Sometimes in politics just talking about change is enough to satisfy those who are clamoring for it. Or at least it serves to distract your critics until they start whining about something else.

President Bush’s rope-a-dope on shaking up his staff is stirring up so much buzz about personnel changes at the White House that one might forget that only Chief of Staff Andrew Card is leaving so far — and he’s not cleaning out his desk until the end of this week. And if Card’s departure was meant to end calls for a White House makeover, the move was a flop.

For starters, disgruntled Republicans on Capitol Hill did not see Card as the problem. Hardly the most powerful chief of staff in presidential history, he was seen as a glorified scheduler who was not responsible for the breakdown in relations between the White House and the Republican-run Congress. It was telling that, in the reams of coverage about Card’s White House glory days, about the only memorable example of his significance was that he got up really early, stayed at the office really late and slept with a pager on his chest.

Although Republicans admire Karl Rove’s political skills, many would have privately welcomed his resignation as a sign of real change in the Bush team’s often high-handed treatment of Capitol Hill. And Card’s replacement, Joshua A. Bolten, does not have the longtime congressional ties that GOP agitators want Bush to add to his roster.

Despite the continued grumbling, Bush seems determined to feed the hunger for change with as little sustenance as possible, in hopes that short attention spans and a new charm offensive on Capitol Hill might be enough to change the subject instead of his Cabinet. Consider the fanfare surrounding Bolten inviting the House’s new majority leader, John A. Boehner, to lunch at the White House last week. You would think that a person with that title would be such a regular there that it would not be worth alerting the news media to it.

The excited reaction to a mere six minutes of presidential comment in an exchange with reporters last week demonstrates just how little Bush needs to say to get everyone talking about what Bolten might be empowered to do when he officially takes over this week. “I told Josh that he is — will organize the White House in such a way that he is comfortable with and that meets my needs,” Bush said. While far from a ringing endorsement for a top-to-bottom spring cleaning, reporters were encouraged to see this as a sign of Bush’s openness to change.

Rumors of firings often abound in presidential second terms, but this time it almost seems as if the White House is encouraging gossip as an alternative to real change. The brunt of speculation out of Bush’s comment to reporters April 4 fell on the president’s seemingly embattled Treasury secretary, John W. Snow, the subject of another presidential aside that provoked much discussion. “He has been a valuable member of my administration,” the president said. Just failing to use the present tense in describing Snow’s value — he “has been” a valuable member — was enough to set tongues wagging.

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta is another frequent gossip victim who is suffering yet another round of speculation about his demise. Or, as the White House whisperers prefer us to say, he would not be pushed out, only “allowed to leave,” making it sound more like he would be pardoned from prison.

No matter whom Bolten springs free, the likelihood is that Rove, whose title is deputy chief of staff, will not be among them and will still have the run of the place. Look for the new chief of staff to bring in some former lawmakers to pacify those on Capitol Hill calling for more so-called gray beards. Bush has avoided these types for his kitchen Cabinet because elected officials, even drawn out of retirement, make lousy underlings in a White House bent on military-like obedience and loyalty.

But if Bolten’s portfolio is no broader than Card’s, he’s not going to change very much. The president’s inner-circle stars are used to a hierarchy with a weak chief of staff. For instance, would Bolten have authority to rein in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who got into a public spat recently over Rice’s remarks about mistakes made in Iraq? Watch that space.

The danger in all this shakeup chatter is that the market for change only appears to be growing and might never be satisfied with anything less than high drama. Bush’s approval ratings continue to sink like lead in the ocean. And now Scooter Libby has fingered the president as leaker-in-chief. Bush can’t be thinking anymore about rearranging his deck chairs.

Bush should have followed the lead of his wife, Laura, who recently replaced the entire East Wing high command. Even the pastry chef is leaving his $120,000-a-year job. Perhaps he grew tired, like Card, of those long hours. Pastry chefs, you know, also get up really early.

Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He can be reached at ccrawford@cq.com.