I think Barack Obama has the right idea:
If elected president, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said one of the first things he wants to do is ensure the constitutionality of all the laws and executive orders passed while Republican President George W. Bush has been in office.
Those that don’t pass muster will be overturned, he said.
One of Bush’s goals has been to make sure the radicalism of its administration survives his term – by seeding the bureaucracy with movement loyalists, sabotaging government agencies which could hinder movement activities, using government power to damage movement enemies, as well as the more accepted methods of appointing movement judges, passing legislation, and acting to establish radical precedent and culture in the government. One of the primary goals of a Democratic administration must be to clean up the mess – remove the movement soldiers from the civil service, repair the broken agencies, reestablish appropriate norms, nullify the radical precedents, shampoo the carpets, repaint the walls, have the city of Washington, DC crop-dusted with holy water, and act at all times in open rejection of everything the Bush people stand for and “accomplished”. There will be considerable political pressure to “move on” – particularly when undoing bad action requires revisiting unpleasant “old news” which could embarrass important people – and nothing can ever completely undo what is done. But it’s nice that Obama seems to have garbage collction as a priority.
Via.
May 30, 2008 at 3:48 am
They need to be real, real careful about filling each and every job. They need vetting of the highest quality, no ideological tests, (which has some blowback, but fine), read Gore’s work on re-inventing government which actually is quite helpful, and appoint people who act Alice Rivlin and James Lee Witt like.
May 30, 2008 at 5:41 am
Startin’ Friday off with Lux and the sweet smell of reform? 5 stars. Tanksmang.
Do you understand?
Do you understand?
* UncleSam sticks out his can
alright.
May 30, 2008 at 5:54 am
A truly courageous President who really wanted change would place every Federal job short of the Assistant/Deputy Secretary level back into the civil service permanently, and insist on qualified candidates to fill those jobs.
May 30, 2008 at 8:03 am
Absolutely right on, with just this one caveat. The Bushistas came into office having determined that if Bill Clinton did something, then they were going to do the opposite. So, when Richard Clarke warned Condi Rice about al-Qaeda, the Bushistas decided to ignore it–after all, they weren’t going to be told what to do by Clinton’s people. Hence, 9/11.
Obama must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater in cleaning house regarding both people and policies. He should exercise caution to retain those policies implemented by Bush that have actually been successful.
I wish him all the luck in the world trying to find one.