In Bush Inc. be early, wear a tie

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

WASHINGTON - Some things remain the same. In photographs the nation's flag, the Stars and Stripes, still looms large over the President's right shoulder.

During cabinet sessions it is still the President who gets to sit in the chair with the highest back. There are other similarities of course, but observers in Washington are increasingly pointing out the sharp difference in style between that of the some what laid-back, freewheeling but inspirational former President Bill Clinton, and the business-like George W. Bush.

They say that not since the days of President Dwight D. Eisenhower has an Administration so strongly had the feel of being run like a blue-chip business.

"For some time people have been saying that there is more of a business style to this Administration," said Dana Milbank, a White House correspondent with the Washington Post. "Staff meetings begin at 7.30 am, then there are a series of meetings at 8.15 am, at 8.30 am, and so on."

And that is just the start of it. The Bush Administration has laid down a whole series of rules for its own staff which govern everything from dress code and punctuality and even stretch to how much time employees should spend with their families at the weekend. Welcome to Bush Inc., where the President is chairman of the board and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney, assumes the role of chief executive.

For those whose view of the White House is based largely on the Clinton years or else The West Wing - an admittedly addictive television show - it may come as a something of a shock to learn of the efficient and ordered way in which the office is run.

Even Karen Hughes, Bush's adviser, was frowned at by the President when she arrived 10 minutes late for a meeting on Social Security because she had been briefing the press about the Vice-President's most recent heart operation. "I looked at him and said 'Mr President it was for a good reason',"she revealed this week.

Others, perhaps more wise to the regime, make no such mistakes however understandable. The Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, will always halt senior staff meetings at 7.58 am - even if someone is in mid-sentence - so that he can be prompt for the President's intelligence briefing at 8 am.

In addition to the early starts there are a series of so-called 'Bush's White House Rules' which are known by all employees. These include wearing a jacket and tie at all times, keeping briefing papers short, being on time or early for meetings. At the same time, the President does not want employees to be workaholics and expects them to spend time with their families. "[The President] knows how to get that all-important battery re-charged," said a senior official.

There are other ways in which the corporate style has become all-assuming at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. "The thing is structured in part to keep people off balance so that power is not gathered in any one place," said Milbank. "Bush is a great one for delegating. There is a great emphasis on marketing the message ... letting others handle the details while he is out there selling the product."

Bush personally spends much less time on issues than did Clinton. While Bush is at work most mornings by 7 am, he also leaves at 6.30 pm and rarely bothers his officials in the evening. By contrast Clinton arrived at work later, but stayed longer, took less time off at weekends and was famous for making rounds of calls to aides in the evening.

Bush's supporters reject the idea that he is a hands-off President, in the way that some say Ronald Reagan was. "Reagan was used to, if you like, getting stage direction," Card says. "He was ready to accept suggestions like, 'Stand on this X. Sit in this chair."'

A final factor in all of this may be Bush's realisation that unlike the Senate or the House of Representatives, the White House is the only bureaucracy in Washington that can change to fit the personality of the President. At the White House he is the boss.

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Herald Online feature: Claiming the White House