By: E&P Staff Michael Gerson, a key aide and speechwriter for President Bush until this summer, will soon join the Washington Post as op-ed columnist, the paper announced today. Gerson will start in January with a twice-weekly column that will also be syndicated.
Later, in an online chat at the paper's Web site, Howard Kurtz noted concerns about Gerson's independence, but pointed out that the Post has a number of liberal columnists.
"Mike is well-known as an eloquent writer and provocative thinker, and I'm thrilled he's decided to do this," said editorial page editor Fred Hiatt in a statement. "I'm sure that, with other recent additions such as Eugene Robinson and Ruth Marcus, Mike will contribute to the liveliness, thoughtfulness and unpredictability of our op-ed page."
Hiatt told Kurtz that Gerson, 41, has "a really interesting mind" and being "a different kind of conservative from the other conservatives on our page. . . . He's been part of this White House, but I expect he will be an independent voice."
Gerson, who will also contribute to Newsweek, the Post's sibling, added, "I'm going to call them the way I see them. I don't believe in criticism for the sake of criticism."
Gerson, a member of the White House Iraq Group, has been credited with several memorable Bush phrases, including "axis of evil." He has been active in the religious community, and in its February 1, 2005 issue, Time Magazine called him the nation's 9th most influential evangelical, labeling him "The President's Spiritual Scribe." It said, "The former journalist shares Bush's devout Christian faith and his view that the role of Providence in human affairs should be reaffirmed in the public square."
Gerson's previous jobs included working for Charle Colson, as a senior editor at U.S. News and World Report, and at the Heritage Foundation.
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