Insiders: White House Staff Physically/Emotionally Exhausted

[Clara T]

Senior White House Staff May Be Wearing Down

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 13, 2006; A04

Andrew H. Card Jr. wakes at 4:20 in the morning, shows up at the White House an hour or so later, convenes his senior staff at 7:30 and then proceeds to a blur of other meetings that do not let up until long after the sun sets. He gets home at 9 or 10 at night and sometimes fields phone calls until 11 p.m. Then he gets up and does it all over again.

Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president's top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.

"By the time you get to year six, there's never a break . . . and you get tired," said Ed Rollins, who served five years in President Ronald Reagan's White House. "There's always a crisis. It wears you down. This has been a White House that hasn't really had much change at all. There is a fatigue factor that builds up. You sometimes don't see the crisis approaching. You're not as on guard as you once were."

To Rollins, the uproar over an Arab-owned firm taking over management of some American ports represents a classic example. Bush and his staff did not know about the arrangement approved by his administration, and after congressional Republicans revolted, issued an ineffective veto threat that only exacerbated the dispute, which climaxed with the collapse of the deal last week. "This White House would not have made this mistake two years ago," Rollins said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/12/AR2006031200821_pf.html

Give them a nice cot and regular meals in a quiet prison cell so they can get their rest. That's my prescription.

[liberal N proud]

1. Time to turn up the heat a little more on them

They need to be to the point where the rest of America has been for the last several years. Wore down!

[Roland99]

23. A little water boarding would be good for the WH about now!

[babylonsister]

2. My prescription also, Clara T; rest, bread and water! nt

[mike_c]

3. LOL-- three hots and a cot was my first thought too....

A nice long relaxing vacation at The Hague where, coincidentally, rooms are newly available!

[oneold1-4u]

9. Clean out Gitmo

But keep it operable! Many may wish to choose the Caribbean for their LONG LONG rest!

[Binka]

4. I Suggest A Dirt Nap!

[gratuitous]

5. They're floundering? Let me help them out

Let's see, where'd I put that anchor? Catch, Andy!

[Stephanie]

6. Boo-Fucking-Hoo!

They are the whiniest, laziest, most incompetent administration in history, and all they do is COMPLAIN about the HARD WORK.

[sui generis]

7. all that lying and spinning sure does take it out of ya.

They've been going 24/7 ever since they stole the first election. No wonder the poor little "adults in charge" are all tuckered out. Destroyed our economy, world foreign policy, started a war we can't finish, want to start another one, outsourced all our jobs, gave up environmental protections because they cost too much, deported our national guard, unable to respond to even just a cat 3 disaster, much less a cat 5, algae blooms, fish kills, extinctions, shrinking wetlands, poisoned water tables, dwindling oil and no real alternatives, new nuclear proliferation, it's hard! It's really hard being that evil for that long!

Poor babies need a nap. For like, ever.

[porkrind]

8. I thought this was the 9-to-5 "CEO" pResident.

Don't they vacation half the year like their pResident?

[SammyWinstonJack]

26. He vacations and they do his dirty work. He apparently thinks being

U.S. pResident is like being Gov. of Texas, it's everyone else that works while he delegates EVERY TASK.

[JHB]

31. Don't call what he does "delegating"

"Delegating" responsibilities implies that the "delegater" knows how to do the job, but is farming out the work. What His Chimperial Majesty does is better categorized as "fobbing off" or "dumping it on"

[Ganja Ninja]

10. It's hard work!

Making up talking points and distributing them, threatening uppity Senators and Congressmen, trying to control the massive right wing media machine, funneling the money to contributors and collecting the kickbacks err contributions, organizing the endless cover ups, making up enemies lists and smearing the people on them. There's hardly enough time for anything else.

[Cassandra]

14. It's hard work...

fucking up the country. Just trying to be more concise.

[meg]

11. This meme is a repeated one

Andy Card is tired. Somebody is pushing this. I have seen this same meme over and over for the past year. Is it daddy, poopy Bush's team? Cheney's team?

Tired Administration

[FSogol]

12. Ruining the Country and raiding the treasury is hard werk. n/t

[bunkerbuster1]

13. "Others wondered if the White House was running out of ideas."

They mis-spelled "Excuses."

[Ufomammut]

15. WMD

Planting numerous weapons of mass deception makes for taxing work!

[Bake]

16. Then let's stress them some MORE!

Damn! Prezidentin' is HARD WORK!

Chimpie's staff is exhausted and Chimpie isn't?? What does THAT tell you?

Bake

[wordpix2]

39. yeah! Impeachment proceedings should stress them so maybe the incompetent

morons will all quit.

[shance]

17. As they intimidate and threaten Americans, White House begs for mercy.

Then they get their wind, and start building Detention camps and creating more "disasters" and "terrorist attacks" so Halliburton and the Carlyle Group may reap more profits and further dismantle our once powerful nation.

[Arkansas Granny]

18. It's hard work . . . constantly trying to cover your ass.

[wordpix2]

40. and spinning the disastrous Bush War so it sounds like it's going well

[Arkansas Granny]

44. That has got to be exhausting!

[Just Me]

19. Lying, cheating, stealing and covering up is a helluva lot of work!!!

}( Poor babies.

[Catchawave]

20. How successful are companies that run their

business like this ? Sounds just horrible.

[DS1]

21. Ever notice that Bush's desk is the emptiest and shiniest desk in the

world?

Look for any WH Photo-Op, and there he'll be grinning like a smug asshole in front of the true symbol of his President.

[pansypoo53219]

22. uhhhh

BOO HOO! i ain't doing so well myself assholes.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

24. Things are rough all over, assholes . . .

Go live with a family outside the Green Zone, and learn about stress. Go hang out in the Ninth Ward.

:nuke:

[earth mom]

25. I like your prescription-just what the doctor ordered!

:evilgrin:

[myrna minx]

27. Imagine how tired they would be if they actually worked?!? n/t

[JHB]

28. Yep. An all-expenses paid retirement in beautiful...

...Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

[KansDem]

29. Bullshit! Bush is in trouble because he is a lying crook!

Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles.

Yeah, right. His staff is fatigued and not getting enough sleep. Maybe if Bush told the truth and didn't break the law, they might be more rested, but let's get one thing straight here: Bush is the reason for his staff's problems, not vice-versa.

[donkeyotay]

43. GOP apologists.

"let's get one thing straight here: Bush is the reason for his staff's problems, not vice-versa."

But, bush has never been held accountable for one little thing, let alone destroying America, vacationing into 9-11, appointing a coup as his cabinet, lying for war, sleeping through Katrina, spying on citizens and using torture. Fucking scumbag CANT be accountable (must be in the CIA manual), so it must be a sleepy staff making errors.

The GOP congress should go to jail with him since they aided and abetted and obstructed justice.

[Cleita]

30. Amazing that they would put that much time and effort into

their jobs and still fail at it. I think all those meetings might be the problem myself. I always found meetings a waste of time and unproductive. I always got much more work done at my desk, while using the phone to conference with anyone I needed to interact with.

[BrotherBuzz]

32. In the business world embezzlers always have the best attendance record

I'm just saying....Know what I mean, Vern?

[eppur_se_muova]

33. Oh, the poor dears. It's not like they volunteered for this...Oh wait...

[alcibiades_mystery]

34. quelle dommage

fucking up a perfectly good country is apparently exhausting...:eyes:

[Sparkly]

35. Aw, they need naptimes...

Poor babies. :nopity:

[pdxmom]

36. This is so NOT a story...why is the Post reporting on this? Are

we supposed to feel sorry for these people for having to work so hard? Maybe if they tried to actually do their job, instead of trying so hard to lie to the country and circumvent the law, they'd sleep better at night.

[Clara T]

48. Sympathy for the devil?

Not here.

They need lots of quiet time in a cell with meals of what they feed us, baloney and thin gruel.

[SiouxJ]

37. Constantly spinning makes you dizzy. n/t

[WI_DEM]

38. obviously his staff doesn't get the six months of vacations which

Bush takes every year--not too many Americans do.

[dogday]

41. Oh what tangled webs they weave

when always trying to deceive... It's hard work!!!!

[wordpix2]

42. hahaha, this just shows how incompetent they are, all those hours & war is

going worse than ever, we've got the biggest debt in history and our social, health and environmental programs are in shambles. That's what happens when you put criminals in charge of the government.

[oblivious]

45. By the time you get to year six, you can't keep your lies straight," ...

said one frustrated staffer. "You get your lies mixed up and start contradicting yourself and start lying about your lies. It's hard work. Exhausting."

[spanone]

46. Kick 'em while they're down, they would do no less.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

47. Well, let's hope the symtoms are nothing trivial.