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A cynic might be justified (this is REALLY a crappy way to start a column - A CYNIC - as in any old cynic - or EJ, did you have one particular cynic in mind, OR .. are you resutroing to subtrefuge to use your forum to do what you think is right - equivocating palavar ... yuck in seeing a call for a sweeping reorganization of the federal government as the last refuge of a politician who doesn't want to ruffle any ideological feathers.
For example, President Barack Obama could have used last week's State of the Union address (more unpalatable CRAP -- last week's state of the union address had probably been so thuroughly vetted that in the absence of another 9/11, there is no possibility that current events would drive the SOTU speech to propose a ban on those high-capacity gun magazines that made the recent Tucson tragedy so lethal. But doing this would have brought down the wrath of the National Rifle Association. So, sadly, he took a pass. (BUT, please note, this is NOT why OBAMA's speech vetters "took a pass."
The president's aides were quick to say he would address the gun issue soon .
So giving Obama the benefit of the doubt for now on guns, what is one to make of his pledge to build a "21st century government that's open and competent" and "driven by new skills and new ideas"? (ASSHOLE - I'd suggest you take a wait and see approach)
But this cannot mean just moving around government's boxes, shifting this agency from one place to another, or merging that department with another. (OR, this just might be Barack Obama's plan after all - we simply don't know and it will do us NO FUCKING GOOD WHATSOEVER TO SPECULATE) Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, likes to cite the Sept. 11 commission report's observation that "the quality of the people" in government is "more important than the quality of the wiring diagrams." (A hearty here, here, to this and all that) first, but let's not hope only useful sentence in the column.
"Washington is a city that likes to focus on the wiring diagram," he said in an interview, because changing the diagram "feels like they're doing something concrete when, actually, they're avoiding the problems."
WASHINGTON AS A CITY is a complicated vast and entirely unpredictable thing. The pundit class, the chattering heads, the sunday morning talk show hosts, get all a-twitter about this shit. BUT, I don't.
The paradox is that the administration has already taken significant steps to improve the way the government buys things, the way it deploys information technology and the way it hires people. It just hasn't focused much attention on them. (this is about as definitive and example of how Barack Obama adminstrates: cut deals with dems first, short talk with the ladies>
Hiring reform is especially important because the retirement of baby boom-era public servants will require the federal government to bring in new talent. Jeffrey Zients, who came to the Office of Management and Budget after a private-sector career, has made shortening and modernizing the government's hiring process a top priority.
If Obama does nothing else but win new respect for public service and entice a new generation of talented young Americans to join its ranks, he will have achieved a revolution in government.
Jacob Lew, the OMB director, insists the administration is aware that the micro matters. "If we don't continue to make progress in procurement, human resources and IT, it won't be for lack of effort," he said in an interview. He added that the administration has no intention of rushing ahead with a massive and disruptive reorganization of agencies. "The point of this project is to do this in a serious way."
That's good news. The administration is likely to start by concentrating on how government agencies can work together to advance its economic competitiveness agenda.
Enacting sweeping legislation, cutting taxes or spending in a big way, enunciating great ambitions: all these get far more attention from the media and from politicians than the tough, grubby and very hard work of implementing programs, hiring people to carry them out and managing (and, yes, inspiring) one of the largest work forces in the world.
Then-Vice President Al Gore defined the core purpose of his Clinton-era "reinventing government" project with great simplicity. "We don't want to get rid of government," he said. "We want it to work better and cost less. We want it to make sense." And this is a goal that still makes sense.
Washington Post Writers Group
E.J. Dionne Jr. is a syndicated columnist based in Washington.
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
