Just last week, President Bush indicated he was resisting calls from within his party to shake up his senior staff. Today, he has reversed that stand and will announce the resignation of his chief of staff, Andrew Card:

White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Josh Bolten, an administration official said Tuesday…

At a White House news conference last week, Bush was asked about rumors that a shakeup in the White House staff was in the works. Bush said he was “satisfied with the people I’ve surrounded myself with.”

“I’ve got a staff of people that have, first of all, placed their country above their self-interests,” he said at the time. “These are good, hard- working, decent people. And we’ve dealt with a lot. We’ve dealt with a lot. We’ve dealt with war. We’ve dealt with recession. We’ve dealt with scandal. We’ve dealt with Katrina.

“I mean, they’ve had a lot on their plate. And I appreciate their performance and their hard work and they’ve got my confidence,” he said.

Bush said, “I’m satisfied with the people I’ve surrounded myself with. We’ve been a remarkably stable administration, and I think that’s good for the country.”