Economist View, Mark Thoma nails it:
The logical part of my brain says that the new administration needs people who are familiar with Washington, people who have been there before and have the necessary connections, people who can hit the ground running. There won’t be any time to waste learning on the job. All that matters is getting to the goal line. There will be lots of opposition and we need the best, most experienced team we can get.
But the emotional side reacts differently. I’m tired of Clintons, Bushes, and all that comes with them, and I’m tired of seeing the same people representing the two parties in the news. The faces never seem to change. Part of the attractiveness of this administration is that it represents a break from all of that old baggage, the promise of something different. If the administration is stacked with the same old names we have heard before, it will feel like we are going back to the same old tired politics and battles. I’ve had enough of that. More than enough.
It’s time for something new. There must be talented people who know Washington, people who aren’t the same five people from Harvard, or wherever, there must be new faces that can get the job done. Women and minorities might even be considered over the familiar gang of white guys.
I could not agree more. I cringed at the photo from the Economic Summit with literally the entire Clinton economic crew – old, tired and out-of-touch about the fundamental economic transformation we’re in. Now talk of the auto bailout. But it’s still awfully early in the process, and nothing has been cast in concrete. I’m hoping this is just part of a necessary inclusive process and that based on the Obama campaign new people and new ideas will prevail.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Concur. And please, someone, let Detroit die so that it can be re-born. The problem with the US auto industry are the worthless products it creates!!!!
And why does GM have all of those divisions? How about trying to make one good line of vehicles and not 30 variations of the same thing!!!! Try some of Gladwell’s deliberate practice and I’m sure we would see better results from them!! In the interim, let them die if they must and make a loan to whatever emerges from the ash-heap as a new auto company.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I don’t know. I didn’t vote for Obama, but I suspect a lot of people did because they want a return to the Clinton economy. Obama could do worse than draft every single Clinton economic policy person he can.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Here’s a quick theory. You want three kinds of people in an administration:
Savvy scrappers like Rahm Emanuel who know how Washington works and how to push things through Congress. Joe Biden may fit here too. This is where both Clinton and Carter, not from Washington, made their main mistakes in staffing.
Widely respected people with high level backgrounds who can carry through a crisis on their reputations. One reason things are worse now than 1999 is that Rubin and Greenspan had such respect that people trusted them when they said things would be alright — It helped to have a president who was seen as competent. In this vein my nomination for secretary of defense is Colin Powell. He’s run the military, he’s run foreign policy, he’s almost universally respected and he could overcome some of the infighting between those departments.
The innovators need to be the cabinet members and the assistant secretaries. The cabinet may need to come with reputations in their fields, but you and I don’t need to have heard of them. Their staff should be the young dreamers who will push for change and work 20 hour days.