It is still politics as usual in Washington. The archivist of the United States, John Carlin, the man with ultimate responsibility for for the nation's historical documents, was asked to resign some months ago by the Bush administration. That is a surprise, as the Bush administration cannot fire him. Carlin submitted the resignation but then "went public" with the story. He is still in office, awaiting the appointjent of his successor.
President George W. Bush nominated a new archivist last May, historian Allen Weinstein. But the Weinstein nomination ran into trouble in the Senate after almost two dozen organizations of historians and archivists expressed concern. Eight months later, the Weinstein nomination appears stalled. So Carlin remains archivist and is now in charge of the release of George H.W. Bush's presidential papers, some of which probably are controversial. All this happened despite the actions of the present Bush administration.
Jon Wiener has an interesting article about this at http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/editorial/10732349.htm
