When you really need a new kitchen but can't afford one it helps to buy new curtains for the windows and new dishtowels. If you are really short of money just hanging the old dishtowels in the windows and using the old curtains as towels makes a nice change.
This must be the thinking of George Bush who is doing some spring redecorating in the White House:
White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Josh Bolten, an administration official said Tuesday.
President Bush was expected to announce the shake up during a meeting with reporters later Tuesday morning in the Oval Office of the White House.
The move comes amid a sharp decline in Bush's approval ratings and calls from Republicans for the president to bring in new aides with fresh ideas and new energy.
This is not a major rehab of the administration. Whether it will satisfy those in the conservative base who want change remains to be seen, but Josh Bolten is another insider, like a set of dishtowels that has been hanging on a hook for years. Perhaps they will look fresh and diffferent in the windows.
Does Card have another appointment in mind? Or was he just worn out by all these "external" effects that have inexplicably haunted this administration: the Iraq invasion, the Katrina aftermath and the failed attempts to revamp Social Security and Medicare? Or might his resignation be the first of many cosmetic touches to come, touches, which will still leave the fundamental problems of the administration unchanged?