President Bush's nominee for Secretary of Education. The New York Times:

Announcing her nomination at the White House, Mr. Bush said that over the next four years, he and Ms. Spellings were "determined to extend the high standards and accountability measures of the No Child Left Behind Act to all of America's public high schools."

Ms. Spellings, 46, who had advised Mr. Bush on educational issues when he was governor of Texas, will take over from Rod Paige, the former superintendent of schools in Houston who was the first African-American secretary of education.

GOOD NEWS

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The good news is that Spellings will be focusing on No Child Left Behind. She has in the past helped the administration soften up some of the more nutball patches in NCLB. Even better, by spending her time on NCLB, where there is still a lot of room to negotiate and both sides are at least a little willing to compromise, Spellings may be able to steer clear of some of the wedge issues so important to the President's base, like school vouchers.

Most importantly, Spellings does not seem to share her predecessors views on the NEA. Former Education Secretary Rod Paige called the union "a terrorist organization" and refused to take it back. This made it difficult for him to work with said union. By contrast, NEA president Reg Weaver struck an optimistic note on Spellings nomination, calling it an "opportunity for the administration to change the tone of its discourse with the education community."

BAD NEWS

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The bad news is that Spelling's suitability for the job isn't what got her hired. It's her loyalty to the president. Bush is continuing to pack his cabinet with people who he trusts to be completely loyal to him. I suspect he feels like going outside his inner circle for his first cabinet was a mistake. The most notable outsiders he appointed in 2001 were Powell, Ashcroft, Tommy Thompson and Paul O'Neill. Ashcroft's occasional fits of sanctimony (covering statues and such) we're a continuing liability to the administration. Powell was worse: his loyalty to the President was never absolute, he occasionally questioned Bush's judgment. And O'Neill burned Bush so badly I wouldn't be surprised to see a dartboard with the former Treasury Secretary's photo in the president's residence.

Like Condi Rice or Alberto Gonzales, Spellings isn't going to be writing any books with Ron Suskind. The Times article continues:

In the White House, Ms. Spellings's office was down the corridor from that of Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist, who first introduced her to Mr. Bush when he was running for governor of Texas in 1994. ... Ms. Spellings is seen as closely attuned to the administration's thinking and political sensibilities.

In the case of Spelling (and Gonzales) I worry about the kind of mistakes that are made when otherwise smart and intelligent people willing to put absolute faith in the judgment of someone else.

I worry about the same thing with Rice, although we really don't know much about her views; she's been very much out of the public eye, even by the standards of someone who works in Henry Kissinger's old office. WhiteHouse.org's transcript of Bush announcing Rice's nomination ends, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: our new Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. She will have no comments. Not now. Not ever."

But I've digressed. Moving back to the President's continuing attempt to surround himself with what one aide to a senior Senate Democrat called "the amen chorus." The LA Times delves deep:

Despite promises to reach out to adversaries in the wake of his election victory, President Bush is assembling a second-term Cabinet that so far seems to reflect the dictum: Only longtime loyalists need apply.

Republicans close to the White House say that reflects the president's determination to act aggressively on his second-term priorities and to reinforce the storied discipline of a White House where internal disputes have been kept largely from public view. His appointments also could consolidate the president's power, solidify his conservative agenda and reduce the possibility that Cabinet agencies might undercut administration policy during his second term.

Though he has nominated replacements for only three Cabinet officials, Bush already has relied more heavily on White House insiders than did the previous two presidents who had the opportunity to form second-term Cabinets, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

While Bush adversaries may bemoan the departure of mavericks like O'Neill and Powell, the choice of insiders gives Bush an advantage most presidents seek.

"The ultimate goal of any administration is to have a well-disciplined Cabinet that thinks they work for the president," said Gary Andres, who served on the White House staff of Bush's father. "This is a way of maximizing the chances of that happening. It's a matter of trust, comfort."

The tightly controlled team approach also increases the administration's ability to accomplish its objectives through unilateral administrative rule-making in addition to legislative action, analysts said.

Presidential scholar Shirley Anne Warshaw, author of "The Keys to Power: Managing the Presidency," cited as an example the creation of a program to promote abstinence by the Department of Health and Human Services. She predicted there would be more such initiatives during Bush's second term.

"He'll have a very conservative, loyal Cabinet and sub-Cabinet that can govern administratively," Warshaw said. "If you narrow the focus of the agenda and promulgate the appropriate rules and regulations, you don't need to govern legislatively."

Apparently, the GOP majority on the hill is just gravy. This is not good.

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