Moderate Bush Official Resigns, Feeling ‘Marginalized’ And ‘Subordinate’
Moderate Bush Official Resigns, Feeling ‘Marginalized’ And ‘Subordinate’
Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Robert Zoellick’s resignation as Deputy Secretary of State. Last Friday Zoellick said he was resigning because “he had accomplished his objective of helping Rice set up her management team and get her tenure as Secretary of State off to a fast start.” He has accepted a position at Goldman Sachs.
While loyal to the Bush administration, Zoellick was one of its few moderates. But like other moderates in the White House, he was increasingly left without significant influence, which associates hint may have been the real reason for his departure:
In addition, friends said, Mr. Zoellick had at times felt marginalized at the State Department, where his subordinates, including R. Nicholas Burns, an under secretary of state, manage most of the major issues.
Zoellick has told administration officials he will leave, probably to a Wall Street firm, if he isn’t named to replace Treasury Secretary John Snow, two persons familiar with the matter said.
From his first days at the State Department, Mr. Zoellick has chafed at his subordinate position, frequently remarking that he was finding the adjustment difficult after running his own office during four years as United States trade representative, which is a cabinet position.
Instead of promoting capable moderates such as Zoellick, the Bush administration continues to hire partisans who are unlikely to fulfill Bush’s promise to “change the tone” in Washington.
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I really don’t know the first thing about Zoellick, but if he was one of the true moderates, I guess I would have preferred he try and stay and exert influence (or else scream bloody murder) than parachute to Sachs.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:37 pmYou can’t change the tone until you change the tune.
50 Ways To Dump The Dubya
June 19th, 2006 at 1:37 pmlistening to podesta on radio.What an idiot. talk about marginalized. Whack job is the word.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:37 pmRobert Zoellick, Minister of Panda Affairs. I don’t see how he can think he’s marginalized…
June 19th, 2006 at 1:37 pmNot again.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:38 pmBush himself is marginal, so he needs to resign ASAP!
June 19th, 2006 at 1:49 pmIsn’t there a revolving door connecting Goldman Sachs and the White House? I am sure that Zoellick won’t be gone from Capitol Hill for long.
Sad, though, that people who are actually qualified for jobs are passed over for political friends of the president.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:50 pmIt is obvious that in the Bush white house, loyalty is valued over competancy.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:56 pmFrom the NYTimes article:
I didn’t realize we had a “policy toward Sudan” or a “response to Darfur.” Marginalized might be a huge understatement.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:58 pmBig surprise …
June 19th, 2006 at 2:06 pmDude got to frolick with pandas, who’d wanna leave that!?
June 19th, 2006 at 2:18 pmhe resigned; now he must fight the panda
June 19th, 2006 at 2:19 pmBush should hire the panda. It would make for great photo ops
June 19th, 2006 at 2:23 pmI’m feeling a little marginalized & subordinated myself.
June 19th, 2006 at 2:25 pmGoldman Sachs hasn’t called yet, but Bushit & Co keep
reminding me I’m not a true Patriot.
I was brought up believing a true Patriot’s first duty is to
protect citizens from the Gov’t. I still believe that. In fact,
it’s more true today than ever.
While Rove & the rest that ‘never served’ call us traitors,
they’re calling proud men who did serve cowards.
See?
Be a true Patriot. Protect yourself from the draft dodgers.
Never, ever give up.
The real question here is why was the panda picture used? And why does it look like he’s attacking the panda?
June 19th, 2006 at 2:41 pmChimp has to be smarter than his employees – therefore only the incompetent are eligible for promotions.
June 19th, 2006 at 2:48 pmAnd why does it look like he’s attacking the panda?
Comment by squegeeboo — June 19, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
Only you neocons see violence in a panda photo…
June 19th, 2006 at 2:50 pmWow, well, any port in a storm has claimed another victim.
Zoellick, Mr. NAFTA, Mr. CAFTA, is a co-conspirator of the Bush Crime Family.
Do you know that the Bushies are putting a super-highway through the middle of our country, bisecting it in order to expedite moving Mexican product to Canada, without involving U.S. labor unions?
Thank Zoellick, Fox, and the anti-American crowd in the Shitehouse. Apparently Kansas City (and the federal gov’t, cough) is creating a sovereign Mexican outpost there. Want to give up U.S. land to Mexico? Start in Kansas City.
Spraying poisons from the air in Colombia, taking down Haiti, attempting a coup in Venezuela, building up troops for an upcoming invasion of Bolivia, working to keep Pinochet free, coordinating efforts to break the backs of native peoples all over the hemisphere, Zoellick has been there, on the front lines of those conspiracies and acts of economic terrorism.
What a fricking hero. “Capable moderate”? Think Progress, wipe the cowpie from your eyes.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:11 pmSome tough talk from Paul Krugman this morning on the Republicans and the ways in which they use the rhetoric of “class warfare” to achieve their ends.
Because a party whose economic policies favor a narrow elite needs to focus the public’s attention elsewhere.
[ troll and seixon are nowhere near elite goopers status, they are however deluded into grandiose visions of gooperism]
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Do you know that the Bushies are putting a super-highway through the middle of our country, bisecting it in order to expedite moving Mexican product to Canada, without involving U.S. labor unions? –Paul in LA
The central injustice of capitalism, according to Marx, was in the exploitation and alienation of labor.
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart …
June 19th, 2006 at 3:31 pmhttp://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497
Wow.
The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union†that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
I would hate to own property in the path of the Bush emminent domain machine.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:36 pmjust wait til the pandas invade
June 19th, 2006 at 4:30 pmModerates are damaging to both parties. Only the extremes can carry any real power. The middle spends all of its time trying to remain in the middle.
June 19th, 2006 at 5:45 pmThat’s why he left!! he took the gay mariage issue one step too far when he wanted to marry his panda. Do you support panda marriage?? panda pride eh?
June 19th, 2006 at 6:27 pm#23 moonbat patrol/chris,
June 20th, 2006 at 12:51 amThat was a good one, chris–really. It gave me a chuckle.
I like panda meat. It tastes just like chicken.
June 20th, 2006 at 4:56 am[...] Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has announced his resignation. The blog Think Progress posits that Zoellick arises out of his lack of influence as a moderate. [...]
June 20th, 2006 at 12:50 pm