the nicer things I've been called recently."