ALTHOUGH GEORGE Bush does not formally leave office until midday on Tuesday, he might find the White House pretty lonely in the meantime.
By yesterday morning only about a third of administration staff were still at their posts. Far fewer than that are expected to turn up to work on Monday.
The influx of crowds to attend Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday means that it will be almost impossible for White House staff members to drive from Washington’s suburbs into work.
The capital’s security services, roughly 20,000 of whom will be managing the swelling crowds over the next three days, are planning to seal off all the bridges across the Potomac that link the suburbs in neighbouring Virginia to the capital.
Only a sucker for punishment – an estimated two to four million of whom are braving Washington’s sub-zero temperatures to catch a glimpse of history – would want to use the metro system. Taxis can be ruled out altogether.
“Most of my colleagues have already handed in their BlackBerrys, laptops and their White House security passes,” says Tony Fratto, Mr Bush’s spokesman.
There is still time, however, for last-minute decisions, and many are expecting the outgoing president to issue a flurry of “midnight” pardons. Of these, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, whose 30-month jail sentence for perjury was commuted by Mr Bush, is top of the list. “I hope he pardons Scooter,” Richard Armitage, a former Bush official, said. – (Financial Times service)