Gone, Baby, Gone

By Al Kamen
Friday, April 4, 2008

President Bush hates long, windy meetings, and NATO sessions can drag on and on. That may be why Bush suddenly left the final session of the Bucharest summit last night -- not bothering to wait for the official group photo. He hustled back to the hotel so unexpectedly that he left some of his motorcade behind, including the press pool, our colleague Peter Baker reports.

"The president stayed there all day long. He listened to everybody," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice explained to the Associated Press's Terry Hunt. "It is rare -- if you actually counted the number of heads of states that were up and down and gone most of the time, it's a lot. So, the president had been there all day. He now has to get ready to go. . . ."

National security adviser Stephen Hadley chimed in: "And he didn't go in and out like other people," a group that included French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Yes, indeed, Rice said. "He sat there and listened to everybody."

"You know," Hadley added, "he's got a few other things to do.

"So, it wasn't abrupt. And [Defense Secretary ] Bob Gates stayed to represent us" during a discussion of Afghanistan.

Bush stayed at his hotel for 2 1/2 hours before emerging to go to the official evening "cultural event" at the Athenaeum, to be followed by a dinner with the other leaders at the nearby Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel.

While England Slept

Usually, witnesses at congressional hearings enlighten lawmakers on the inner workings of their departments. But not always.

Take Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England's appearance recently before the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which ranking Republican David L. Hobson (Ohio) asked about something that appears to have been bothering him for a while.

"Over a quarter of the Department of Energy's budget is focused on nuclear weapons," Hobson said. "Your department develops the strategy for using these weapons, for what [operations], how many are needed and that sort of thing."

The problem, Hobson said, is that his subcommittee "is left in the position of having to come up with the money to pay for them, often taking funding away from energy programs or funding for levees. And I heard some complaints that Defense asks for the pie in the sky sometimes because they don't have to pay for it; it doesn't come out of your budget, so ask for everything. . . . Do you think this current arrangement makes sense?" he asked.

"Mr. Hobson, I guess I was not aware that we were not paying for these programs," England replied.

"You're not," Hobson said.

"I guess that's a surprise to me," England said. "I mean, I always thought we were funding these development programs and funding the DOE labs to do this work for us. . . . We'll look into that, sir."

Jeffrey G. Lewis, who writes the blog ArmsControlWonk.com and found this conversation, asks: "Shouldn't the Deputy Secretary know whether or not his department is responsible for the lion's share of nuclear weapons development costs?"

Well, maybe. Not essential, but it probably wouldn't hurt.

Also Ungrateful but Unpunished

Poor Bill Richardson. The Clinton machine has been bashing the New Mexico governor -- and former Clinton administration U.N. ambassador and energy secretary -- for endorsing Barack Obama.

First, longtime Clintonite James Carville compared Richardson to Judas. Other backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) grumbled to us that he was an ingrate or traitor as a result of his March 21 move.

Curiously, there haven't been similar high-octane denunciations of other Clinton administration Cabinet officials who are backing Obama: William M. Daley, who was commerce secretary; Federico F. Peña, who was both transportation and energy secretary; Norman Y. Mineta, who was transportation secretary.

Last weekend, a red-faced, angry Bill Clinton, in a private meeting in San Jose with uncommitted California superdelegates, said Richardson had told him he would either support Hillary Clinton or stay neutral, according to news accounts. So it seems it was this alleged lying, as much as anything, that infuriated Clinton the most.

One participant in the meeting said Clinton said Richardson "told me five times to my face that he 'did not have sex with that woman #Gx%MR . . . ERROR 404738! Keyboard Malfunction!!!

Sorry, let's try that again.

One participant in the meeting revealed that Clinton said Richardson "told me to my five times to my face that he would not do that."

Apparently, it made no difference that Richardson -- the country's most prominent elected Latino -- at least had the decency to hold off his endorsement until after the Texas primary, when it really would have meant something for Obama.

And I Tell You I Am Not Going

There's something about FEMA Director R. David Paulison that makes people think he's halfway out the door.

We reported two weeks ago that the agency was buzzing, based on comments he made about his frustrations running the place, that his departure could be very soon. Agency officials diligently knocked those down.

But on Wednesday, several media outlets reported that he plans to resign. "I'm here for now," he said, according to the Associated Press, "but sometime between now and Jan. 20 I'll be leaving, and we're not exactly sure when that time will be."

Later, Paulison said he won't leave during hurricane season -- from June to November -- and said he had "no plans" to leave before June, "though I can't predict everything that can happen."

"It's a tough job," he said, and "there's a lot of stress on your family."

These ruminations somehow prompted the media to say again that he was quitting, though it was unsure exactly when. Sure enough, they got it wrong again.

Out popped a FEMA press release with statement in which Paulison complained about being "taken out of context."

"I can assure you that this announcement is not imminent. I have no job offers and have no plans to leave FEMA at this time," he said. He chided the media about "reports like this that undermine our efforts to improve the morale of our employees and hinder our efforts to rebuild this organization."

Note to file: Call Paulison and tell him that, next time he's asked, it would be helpful if he would just say clearly that he's staying until Jan. 20. Unless he's not.

Honors

Several Capitol Police officers got the agency's Service Medal last week for their roles in the September 2006 arrest of Carlos Greene, a drug-addled felon carrying a loaded pistol who dashed through the Capitol. Loop Fans remember that the Capitol Police were heavily criticized by congressmen for security lapses that allowed the incident.

Greene had driven his Chevy Trailblazer through a gate that had been improperly blocked by a Capitol Police cruiser. Then he dashed up the steps, darted through an unlocked door and led police on a four-story chase.

As it turned out, three employees of the basement Flag Office -- which sends people flags that have flown over the Capitol -- were the ones who finally grabbed Greene. Those three employees -- Karen Livingston, Isaac Livingston (no relation) and Dennis Anthony -- were given awards at the ceremony, too, our colleague Mary Beth Sheridan reports.

But that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of awards to go around. One police officer was recognized for calling out a warning on his radio after he spotted the intruder; others were credited with chasing the gunman, arresting and stabilizing him. The officers were lauded for their "sound judgment" and "clear thinking."