A key member of Barack Obama’s past and future team of aides has learned the hard way that “transparency” cuts both ways when it comes to the potential for evidence of one’s moments of private revelry—or tomfoolery—to travel far and wide on the Internet in a flash.
The newspaper has brought on as a columnist Michael Gerson, the man who coined the term “Axis of Evil.” Time magazine called the evangelical writer “The President’s Spiritual Scribe.”
Michael Gerson wrote every major speech of Bush’s presidency, led a crusade to fund the fight against AIDS, malaria and poverty, and pushed for stronger action in Darfur. He also formulated Bush’s plan to spread democracy around the globe—with somewhat mixed results. No apparent scandal here: He’d been talking about leaving since 2004.