President Bush officially nominated Representative Porter Goss to succeed John McLaughlin as Director of the CIA (DCIA). Goss, the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, is a Republican from the 14th Congressional District of Florida. He is a former CIA clandestine officer, and an accomplished Congressman. He is also a strong Bush supporter, and would prove to be an ideological ally for the President if confirmed.

Politically, the move is absolutely brilliant - Karl Rove at his best. Some Senate Democrats have attacked Goss as a partisan pick, and threatened to derail the nomination. Privately, many have said his nomination will be obstructed through parliamentary procedures and lengthy debate. If they follow through, however, Bush can use their obstruction as a political advantage. He’ll be able to capitalize on the public fervor over the 9/11 report by portraying the Dems as obstructionists that put partisan politics above reforming the defense establishment. And the public will eat it up. John Kerry won’t have a chance, and neither will some Southern Democrats aspiring for Senate seats. If the Democrats recognize the futility of that tactic and approve Goss, framing the issue as a bipartisan reform favoring neither candidate, Bush will have successfully gotten an ideological ally confirmed as DCIA. Either way, Bush wins.

The Democrats, for their part, will probably use the nomination as a televised platform to attack Bush administration intelligence failures. This is a very risky gambit, however, as RNC spin doctors could be able to spin this as the Dems putting partisan politics above true reform. Of course, if the Dems are able to successfully portray Bush as weak on intelligence, the gambit will pay off big time for John Kerry. We’ll just have to see how it plays out during the hearings, but I suspect the media will frame the issue as correcting Bush’s intelligence failures (thus giving the Democrats an excellent platform).

In any case, Bush wins. Even if the Dems use the hearings as an opportunity to lambast the President, either getting an ideological ally appointed to the CIA or acquiring a potent new political weapon is worth it. If Goss turns out to be a poor selection, or the Dems obstruct, Bush could then turn around and rapidly install a national intelligence director (as he has promised). That officer would supersede Goss, and would be immune from Congressional attacks (that’s real reform, and truly a third rail).