More of the same with Bolten

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Meet Josh Bolten

The Carpetbagger Report
March 28, 2006 Posted 10:42 am Printer Friendly

To follow up on my earlier post on Andy Card's resignation, I think it's also worth mentioning that his successor, former OMB Director Joshua Bolten, is getting a pretty big promotion despite not having much success on the job. The president said this morning:

"With me today is Joshua Bolten, who will be the new White House Chief of Staff. Josh is a man with broad experience, having worked on Capitol Hill and Wall Street and the White House staff, and for nearly three years as a Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Josh is a creative policy thinker. He's an expert on the budget and our economy."

I guess it depends on what one means by "expert." As the president's budget director, Josh Bolten has helped add $2 trillion to the national debt in less than three years. He's also helped oversee a dramatic rise in government spending and a series of irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy that the country couldn't afford.

Bolten has sold reckless tax cuts as fiscal responsibility, defended absurd budget tricks as sensible governing, argued falsely that tax cuts can pay for themselves, made demonstrably-false claims about the budget deficit, and embraced misleading scare tactics to promote privatization of Social Security. Bolten also made quite an impression with a memo last year arguing that the administration could ignore legal restrictions and spend as much as it pleases on fake news segments and pundit payola.

Only Bush would see Bolten as the kind of official in need of a promotion. Anyone hoping that today's staff shake-up might represent a change in direction for the Bush White House is likely to be disappointed.