Starting to Learn

Bush Preparing for Greenspan Successor

It appears journalists have learned something from the nomination of Harriet Miers that they hadn't quite mastered before: When Bush is called on to fill an important position, the most important qualification for the job is a personal one. Hence this list of top contenders to fill Alan Greenspan's post:

Drawing frequent mentions for Greenspan's job are:

-Ben Bernanke: A former Fed board member, he recently became Bush's top economist.

-Martin Feldstein. An economics professor at Harvard University and president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, he advised Bush when the Texas governor ran for president in 2000.

-R. Glenn Hubbard. Dean of Columbia University's graduate school of business and an economics professor, he was Bush's chief economic adviser from 2001 to 2003.

See how a connection to Bush is part of each person's one-sentence description? Looks like the press smells a trend...and realizes that picking Roberts, in that he was chosen for his qualifications first and Bush's warm feelings toward him second, was an aberration.