The financial hardship of serving one’s country

You have to feel bad for poor Tony Snow, Press Secretary to President Bush. You see, Tony really really loves the job — he’s full of passion for it — but darn it, he just can’t afford to fight the good fight anymore. According to reports on CNN and the AP, Tony will have to leave sometime before the Bush administration ends, for “financial reasons”:

“I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.”

Oh, by the way, Tony makes about $168,000 each year as Press Secretary. But he can’t afford to stay, because “he felt he needed to make some more money to help his family, which includes children readying for college.”

There’s something both fascinating and sickening to watch these people claim “financial hardship” while pulling in three times my salary after wrecking the economy for anyone earning below $100K. But maybe this is good. Maybe Tony will have a little more sympathy for the people struggling to get by, the ones who can’t go back to Punditlandia and make millions and yet still have the audacious desire to send their kids to college, too.

Not so easy to make it in Bush’s America, is it, Mr. Snow?