WhiteHouse.gov The New Political Model

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.

New Semester

It's a new semester and it seems the big trend in college teaching these days is having students make blogs. I don't have a problem with using blogs as a teaching technique but it makes you think; with all the teachers and all the students in all the universities and colleges and trade schools in the world how much crap are we filling up the internet with? Does the internet have some ultimate capacity? Some limit that it’s gonna reach sooner because of my post about comic books?

Schools should just give every student a blog when they start school. Students get e-mail addresses and teachers have blackboard , why not a blogs?

Where am I going with this? Well, this semester I have 3 classes that have made creating and maintaining a blog an assignment. So basically, I'd appreciate it if my professors - you know who you are - wouldn't mind if I use the blog I created last semester for a different class for all 3 classes? My e-mail's dkirsch@hunter.cuny.edu if this is a problem. Thanks all.

P.S. Please only grade me on the work that's for your class :)

Comic Books

I always liked superheroes. When I was younger I collected Marvel trading cards, and later comics books that I didn't read. Cause who likes to read, right? Then one day I picked up just the right comic. All of the sudden I was hooked. Comics became like crack, I spent tons of money on old comics, new comics, variant comics of issues I already owned. I spent hours on Comic fan forums like this one, http://www.comixfan.com/, arguing with my fellow fanboys. Eventually, I was lucky enough to be excepted into Marvel Comics' internship program, and actually had a hand in creating what I loved so much.

What happened to manners?

Lately I've noticed that people just don't have manors and if they have them, they sure as hell ain't using them. I work as a bartender (mixologist, if you're pretentious) at a catering hall. People come to expensive Weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. They put on expensive clothes and their best jewlery. They spend hours making themselves look as classy as possible. However, they tend to forget that a big part of class is following the standards of culture and politness. It might be suave for James Bond to order his Martini's without a 'please' at the end, but having some loud woman huff and puff her way to the front of my bar, only to brashly call out "Cosmopolitan," isn't cool at all. I guess I wouldn't mind as much if people tipped at catered parties.

First Post - Genesis

Ironically, the subject of my first post is going to be firsts. There are the cliche firsts, first day of school, first kiss, the first time you get sick from too much tequila. There are the important firsts, the first amendment for example, which gives me the right to say, "I'd like to FIRST beat up the President, before running him over with my car." The first time you do something, see something, are challenged by something, it can be scary. First, by definition, evokes mystery, no one knows the result of an action if it's the first time it's being done. A first has no predecessor, no source for comparison. Nobody likes to go first, and if they say they do give them a parachute at 30,000 feet and see how quick they are to be first. Just about the only thing first has an advantage over is last. I never thought I'd be a blogger. At first, I didn't know what to write . It was intimidating to write my first post, but as the saying goes, there's a first for everything. Mainly, the thing I learned from this, my very first blog post, is that first is one of those words that loses it's meaning after you say it twenty-one times...(you can count, if you don't believe me)