Photo of Wolfowitz courtesy of SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL
It was hardly an evening for merrymaking, and US President George W. Bush decided he wouldn't even try. Traditionally, the US president pokes fun at himself at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but with the Virginia Tech massacre still on everyone's minds, the timing at Sunday's dinner simply wasn't right.
There were other reasons for Bush to be somber as well. His press secretary Tony Snow has been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. Over in Iraq, last week's deadly suicide bombs made a mockery of Bush's push for more security in Baghdad.
And then there were the two guests sitting at the very back of the hall.
Alberto Gonzales, still the US Attorney General, and Paul Wolfowitz, still the World Bank President, smiled bravely through the show -- but it certainly wasn't out of smugness for their futures. All of Washington is puzzling over whether and when Bush will drop one or both of them. Indeed, not even Bush confidantes deny that a presidential coup de grace for Gonzales and Wolfowitz is long overdue. Both have lost the one quality that is absolutely indispensable for their offices: moral authority. Fredo and Wolfie facing unemployment (Read on) by Georg Mascolo
Mark Alexander
