POLSC 217
A brief overview of President Obama’s new White House may sound something like the mission statement of a late 90’s tech company. Where colleagues at all levels may sit at the same table with aspirations to engage new ideas through open dialogue, the image is more Southern California than Washington, DC. This fresh approach to white house staffing very much reflects the image presented by Obama himself who ran on a platform of change. Beyond the marketing, there is substantive innovation to white house selection processes and staffing structure. This innovation is literally a page out of Obama’s book. In Dreams from My Father, the President touts the value of education, drawing lessons not only from personal experience but from history, and applying knowledge in the most relevant of ways to make informed and confident decisions. It seems that as a student of history, Obama has selected from the best organizational models to formulate administrative policy in the west wing.
Corporate principles of specialization and synergy, led Obama to create a number of new staff positions, bridging Cabinet positions to address issues with specificity and allow for the inclusion of many more voices. This corporate inspiration is as evident as the missing link between the administration and actual business leaders. High profile corporate players are a long-standing executive tradition. It seems absurd that no such player would be included in a Cabinet with the heavy burden of managing the worst economic climate of recent history. Perhaps to address this obvious absence, President Obama has created the White House Economic Advisory Board. Included in this panel of economic experts are Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, and Caterpillar CEO James Owens. These experts present a specialized financial experience. And yet it would appear that Obama does not hold such experience sufficient for administration of a cabinet level position.
Diversion from the corporate connections of preceding administrations may reflect criticism of past cabinet members. All three of President Bush’s Treasury Secretaries, former CEOs, have performed less than satisfactorily in years leading to the country’s current economy. Former corporate executive Robert Rubin, and Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, has been publicly disgraced. In addition to opposing regulation of mortgage-backed securities largely responsible for the recent market crash, Rubin has been removed as chairman of Citigroup and recently named one of the "10 most unethical people in business” by Marketwatch. Recent scandals and poor economic decision making have lead to a general distrust of corporate america. However, this shift from defererment to the private sector on economic issues may signify a concious philosophical shift rather then a default decision resulting from a lack of untainted corporate players.
General Motors President Charles Wilson, secretary of defense under President Eisenhower, famously said: “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa”. Rather than viewing government objectives through a single market lens, it is clear that the new president prefers to view a narrow issue across a broad spectrum. Advisory committees allow for a specific focus, such as economic recovery, to be considered by economists, bureaucrats, and executives across market sectors. In his selection of cabinet members, President Obama appears to have selected those with specialized and relevant experience capable of understanding and evaluating a broad range of information to formulate solution driven policy; opting for a Nobel prize winning physicist, in contrast to the preceding Energy Secretary, chairman of a pharmaceutical company.
President Obama’s changes to White House administration reflect his own leadership experience as a scholar, professor, community organizer, and senator. However, this model lacks practical efficiency in a governmental setting. Many voices lend to innovation and comprehensive resolution but do not facilitate corporate minded principles such as efficient resource management. The challenge of inefficient management within government organizations will be especially present in an expanded administration. It is here that Obama borrows from corporate models, providing for administrative synergy by implementing a strong managerial structure. An intention evident in his selection of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff, a “pitbull politician” with a temperament reminiscent of NBA referee rather than passive administrator. Obama has created the position of Chief Performance Officer, employing a former management consultant to eliminate government waste and improve efficiency. With pledged accountability for agency directors and a system for review, Obama brings corporate performance standards and cut the fat policy to eliminate bureaucratic coasting, a feared element of big government.
President Obama has framed a new model for White House administration. Where President Clinton sought to form a cabinet reflecting the face of America, Obama builds a cabinet reflecting American principles, including those of the free market.
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6 comments:
Very interesting and informative. The writing was excellent and the in depth analysis made the post very interesting. I would just add some more links to back up your facts and maybe a picture but overall I thought it was a great post.
I think Obama's cabinet is a step in the right direction. For too long, American big business interests have been championed as "America's" interests, which is simply not the case.
Any economist, including the handful that hold prestigious posts in the Obama Administration will tell you that protectionism and its sinister bridesmaid Mercantilism are what plunged America into the Great Depression, and yet these are very directions that several big industry players have chosen for their proposed path of recovery (see the recent Steel clause in the Stimulus bill). Innovation is arguably what has kept America in hegemony, not higher wages and non-competitive goods on the international scale.
It seems worthy to note that the lone corporate king you cite, Mr. Immelt, holds a prestigious economics degree from Dartmouth.
Innovation needs to stand in government itself, not just in the private sector. By appointing people who actually know something about the subject they are governing (re: the energy secretary) and moving towards coalitions in multi-faceted sectors where there are several competing interests involved, (re: the economic advisory) Obama is finally doing right by the American people.
This is a really interesting topic that I know almost nothing about, so thanks for bringing it up! Cabinet appointments are a really effective way of judging a president's first 100 days, so it will be interesting to see how Obama's appointment process will be viewed in a couple of years when all the tax scandals etc. are forgotten. Overall I think this was a really well written post.
The blog was well written. I like how you cited Obama's book and used NBA referees as a comparison. You managed to write about a topic that i initially had very little interest in, but after reading your blog i am interested to see how these decisions pan out. Your whole website is really enjoyable to read. I found my self reading all your blogs. I especially agree with the one about lack of manners.
This is an interesting topic and you did a good job with the content of the blog. I would try to makes some changes to make it easier on the eyes, for example extra space between paragraphs and some visuals. Since I am not familiar with most of the people you mentioned in your blog, I would have appreciated it if you linked to their websites or even wikis.
OK - I think all of your commenters here make good points about the blog being well-written and that adding links would be beneficial. The main thing that I believe needs to be addressed here is that you need to bring in some sort of media and politics dimension to your post. As the assignment says, you need to link a current event to some class topic/concept, and so the media in some way needs to become a part of this. Perhaps you can find some news coverage that relates to the Obama administration and its relation to the business world, and you can comment on some of what is in the news about it? The administration set up certain rules about how much participation that former or current lobbyists can have in policymaking, and this was widely covered in several media outlets, and perhaps you can identify HOW they covered it, etc.
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