Bush powerless as CIA leak probe unfolds

[sabra]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/news/ci_3124405

Bush powerless as CIA leak probe unfolds

WASHINGTON — It's not often that President Bush, who casts himself as decisive and bold, is cut off from decisions of grave importance to his presidency.
But as he and his team brace for the results of a lengthy CIA leak investigation that has reached inside his famously cloistered White House, Bush is watching, powerless, from the sidelines.

The immediate risks for the president are clear: the possible indictment of Karl Rove, one of his closest and most influential advisers; I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's powerful chief of staff; or others in his administration. What may be harder to measure is the effect on Bush and his presidency of such blows, which could come during the next two weeks, when Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor leading the probe of how a covert CIA agent's identity was exposed, is expected to wrap up his two-year investigation.

....

A Rove indictment would shake the White House and damage Bush at a time of intense difficulty, robbing the president of the strategist he has relied on since his earliest days in politics and tainting Bush and the rest of his inner-circle by association.

"It's basically the figurative end of the Bush administration," said Paul C. Light, a New York University public service professor who specializes in the federal bureaucracy.

[soothsayer]

1. The figurative end of the * administration. Not as nice as them all

dropping dead (over happiness at the greatness of their reign and good works for the country), but I'll take it!

[ck4829]

2. "Bush powerless"

Seeing this text is a work of art in itself.