Just one point, fyi, is that I understand the administration asked anyone who didn’t want to stay on until the very end of the Bush term in January 2008 (yeah!) to submit their resignations before September, so that the White House could have their whole team in place for the last year and a half of the term, and not have to worry about people wanting to go back to private life during that last stretch. So that’s part of the reason there have been so many jumping ship this month, just for context.

Also, on the $168,000, even beyond any health costs, while $168,000 may seem like a lot to you or I, I’m sure it was a big paycut for Snow when he moved to the White House, and it’s not like he moved his family into a smaller house, or his kids into cheaper schools, and cheaper clothes, etc… etc… when he took the job (at least PROBABLY not). So, while a $168,000 salary is great, it’s perhaps not SO great for someone who has the monthly expenses of someone making $250,000 a year (I don’t actually know what Snow used to make, but I’m sure it’s significantly more than what the White House gave him). Anyone can live, or support a family on $168,000, but I wonder if Snow didn’t have trouble paying his mortgage at that salary. If I got $168,000 a year, I could upgrade everything in my life. Snow would probably have had to downgrade at that salary, and if he chose NOT to downgrade he could very well need to get back up to where he was now, to keep his family living the life they had become accustom too. For which, who can really blame him?