Ted Olson for Attorney General

Now that Alberto Gonzales is gone, I think Ted Olson would be a smart pick for Attorney General. I have a huge disclaimer to make here which is that Ted Olson was my attorney in the CIA Leak case, representing both me and Time Inc. as we appealed to the Supreme Court to quash the subpoena that I'd been given to reveal sources. As I noted in Conde Nast Portfolio, I was disappointed with Olson when he suggested that he might assist the team representing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in his perjury-and-obstruction trial. I declined to give Olson permission and he graciously agreed. So that's my history with him, one I outline at length in my piece in the September issue of Conde Nast Portfolio. Olson is an extraordinarily smart jurist and his conservative politics are a good fit for the administration in which he's already served as Solicitor General. Being Attorney General would be a fine capstone to his career. I think any aspirations he might have had to be on the Supreme Court are now gone. He turns 67 on September 11, the day, tragically, his wife Barbara was killed six years ago on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Olson is supporting Giuliani this cycle and if the former New York Mayor is elected president, he can keep Olson in the job. Olson is the kind of distinguished attorney who can restore credibility to Main Justice, as the RFK building is known. I've had my disagreements with him but I think he's the right man for the job. I think the second best choice is Larry Thompson, the Pepsico executive who was Ashcroft's #2. It would give Bush the chance to appoint the first African-American attorney general, something that, I will be $100, the next Democratic president will do if they get the chance. It'll cement Bush's legacy as a racial pathbreaker--See Powell and Rice--and Thompson is well liked. I can't believe in the end they would really pick Chertoff who has the Katrina disaster on his watch. (Remember all those ridiculous press conferences about help being on the way?) And then the administration would have to fill two cabinet posts, clearing them with a Democratic Senate.

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