What They're Saying About The White House Changes

Two of the more well-known names at the Bush White House became part of the staff shakeup going on under new Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.

Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has been taken off of day-to-day policy decisions and will concentrate on the area he knows best - politics.

And White House spokesman Scott McLellan is out altogether.

The Wall Street Journal Online's Washingon Wire says the changes are mostly about perception, aimed at putting a savvier voice then McClellan's on Bush policy and at appeasing critics who say politics and policy have been too closely tied under Rove.

Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst who is well known inside the Beltway, says he doubts the changes will have much effect on Bush's political fortunes. As a guest columnist on the Political Wire blog Rothenberg says the changes are not of the magnitude that will catch the attention of the general public. He says a change at, say, Secretary of Defense might catch the public's eye. Rothenberg has his own blog, the Rothenberg Political Report, which is worth checking regularly.

The opinion journals, right and left, have not weighed yet on their Web sites, but it's certain they will. We'll keep you posted. Meanwhile the New York Times has a scorecard of sorts on the changes.