Politics of Loyalty: History Shows Rough Road Ahead for Gonzales

March 21, 2007— -- President Bush's strong defense of his embattled attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, has sparked discussion of how loyal Bush is to his lieutenants, or at least those who have a long history with him.

He and Gonzales have a personal and professional relationship going back to their Texas days. Bush called him Tuesday morning to affirm his backing and later unequivocally told reporters, "He's got support from me."

It's not that Bush has trouble firing people. Just ask Paul O'Neill, Bush's first treasury secretary.

O'Neill's loyalty was suspect at the White House, and he was given the boot at least in part because the president and Vice President Dick Cheney felt he was too concerned about budget deficits and not strong enough in his support of tax cuts.

Colin Powell also found that Bush was perfectly happy to see his secretary of state depart. After Bush's re-election in 2004, Powell informed the White House he intended to resign but was willing to stay on for several months or longer to work on unfinished business. Bush's top aide, Andy Card, told a stunned Powell it would be better for him to leave sooner rather than later. He did.

Donald Rumsfeld seemed to have the job of defense secretary as long as Bush was in the White House. During the 2006 congressional election campaign, Bush gave Rumsfeld solid backing. But as soon as the election results were in, Bush unloaded one of the chief architects of the Iraq War.

It is a political maxim that any president's underlings are supposed to be loyal to the person in the Oval Office. The chief executive's loyalty to them is a murkier business.

Bush is getting credit now for his two-way loyalty with Gonzales, who has served him long and faithfully. No one knows whether at some point Bush will believe his old friend has become a political liability and jettison him.

Other presidents have reluctantly come to that conclusion about aides they valued and trusted. Some of those aides resigned as a sign of their loyalty. Some resigned rather than be fired.