Reply #14: This does seem to be a pattern...retiring people before they accumulate

[Dover]

too much baggage or too many hits and the press gets their hooks into them...but staying in long enough to do some serious damage. Hard to hit a moving target....rolling stones gather no moss, etc. This is in keeping with corporate procedures.
I'm sure all those who have left the Bush administration (and that list is getting long) have cushy jobs awaiting them as a reward.