The Right Man for a Dirty Job

WASHINGTON: Well, John Podesta's transition to his new post as White House chief of staff should at least be smooth. Outgoing chief Erskine Bowles said last month he "hadn't spent two minutes a week" on the Lewinsky scandal -- which means that for the past 10 months it's been Podesta's full-time task. And on Tuesday President Clinton, with impeachment hearings ready to roll in a few weeks, sounded happy to have a specialist on the job.

But of course he couldn't say that. Podesta "entered public service for the right reasons and he has certainly stayed there for the right reasons," said Clinton, introducing the political bodyguard who made his name digging dirt for Michael Dukakis in '88. "He knows how the White House works, but even more importantly, he knows why the White House ought to work and for whom every single one of us does work." And of course whom -- for the next two years (or maybe less) -- the White House is going to be working against.