The Washington Post has an article today entitled “Senior White House Staff May Be Wearing Down”. It details the daily routines by senior staffers such as Andrew Card and how they may be on the verge of quitting:

Of all the reasons that President Bush is in trouble these days, not to be overlooked are inadequate REM cycles. Like chief of staff Card, many of the president’s top aides have been by his side nonstop for more than five years, not including the first campaign, recount and transition. This is a White House, according to insiders, that is physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks.

As much as you disagree with or dislike the White House you got to agree that they have gone through stressful times with Bush. Of course most of that stress has been brought on by their actions so there is no one to blame but themselves.

The article even identifies other key problem areas affecting the White House:

Bush’s problems go beyond the fatigue factor. An unpopular foreign war, high energy prices and the nation’s worst natural disaster in decades have dragged his poll ratings down to the lowest level of any second-term president, other than Richard M. Nixon, in the last half-century. Lately it seems to many in the White House that they cannot catch a break — insurgents blow up a holy shrine in Iraq, tipping the country toward civil war; Vice President Cheney accidentally shoots a hunting partner; a former top Bush adviser is arrested on theft charges.

Of course reading that makes one think that the White House is just having a bout of bad luck but that is far from the case. The only thing that could be remotely considered bad luck is Cheney’s shooting incident and we don’t know and never will know all the details on that.

What has happened in Iraq is no shock. War opponents warned of this before we ever invaded. Even some top Military commanders gave the warnings but the White House response was to get rid of them. Bush was ready to go to war and even two months before the invasion he had no idea what if any difference there was between the Shia, Shiites and Kurds. That spells out a very serious problem when the commander in chief does not understand the very sensitive religious divides in a country we are getting ready to invade.

Katrina has no one else to blame but the White House when it comes to their problems. They flat out lied about their knowledge of the levees breaching and got exposed in that lie. Instead of dropping his vacation and photo ops, the President choose to ignore the suffering of tens of thousands of American citizens and continue to go out and give speeches on the West Coast. He left the incident in the hands of a crony who it turns out was being ignored by his superiors and the President.

What this all seems to go back to is Bush’s constant stance on “loyalty”. That value in him is also his downfall. It doesn’t matter what someone does, they can leak the name of a covert CIA agent or accept illegal bribes from a convicted lobbyists, as long as they are friends of Bush he lets that all slide. He ignored the laws, ethics and responsibility in the name of loyalty and that is his serious downfall. His first loyalty should be to the people of the United States and that should be without question. If he can not give that then he has no right to be President.

Now we are left in a waiting game to see who remains. Chances are there will be no staff changes. Of course should the Democrats regain control of one or both houses this fall and start some well overdo and deserved investigations then Bush could find himself with a whole new staff in the next year or two. No matter what happens, this article definitely gives us a preview of what is to come. The White House will blame everyone else and never accept blame for their own shortcomings.