April 20 (Bloomberg) -- The president's new chief of staff spent his first day on the job telling folks in the West Wing to go now if they were planning to go at all. Press Secretary Scott McClellan, in a masterpiece of understatement, said, ``It's time for a little bit of a fresh start.''

The fresh start couldn't have been more timely, coming on tax day Monday, with its ineffable sense of closing the book on an old year of missing receipts and W2s, and with spring busting out at the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

And Joshua Bolten, the new chief of staff, looks the part of a ``re-energizer.'' A young, nattily dressed former investment banker who alternates between riding a Harley and driving a pickup truck, Bolten is comfortable bowling with Bush and hanging with Bo Derek. He gets together with members of Congress even when there isn't a gun to his head.

It's easy to see why Bush has given Bolten authority to clean house. He doesn't like to do it himself -- he sent Dick Cheney to fire Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. And it holds the promise -- although rarely the reality -- of a quick fix to one of the least popular presidencies in modern history, except for those involving impeachment or resignation.

Who Cares?

The problem is most people don't know or care who has a hard pass to the White House. Beyond the Beltway, notes Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, ``whether Josh Bolten or Andy Card is chief of staff matters mainly to Bolten, Card, Bush and some White House staffers. Outside, people care about the war, gas prices and Katrina.''

You could offer a million dollars to anyone not hooked on Washington politics to name the former congressman who took Bolten's old job at the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday without fear of it being claimed. (It was Rob Portman.)

And if the White House is like other places, those you hope will leave won't, and those you want to stay will decide it's time for sleeping late and cashing in. When asked if he might oblige Bolten's please-leave-now request, McClellan, who would resign 24 hours later, answered with his trademark cluelessness, ``Two years in this position is a long time. . ..''

Then he remembered his standard response that he doesn't comment on personnel matters. ``Look, I never get into any of that speculation.''

Loaded Questions

But Scott, it's you we were asking about. It's not ``personnel,'' it's personal. It isn't a loaded question like when will Treasury Secretary John Snow finally take the hint and go. Or who will replace Claude Allen, Bush's fiercely anti-gay, pro-abstinence top domestic policy adviser, who was arrested for felony theft in February.

The most-talked-about changes involve process jobs like McClellan's, and political jobs like that of Karl Rove, who yesterday was moved on the organization chart from day-to-day politics to long-term politics.

There's too much politics and process already. No one thinks the ``Mission Accomplished'' banner wasn't beautifully produced when the president stood before it and announced the end to major combat operations in Iraq. Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln perfectly, and Tom Cruise couldn't have looked better in that flight suit. That was, oh, three years ago, by the way.

General Criticism

It's ironic that generals are speaking out against the Iraq war and calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign just as Bolten is out looking for a few good men. The administration calls the generals' criticisms inappropriate and insignificant. That would surely set a number of former generals to spinning in their graves, especially Presidents George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Jackson and Dwight Eisenhower.

And while there may well be 8,000 active and retired generals who haven't criticized the war, as a Pentagon memo noted, the six speaking out constitute a very high percentage of those who actually served in Iraq. What's more, they are the very ones cited by Bush and Rumsfeld as being listened to every step of the way on troop levels and tactics.

A rich source of talent for Bolten is those who have left or were driven out. That would be most of the number crunchers with a conscience, including the guy who knew the prescription drug bill would cost $700 billion, not $400 billion, and Larry Lindsey, who knew oil proceeds wouldn't begin to cover the cost of the Iraqi war. Then there's General Eric Shinseki, who knew that several hundred thousand troops for the occupation of Iraq wasn't ``wildly off the mark.''

Not Too Late, Colin

To save himself from obvious mistakes, Bolten could consult books by some who served, since no one currently employed would risk telling Bush the truth. They're the ones who didn't get a Medal of Freedom.

There is a former general who hasn't joined the six generals but who has begun to speak out. According to UPI, Colin Powell, at a recent speech in Chicago, said, ``We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. As a result an insurgency got started and . . . it got out of control.''

That's what happens when the Powell Doctrine is ignored, even by Powell himself.

It's not too late for a fresh start for Powell and his doctrine. He didn't want to leave when Bush showed him the door. He might be tired of tinkering with old Volvos and giving speeches. As he has in the past, he might answer the call of his country.

That's the kind of change that would be heard beyond the Beltway.

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 20, 2006 00:11 EDT