the Winds
of Change
Post White House Correspondent
May 20, 2007
Everywhere Attorney General Alberto Gonzales goes these days he’s met with unease and patronizing half-smiles.
“Hi… sir,” says Department of Justice lobby guard Sheila Wallis, surprised to see Gonzales again this morning.
“Good morning, Debra,” he says while passing through the metal detector.
“It’s like seeing the walking dead,” Wallis says after Gonzales passes.
Inside the Attorney General’s office, the situation isn’t much better.
“He’s keeps asking what’s on his schedule,” says office assistant Tad Jenkins. “It’s really sad. We’ve scraped together some lectures for him to give and have a series of emergency golf outings in case a no-confidence vote is called, but other than that all the cases are going to the Deputy A.G.’s office.”
“We just tell him we’re refusing TV interviews all day,” said office assistant Cameron Smith. “He just smiles obliviously and goes back to solitaire. You know he’s just waiting for the president to call, but that doesn’t happen anymore.”
President Bush has been distancing himself from the Attorney General in recent weeks.
After Gonzales gave his amnesia-ridden testimony before Congress, the president said, “I’m more confident in Attorney General Gonzales than ever.”
That was before a ninth federal prosecutor, fired for political purposes, was discovered, as well as further allegations of impropriety as President Bush’s White House Counsel.
Congressional Democrats have amped up their cries for blood, and everyday more Republican politicians call for his resignation, forcing the president to change his position on the Attorney General’s performance.
“I’m confident that Gonzales is not very indictable,” President Bush said yesterday at a press conference.
Now President Bush only has one more call to make to Gonzales, and he doesn’t want to make it himself.
“He’s been trying to get Blair or Wolfowitz to do it,” says a White House insider.
Unfortunately, neither British Prime Minister Tony Blair, resigning over the Iraq War, nor World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, resigning over giving his girlfriend an unwarranted promotion, have been able to get a hold of Gonzales.
“The little scallywag is dodging my calls,” said Blair. “I think he knows he’s getting sacked.”
