Hmmm. Can you say, strategery? He can't be the focus of the dems' wrath if he's not involved. Who will the libs scream at now?
All Brown and the rest of the admin have to do is keep the present positions and ignore the flack, because that's all it is. Bumping Brown acknowledges there's a problem where there isn't anything substantial. The problems that do exist are inconsequential and can be handled w/o breaking a sweat. Once Brown's bumped, the implications are fixed and will be damn hard to counter.