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After Carter told Califano that his resignation had been accepted, the President said: "Your performance has been superb. The department has never been better run." The following morning, when Califano brought his formal resignation to the Oval Office, Carter joked: "I assume you don't need help in getting a job." Indeed not. Califano is expected to return to his $500,000-a-year Washington law practice. He did not go gently into that good night: in his letter of resignation, he took a swipe at Carter's reluctance to support major new spending on social problems. Said Califano: "It has been a deeply enjoyable and satisfying experience to administer so many of the programs enacted into law under President Lyndon Johnson," in whose Administration Califano served as an adviser on domestic affairs.
Next came Griffin Bell, who had long been asking to leave. His departure was no surprise. Third was Michael Blumenthal, who was making up his mind to quit in any case. He was fed up with his endless fights with Carter's aides over economic policy. Blumenthal has long felt only contempt for them, particularly for Jordan. A self-made millionaire, Blumenthal looked down on most of the other White House staffers as kids who came from campus to campaign to staff and lacked practical experience. One exception: Domestic Adviser Stuart Eizenstat, even though he and Blumenthal were at constant loggerheads.
The White House brief against Blumenthal was chiefly disloyalty: too frequently his aides leaked to reporters Blumenthal's policy recommendations to Carter. The memos usually urged the Administration to pursue a tough, conservative economic policy. White House aides felt that Blumenthal's staff was constantly criticizing Carter for his economic policy decisions. They never forgave him for the investigation into Bert Lance's finances by the comptroller of the currency, who is a member of the Treasury Department. The President's men also complained that Blumenthal was no help in winning support for Administration policies in Congress or in the business community. Finally, 1½ months after Blumenthal was officially designated the Administration's chief economic spokesman, he lost Carter's personal confidence. Said a Treasury official: "When Mike would get going on his ideas, the President's eyes would glaze over."