For the politically curious seeking entertainment, I'd like to propose two new trivia games: "Find the Brownie" and "Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff". The objective in Find the Brownie is to find an obscure but important government job held by someone whose only apparent qualifications for that job are political loyalty and personal connections. It's inspired by President Bush's praise, four days after Katrina hit, for the hapless Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." I guess it depends on the meaning of the word heck.
If you want to read the full article, you can go to The Daily BJ, who have copied it. The New York Times site only has it up for subscription.
To me, it seems pretty obvious that certain jobs should go to the most qualified people. I want the best person possible to be leading an important department such as FEMA. Political appointees are inevitable. If two candidates are equally qualified for such a position, and one is a Republican and one is a Democrat, I would fully expect the party in charge to fill it. However, picking someone solely because they are a friend of the party is wrong. Especially in New Orleans, where the ineptitude of Michael Brown and others cost lives. Let guys like him take meaningless figurehead positions, like American Horse Ambassador to Arabia. That's a job that he might be better suited for.
Link
posted by Jonathan @ 5:59 PM
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Bookmark this post in Furl or Del.icio.us(definition)
