If you're wondering who to blame for the domestic policies coming out of the Bush administration, you probably already know about Karl Rove and Andy Card. Here's a name you might not have heard before: Josh Bolten.
A NYTimes profile by Elizabeth Bumiller says Bolten pretty much controls who gets to see the president during the daily 45 minutes alloted to domestic policy. (We'll leap over for the moment that the White House devotes 45 minutes a day to domestic policy.)
Some interesting facts about Bolten (who was not interested in being interviewed, though his boss -- Rove -- seemed happy enough to talk):
- He's not a Texan; he grew up in D.C., where he attended the exclusive St. Alban's prep, then Princeton and Stanford Law.
- His dad was in the covert ops wing of the CIA.
- He worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was chief of staff to then-CEO Jon Corzine. Corzine is now a Democratic Senator from New Jersey. Corzine is also is the senator in charge of Democrats' senatorial campaign committee for the next election cycle.
- He's Jewish.
- He wears a beard.
Those bullet points make him sound an awful lot like Toby Ziegler.
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