Laura Is the Only Valuable Woman for Bush

President Bush should thank his wife every day.

Why? Because she is about the only woman in the Bush inner circle who has not been a big disappointment. Check the list:

• Secretary of State Condi Rice has not set the world on fire at her important post. She has done a lot of traveling with little to show for it. She was more suited to her earlier job as national security adviser. State has many job vacancies, and morale is reportedly low.
• Harriet Miers has gone home to Texas after serving as counsel to Bush. Her surprise nomination to the Supreme Court was a political and personal disaster. Even hard-line conservatives howled no after Bush announced her as his choice.
• Karen Hughes was Bush's alter ego, who reportedly could finish his sentences—not always easy—when he was governor of Texas and in his first term as president. Hughes left for Texas, then returned to the State Department to improve America's image in the world. It has been downhill ever since. A smile and soccer balls don't change minds.
• Mary Matalin left the White House after service as Dick Cheney's key adviser in the first term. She managed to infuriate reporters with her arrogant attitude and by playing favorites. Few tears were shed when she departed.
• Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, still another Texan the president brought to Washington, deserves some credit for her work on the No Child Left Behind program. The trouble is that funding is lacking now. And Spellings's agency is caught up in a dispute over loans to college students who are paying exorbitantrates from lenders.
• Finally, there is Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, who brings out the darker side of her husband. It seems she can't understand why people who knew Cheney years ago don't recognize the man today.

So, Mr. President, that is why you should thank your wife every day.