White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation on Wednesday, continuing a minor shakeup of the president's cabinet.
McClellan made the announcement during an appearance with Bush on the South Lawn of the White House just before the president left for a trip to Alabama.
McClellan told Bush, 'I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary.'
Bush admitted McClellan had 'a challenging assignment' as he was frequently challenged with difficult questions by the press corps over the war in Iraq and the Valerie Plame leak case.
'I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity,' the president said. 'It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days.'
Published reports also indicate that Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove, will no longer be involved directly in policy coordination and will instead concentrate on the 2006 mid-term elections. Although no official announcement has been made, insiders speaking on condition of anonymity have said that Rove will be replaced as deputy chief of staff by Joel Kaplan. Kaplan has served as the assistant to new Bush chief of staff Joshua Bolten.
Additional shakeups of the Bush cabinet and staff are possible. Thus far, the changes appear to be cosmetic and the replacements also come from those who are already close to the president. It remains to be seen if new faces will result in any significant changes in the way the White House operates.
