Here is a perfect example of the press only now telling us something about Bush and his style of leadership. I never knew he was a lifelong tightwad! Did you? I read hundreds of articles before and during the election and never heard that about him. I also didn't realize he had such a good sense of humor. Good traits to have if you ask me...
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How to Get a Job at the Bush White House
An Ivy League pedigree isn’t what matters. But a sense of humor is imperative
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
msnbc.com
March 28 — There are still thousands of resumes floating around the White House for the hundreds of posts left to fill throughout the administration. The applicants are often impressive: some have Ph.D.’s, others speak five languages. But more often, candidates claim some connection—any connection—to the Bush clan (as in, “I went to elementary school with Laura in Midland, Texas”). No matter what their qualifications, these eager souls need to know that there are three prerequisites for any job at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: frugality, promptness and have a sense of humor.
BEING FRUGAL is not just a virtue at Bush’s White House, it’s the rule. Under the administration’s ethics code, no employee can accept a gift worth more than $20. Technically, that includes dinner. While some staffers aren’t sticklers about letting a reporter buy them a meal, press secretary Ari Fleischer has a strict interpretation of the no-gifts rule. Reporters who have tried to wine and dine him are often surprised when he whips out his wallet at the end of the meal to pay his share. And unlike reporters, who can bill the meal to their employer, Fleischer has no expense account. “I’m going broke going out to dinner with reporters,” Fleischer says.
“I wouldn’t say we’re cramped ... I’d say, there’s a lot of togetherness.”
Working at the White House might seem glamorous. But it is no posh corporate firm. The offices are old and let’s just say the furniture is far from the latest in ergonomic design. “I wouldn’t say we’re cramped ... I’d say, there’s a lot of togetherness,” says one staffer. And no matter where you rank in the hierarchy, there are few perks. Margaret La Montagne, Bush’s chief domestic policy advisor, had to order and pay for her own business cards like everybody else. That’s why every White House business card looks a little different.
When it comes to money, Bush sets the example for his staff. “He’s not frugal, he’s cheap,” says Bush’s Midland friend Robert McCleskey, as plain-talking a Texan as they come. When Bush was a young bachelor in Midland in the 1970s he was known for his Calvinist ways. He held the box spring of his bed together with an old tie. Much of his wardrobe, it seems, came from the castoffs of his friends. “He’d say, ‘You gonna throw that out?’ ” remembers another friend from Midland, Dr. Charlie Younger. Despite the trappings of the presidency-and some help from his wife-Bush is still “cheap” by nature. He doesn’t have cable TV at his ranch in Crawford not because he wants to commune with nature, but because he doesn’t want to pay the $50 a month.
A lot has been made about Bush’s philosophy that, in his words, “late is rude.” Sometimes, in fact, Bush gets to events so early that aides have to hold him at bay while the TV cameras get set up. There is no wandering in a few minutes late to the senior staff meeting held at 7:30 a.m. every day. Bush is an early riser and loves morning meetings. This is one of the few areas where Bush and his top adviser Karen Hughes don’t think alike. “I’m not a morning person,” Hughes told me a while ago. Still, she gets to the meetings on time like everybody else. No one wants to run the risk of being on the receiving end of one of Bush’s cross, squinty-eyed looks.
Bush doesn’t just use “the look” on his employees. During the campaign, Marc Racicot-then governor of Montana and a close friend of Bush’s-learned that there is no “give or take a few minutes” on the road with Bush. Once, while traveling with Bush, Racicot was taking an early morning walk before the motorcade left when his cell phone rang. It was Brian Montgomery (a.k.a. Monty) head of “advance”—the folks who make the trains run on time. “Where are you? Four buses are waiting on you!” he said rather urgently. When Racicot finally boarded the bus, Bush gave him the look. “You were going to leave me weren’t you?” Racicot said to his friend. “No, but Logan was,” Bush replied. Logan Walters, the president’s personal aide then and now, is in the hottest seat when it comes to keeping Bush on schedule.
Working for the administration is undoubtedly a low-paid, stressful job. But the rewards, of course, can be high. Besides the nobility of public service and all that, the jobs can translate into big bucks after leaving office. Survivors of the Clinton years, like spokesman Mike McCurry, have gone on to much greener pastures. But for now, many Bushies find that keeping a sense of humor is the key to success. Making light of situations—and oneself—is a Bush family tradition that is alive and well at the White House. Fleischer can’t seem to make it through a press briefing without a wisecrack or two. At one recent briefing, the TV lights were out on the podium. “Lights!” someone yelled and on they went. “I thought I was here to keep you in the dark,” Fleischer quipped. “You have been!” a reporter shot back.
Again, Fleischer’s model is his boss: the Humorist-in-Chief. Bush was the master of self-deprecation at last weekend’s Gridiron dinner, where the press elite host a presidential roast. But even in unscripted moments, Bush can be funny. Last week while speaking at a meeting with Jiang Zemin, China’s president, Bush went on a little long. “‘W,’” Bush sometimes jokes, “stands for Windy.” His long-windedness that day became all too clear when the Chinese translator went on for what seemed like an eternity while translating Bush’s monologue. (It takes longer to explain something in English than in Chinese it seems.) When the translator finished, Bush sighed heavily and said: “Phew!” |
