Poo-Pooing Career Politicians

The CNN Sunday morning news program “Global Public Square” (GPS) provided a fascinating and enlightening conversation.  It dealt with the immense chore and importance of smoothly transitioning the White House when a new administration takes over. 

The participants were the show’s host Fareed Zakaria, Evan Osnos a writer with the New Yorker magazine and author of a new book entitled “President Trump,” and Melody Barnes who was instrumental in directing the White House transition of the Obama’s administration.  

The size of the project is enormous.  Barnes, who has worked with many CEO’s of major corporations described it as; “…taking some of the largest companies in the world, if you bolted together Exxon and Walmart and doubled them in size you would still not reach…(the) three million employees… (or) the $3 trillion budget” of the federal government.  Therefore, a new president must identify and appoint 4,000 staff members in a matter of weeks after taking office.  Two hundred and fifty (250) of those positions must be filled almost immediately.  This must be done to assure the White House never misses a beat.  Barnes: “there's litigation underway, there are regulations, there are any number of things that are already in motion…” that must be dealt with as though no change has taken place.  Because these appointees must be put in place quickly, there is no time to play politics.  Controversy must be almost nonexistent, their experience and knowledge must be unquestionable and they should be as free of strong partisanship as possible.  

With this reality, Zakaria asked Osnos if Donald Trump’s declaration that on day one he would sign 25 executive orders to eviscerate as much of the Obama presidency as possible is legal and doable? 

Osnos pointed out that it is indeed legal.  He said that “legally, he (the president) has the ability to do many more…things than we might imagine.” He went on: “…on day one or within several days, they (Trump Administration) could withdraw the United States from the Paris climate deal, for instance. They could suspend the Syrian Refugee Program. They could radically accelerate the pace of deportation.”   

It was additionally pointed out that in matters of foreign policy the president has even more unchallenged authority. Trump could effectively refuse “to come to the defense of Eastern Europe because (he doesn’t) think they're paying their fair share.”  He could deny coming “to the defense of Japan. If they want to develop nuclear weapons that's fine by me (Trump).”  Osnos continued; “(this) sends out a message to all of these other governments and (they will) begin to make calculations, (they will) begin to hedge, (they' will) begin to reimagine their relationship with (the) United States and their relationship with other powers, whether it's china or with Russia.”  This would create a very volatile and dangerous situation. 

Osnos went on to maintain that because of the size and enormity of the tasks that would await the Trump administration upon entering the White House, the 25 executive orders claim is implausible.  Osnos said; “… this just further demonstrates an indicator of how little experience this group of political folks actually has.”

Finally, Barnes was asked if being a CEO is a strong qualification for the presidency. 

BARNES: “…there is a difference between leading even one of the largest companies in the world and leading the United States of America.”

“When you're the CEO of a company, you don't literally have to sit down with your loyal opposition every single day to get from an idea to a conclusion and to negotiate your way through that. You don't have the checks and balances in place that our founder(s) set up to ensure that the chief executive of the country doesn't run amuck.”
All of those things are part of what make(s) our republic work and operate.”

As we march off to the polls on November 8^th we may want to carefully scrutinize the notion that we would be better served by a novice in politics than a career politician.  We may want to remember that it was Lyndon Johnson’s and Hubert Humphrey’s political skills and savvy, along with their experience and knowledge on our governmental system and the friendships acquired over the years that ended the filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act paving the way for its passage.  The same is true of Social Security, Medicare and any other crucial piece of legislation ever enacted. 

The presidency is NOT analogous to sitting on the city council.  Like any profession, it takes years of hard work and dedication to reach a level of excellence that is required and that we must demand of our chief executive.