On not leading by example
It looks as if the Obama administration is going to be a lot more demanding of incoming members than the press ever was of Obama, and it looks as if it is going to have to turn down Obama for a job in it. Reports the New York Times:
Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.
A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.
The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.
This is simply comic. Here is one:
Jobs with the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have served as lucrative incubators for Democratic and Republican administration officials. But those affiliations have become potentially toxic since the government seized both companies after years of financial irregularities that have stoked the economic crisis.
Not surprisingly, then, Question 18 of the Obama application asks whether “you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family” have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.
This ought to be easy to ignore. If, say, an assistant secretary at Treasury turns out not to have mentioned getting lots of money from Fannie Mae, he can just say, hey, boss, you were the second biggest recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign contributions, and you never mentioned that during your campaign, so I figured it didn’t matter.
The Times article does not mention question 61, although it does have a pdf of the questionnaire. It asks:
Have you had any association with any person, group or business venture that could be used – even unfairly – to impugn or attack your character and qualifications for government service?
If it turns out that, say, the deputy secretary of state has an al Qaeda operative for a mistress, he can always say, hey, she was just some professor of English who lives in my neighborhood.