The A-Team

First it was Fred Fielding. Then Hank Paulsen. Then Robert Gates. Then Tony Snow. Then Ed Gillespie.

And now the president has an opportunity to pick somebody strong for attorney general.

The A-Team is assembling at the White House, just in time.

If ever there was a need for the U.S. Cavalry, that time is now.

With approval ratings hovering in the low 30s and with a hostile Democratic Congress investigating every White House decision from what to have for breakfast to how to fire some U.S. attorneys, this A-Team will get a lot of work.

Usually, going into the last year of a lame-duck president, the staff flees for bigger jobs on the outside.

But this new gang has left big jobs to come back to the White House.

The average salary of the top five was well north of a million dollars, so they are all taking significant pay cuts to help out the president and the country in this time of need. Tony Snow said as much when he said he would probably have to leave for financial reasons before the president’s time is through.

If this A-Team can get the president’s approval ratings to be better than 40 percent, it can declare mission accomplished. And that will be a tall order.

We are in an unpopular war. The economy is starting to falter because of the subprime loan mess. And let’s face it:  The American people want a fresh face in the White House.

But the A-Team can start making some progress by restoring the president’s credibility, by beating back the Democrats’ tax and spend plans, and by coming up with a realistic definition of victory in Iraq.

With Al Gonzales gone, a face of incompetence has exited the stage. The A-Team is coming to the rescue. Things are looking up at the White House.