Novak: "(Gonzales) is the Least-popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill"



The tail-end of the second term -- legacy time -- is usually the time that Presidents transform from dignified, silver-haired heads of state into "lame ducks." From our favorite Dickensian villain, Robert Novak:

"... not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him. He is the least-popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill. The word most often used by Republicans in describing the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is "incompetent."

"Attorneys general in recent years have ranged from skilled political operatives close to the president (most notably Bobby Kennedy under John F. Kennedy) to non-political lawyers detached from the president (such as Ed Levi under Gerald Ford). Gonzales is surely close to Bush, but nobody has accused him of being skilled at politics. He puzzled and alarmed conservatives with a January speech in which he claimed that he would take over from the White House the selection of future federal nominees.

"The saving grace that some Republicans find in the dispute over U.S. attorneys is that, at least temporarily, it blurs debate over an unpopular war. But the overriding feeling in the Republican cloakroom is that the Justice Department and the White House could not have been more inept in dealing with the president's unquestioned right to appoint -- and replace -- federal prosecutors.

"The I-word (incompetence) is used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to described a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. 'We always have claimed that we were the party of better management,' one House leader told me. 'How can we claim that anymore?'"

The 2008 election -- certainly from the standpoint of "Team Billary" -- will be all about "Competence." Take The Corsair's word on this; our crystal ball is clear. The Republican Party (Possibly under a McCain-Lieberman ticket) will favor the esoteric concept of "Character," as well as, ancillary to that, a resolute stance on the waWar on Terror. The problem for Team Hillary is that if Al Gore decides to run (And, say, picks Governor Bill Richardson as his running mate), even Hillary, with all her years of experience on the Hill, cannot match that twosome of Competence and Experienced Leadership. (Novak)