The Nerve Center: Lessons in Governing from the White House Chiefs of Staff

Chapter 3. Refocusing the White House

refocusing the white house • 47 chapter 3 Refocusing the White House The demands placed on the president’s staV, the character of the nerve center itself, make staV turnover inevitable. Often that change begins with the chief of staV. When a chief of staV leaves, the president Wnds someone new to take on the core functions of the White House, its organizational routines, its divided and probably sputtering operation, a likely crisis, and its inevitable tensions . The discussion in this section covers all of those issues. It includes the cast of former chiefs of staV who have taken on such a call to duty, when things have not gone well and the president needs help. While this section covers many of the same issues as the discussion on transitions , such as recruitment and access, the focus here is on those issues in a new context: when authority and responsibility have no clear focus. Appropriately enough, then, these discussions begin with the president’s commitment on basic authority for a new chief of staV. Often that new authority lays the foundation for a reorientation of White House operations, to a new discipline and a new focus. These chiefs of staV discuss the sensitivity of change and how to properly make this diYcult transition from old routines to new ones—a transition often as delicate as that Wrst one, from old to new administration . White House discipline, of course, begins with theWhite House staV. Some expect that a new chief facing tough times would best serve the president by “cleaning house,” moving out experienced staV who have developed bad habits and replacing them with a White House staV attuned to the new circumstances and the new chief of staV. Others make clear that a new chief, especially one facing an imminent crisis, cannot aVord to lose all of the expertise accumulated in experienced staV. These two sides of the problem present a variation on the dilemma of discipline: how can a new chief proceed to restore the Untitled-7 6/17/04, 12:02 PM 47 48 • chapter 3 president’s fortunes and reorient the White House when so many have adapted to the chaos? The executive branch provides another variation on the dilemma of discipline . The cabinet agencies, of course, perform policy functions parallel to the White House staV. StaV in the cabinet agencies and those in the National Security Council take up the slack when the central White House staV falters, partly to protect their own policy ambitions, entwined with the president’s, and partly to exert their own initiative, where they have diVered from theWhite House. The new chief of staV must reassert the role of the central White House staV and orchestration. How can these new chiefs recover their central position in the president’s team? Many observers think that a chief’s control and, hence, White House discipline, begins with the president’s schedule. Where presidents face enormous temptations to rely on other executive branch actors , and where opportunities for “oh, by the way” decisions have multiplied in the vacuum, a new chief must gain control of the president’s time and initiative . How can they do that? Because of their experiences, the former chiefs of staV in this discussion have a range of insights into the nature of partisan crisis, the dilemma of eVectiveness . Since each has come into oYce in the midst of some challenging situation , each has recommendations for how to wall oV a crisis, gain control of its momentum, and restore White House routines. Since much of that focus begins with the president’s own activities, scheduling again becomes the narrows a new chief must guard. PARTICIPANTS Bill Plante (CBS News) Howard Baker, Jr. (Reagan) Erskine Bowles (Clinton) Leon Panetta (Clinton) Samuel Skinner (Bush) CRITICAL AUTHORITY mr. plante: The special context for this second session is coming in and taking over, most of the time after a perceived problem or diYculty. Most of the members of this panel were in the position of having to change things about the way the staV was working. So we will ask them to reXect on their Untitled-7 6/17/04, 12:02 PM 48 refocusing the white house • 49 experiences, the lessons they learned. We’ll ask them how they functioned as they took over in midcourse. You came to your jobs because there was a perceived need for change, whether there had...