Bush's `Confidence' May Not Mean Gonzales Is Secure (Update1)

By Holly Rosenkrantz and Joe Sobczyk

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- For the third time in five weeks, President George W. Bush said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has his full confidence. That may not be good news for Gonzales.

Responding to questions yesterday about the mounting calls in Congress for Gonzales to resign for his handling of the firing of eight prosecutors last year, Bush said his attorney general ``is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence.''

In the Bush administration, such presidential declarations of support have often been a sign of trouble -- in many cases preceding an embattled official's ouster by weeks or even days -- showing there are limits to the loyalty the president has made a hallmark of his management style.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld received Bush's public support as dissent over the war in Iraq grew. Six days before congressional elections in November, Bush, 60, said Rumsfeld was doing a ``fantastic'' job and that he had no plans to replace him. One day after the election, Rumsfeld was gone. Bush then acknowledged he had begun looking for a replacement even as he vowed that Rumsfeld, 74, would stay on.

In September 2005, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown was showered with presidential praise even as residents of the Gulf Coast complained about the lack of federal assistance after Hurricane Katrina.

Bush's statement -- ``Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job'' -- became a punch line for comedians and a symbol of the administration's failure to respond effectively to the disaster. Brown, 52, was out of the job 10 days later.

Snow Fall

In some cases, the arc from praise to dismissal has been more drawn out. For the last 18 months of Treasury Secretary John Snow's 40-month tenure, Bush repeatedly dismissed speculation that his days were numbered.

Last May 25, the president said in response to a question that Snow was doing ``a fine job'' and that he hadn't talked to him about leaving. Five days later, Snow, 67, resigned and Bush announced the nomination of Henry Paulson, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to replace him.

White House Counsel Harriet Miers, a longtime Bush confidant, faced criticism from both parties the moment she was nominated to the Supreme Court in October 2005. Bush said he was confident Miers, 61, would be confirmed by the Senate after she explained ``the facts to people'' in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Withdrawn Nomination

Less than a month later, she asked that her nomination be withdrawn after Republican senators questioned her qualifications for the post. She returned to her position in the White House and left the administration last January.

Like Miers, Gonzales has been part of president's inner circle since Bush's days as governor of Texas. As the controversy over the firings of the U.S. attorneys has grown, Bush and his press staff have repeatedly been asked to give the measure of the president's confidence in Gonzales.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino was asked last week whether Bush ever gets tired of having to voice his support.

``When you're president of the United States and you have this many folks that you are employing, it's a pretty small number that he's had to express full confidence in,'' she said.

Bush said yesterday that Gonzales's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week ``increased my confidence in his ability to do his job.'' Lawmakers of both parties said that testimony raised new concerns because some of Gonzales's answers suggested he wasn't always aware of what was happening in his department.

Timing

While Gonzales, 51, may yet survive the controversy, Vin Weber, a former congressman and Republican strategist, said Bush ``has shown that people can wear out their welcome, as with Rumsfeld, but he won't let the timing be dictated.''

Kenneth Duberstein, a former chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, said Bush is ``giving an awful lot of loyalty to Gonzales,'' which may hurt the administration down the road. A weakened attorney general, he said, may be a handicap as Bush tries to push priorities such as an overhaul of immigration laws.

If Gonzales ``is going to work on that issue, he has to have the full confidence of Congress, not just the full confidence of the president,'' Duberstein said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net ; Joe Sobczyk in Washington at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 24, 2007 10:54 EDT

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