Jan 21st, 2009 at 10:22 am
The Other Jobs Program
The country’s still awaiting not only a Commerce Secretary but a great many subcabinet appointees, deputy directors of agencies, etc. etc. etc. And this points to a paradox of presidential power. Politically, Obama is going to be at his strongest for the next several months. But organizationally, an administration tends to be weakest at the beginning—with many jobs vacant or filled by holdovers and some filled by people who don’t work out. Maximizing effectiveness requires Obama to pick good people and do it quickly. To that end, two documents out from CAP:
- Six Ways that the Obama Administration Can Improve the Political Appointment Process
- Presidential Appointments by the Numbers
A couple of factoids from the “numbers” report—it took Bill Clinton on average over 450 days to fill deputy agency head and inspector-general positions. That’s not good.
10 Responses to “The Other Jobs Program”
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January 21st, 2009 at 11:12 am
Our system is completely insane. In the British and most other systems, the number 2 guy in each department is a career civil servant. In the British system, at least, you have a few other political appointees a bit lower in the hierarchy (ministers of state, parliamentary under-secretaries, parliamentary private secretaries), but these are all appointed immediately with the government.
The US system, where you take months or years to fill out thousands of posts, is completely insane. Isn’t this what the Pendleton Act was supposed to prevent? Everyone up to Assistant Secretary level, at least, should be career civil servants.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:53 am
There are people in these jobs who don’t work out? Pshaw President Obama would be furious if this is true!
January 21st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Question from a foreigner; does your president choose the guys running your FCC?
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