Bush discusses lengthy U.S. presence in Iraq

Question: Good morning, sir.

Mindful of the frustrations that many Americans are expressing to you, do you believe you need to make any adjustments in how you run the White House?

Many of your senior staffers have been with you from the beginning.  There are some in Washington who say...

President Bush: Wait a minute, is this a personal attack launching over here?

(Laughter)

Question: Some say they are tired and even tone-deaf.

(Laughter)

Even within your party, they say that maybe you need some changes.  Would you benefit from any changes to your staff?

President Bush: I've got a staff of people that have, first of all, placed their country above their self-interests.  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.

And I understand Washington's a great town for advice.  I get a lot of it:  sometimes in private from my friends and sometimes in public.  There are those who like to stand up and say to the president, "Here's what you ought to be doing."

And I understand that.

This isn't the first time during these five and a half years that people have felt comfortable about standing up, telling me what to do.  And that's OK.  I take it all in, and appreciate the spirit in which it's delivered, most of the time.

But, no, look, 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.

Obviously, there are some times when government bureaucracies haven't responded the way we wanted them to, and like citizens, you know, I don't like that at all.

I mean, I think, for example, of the trailers sitting down in Arkansas.  Like many citizens, I'm wondering why they're down there, you know.  How come we've got 11,000?

So I've asked Chertoff to find out, "What are you going to do with them?  The taxpayers aren't interested in 11,000 trailers just sitting there.  Do something with them."

And so I share that sense of frustration when a big government is unable to, you know -- it sends wrong signals to taxpayers.

But our people are good, hard-working people.

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