President Bush named White House budget director Joshua Bolten '76 his new chief of staff after Andrew Card, the current chief, announced his resignation.
At a brief Oval Office ceremony this morning, Bush described Bolten, who earlier served as deputy chief of staff, as a "creative policy thinker" and a man with "broad experience."
"He's an expert on the budget and our economy. He's respected by members of Congress from both parties; he's a strong advocate for effective accountable management in the federal government," Bush said.
In a short statement after Bush's announcement, Bolten praised the president and Card, saying he was excited to take up the post.
"You've set a clear course to protect our people at home, to promote freedom abroad and to expand our prosperity," Bolten said to the president. "I'm anxious to get to work."
In an interview two years ago with The Daily Princetonian, Bolten, then, as now, one of Bush's most trusted advisers, professed surprise that his alma mater's newspaper would want to speak with him.
"You guys must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel," he quipped.
Bolten worked in the U.S. Trade Representative's office in the first Bush administration, but he didn't meet the current president until early 1999, when he journeyed to Austin, Texas, to interview for a spot on the campaign.
"I found him to be sharp and energetic and charismatic," Bolten said in the interview, "and with a tremendous philosophical compass."
"Then a bunch of his friends came over for dinner, and he took us all to a [University of Texas] basketball game. So I knew he was my kind of guy," he added.
As policy director for the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, Bolten assembled a brain trust of experts to advise the Republican candidates on a wide range of issues. Many of those experts — including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz — went on to take senior positions in the administration.
In the wake of increasing problems for the administration, Bush has come under mounting pressure in recent months from members of his own party to shake up the White House staff.
As recently as two weeks ago, however, news reports indicated that Card planned to stay on the job at least until September, when he would have broken the record of longest-serving chief of staff.
More to come.
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