Moving On

Peggy Noonan writes about the effect Spetember 11th had on her and guesses that it might have had the same effect on White House Communications Czar Karen Hughes. Ms. Hughes announced earlier this week that she would resign her post and return to Texas, effective this summer. I'm not sure that Karen is leaving so much as she is relocating. But there's no question that her return to Texas will enable her to live a much less harried life. She'll still have to answer the phone when Caller ID coughs up 202-456-1414. But she won't if it's any other (non-family) number.

Karen Hughes is part of something that is beginning to happen in corporate America. People who can get out -- who have enough money to reengineer their lives without having to sacrifice their lifestyles -- are starting to get out. Good people getting out in small numbers is not a problem. Good people getting out in large numbers is a problem. It will be interesting to see if small numbers become big numbers over the course of the next three-to-five years.