Editorial: Bush Administration

The Bush administration is losing a valuable team. Robert Zoellick, well known inside Washington, not so well outside, is leaving for private life.

The esteem in which he is held was evident in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s decision to hold a well-publicized State Department ceremony to wish her top deputy well. “Our nation is stronger and safer because of your work,” she said. And possibly because one hasn’t been chosen yet, the farewell was not diluted by simultaneously naming his successor.

At State, Zoellick, 52, had principal responsibility for dealing with China, but he set his mark in the six years he served as the president’s trade representative. One of the Bush administration’s overlooked achievements is its commitment, with only occasional lapses, to free trade. Zoellick handled negotiations with the World Trade Organization, talks that resulted in free trade agreements around the globe, and dealings with Congress that led to the removal of a major obstacle to U.S.-China trade.

Zoellick also held major posts at State and Treasury in the administration of Bush senior. Unlike many political appointees, it can’t be said that he lacked for experience and credentials.

He is departing while there is still time enough left in Bush’s term to recruit a qualified successor, someone who can do more than just keep the seat warm while the clocks runs out.

It is no secret that Zoellick had hoped to be named Treasury secretary, but that post went to Henry Paulson whose old firm, Goldman Sachs, Zoellick will be joining. He could not be blamed if he felt just a little peevish that his long service to the presidents Bush was not capped with a Cabinet post. Instead, he said graciously, “If I were the president, I would have picked Hank Paulson too.”

There are lots of learned papers and protocols about accepting a top Washington job. Zoellick is a textbook example of how to leave one.