Obama's Legacy: The Triumph of Dogma Over Competence.

Obama’s Legacy: The Triumph of Dogma Over Competence.  When I question people I know who once enthusiastically supported Barrack Obama, they seem to be reluctant soldiers; they no longer have the fire in the belly for hope and change.  Rather than acknowledge the monumental mistake of putting him in the White House, they tend to rationalize that government is inherently dysfunctional…or the Republicans have sabotaged his presidency…or the world itself is too complex for one person to deal with…or he is supported by people who give him bad advice.  It is this last one that I want to write about today.

There is no doubt in my mind that fully 85 percent of Obama’s policy initiatives, whether they are legislative or executive action, are ill-conceived and poor choices.  However, this country has survived lots of bad policy in its past and has somehow managed to get past it.  For this reason, I have been fairly optimistic that given time, this nation will heal the wounds opened and aggravated by this president; that we as a people will somehow swing the pendulum back to center from the fantastical, idealistic leftward position that Obama has wrought.  Every President, regardless of party and intelligence, sees a vision for this country and pursues that vision once elected; that is as it should be.  And to accomplish this legitimate quest, a President will select people for key positions of authority to help him or her implement that vision.  The unspoken, but unquestionably primary, obligation on a President is that they select people that are competent to do their jobs.  I have come to the point of view that Obama’s failure in this area will have a longer-lasting negative effect on our nation than will his poor policy decisions.

The overwhelming percentage of federal employees is not high-paid, patronage appointments.  They are dedicated, public servants who happen to work for our government.  Like any worker, they want to take pride in their jobs and some satisfaction that they serve by administering programs promulgated for the people and by the people.  Even though civil service, much like the teaching profession, can tend to breed mediocrity; most federal employees work very hard, strive to be efficient, and heed the call of delivering an hour’s work for an hour’s pay.  It is a tragedy that in our form of government, many of the leadership positions in federal departments and agencies are filled with political appointees.  These people have an inordinate amount of influence over exactly what and how their subordinates do their jobs.  Even though the Congress and the Courts are designed to be counter-balances to their overreach or idealism, the plain fact is that the typical reaction to their abuse of power is either tardy to point of irrelevance or reluctance to fight the battle in the first place.  In other words, these people who are selected by the President to oversee how our government is run and how to spend our tax dollars are basically unchallenged for the term of their President; pretty much having the run of the place.  In a perfect world, these political appointees, even though they share a philosophy with their President, will approach their duties in a thoughtful and deliberative fashion; relying on the career civil servants that are in place to serve them in their new positions.  A wise department or agency head will realize that the career employees that they will supervise are invaluable resources to use in effecting positive change.  If this is the case, even bad policy is limited in the long-term, detrimental effect it can have on our people.  Put another way, bad policy delivered efficiently can only hurt so much.  On the other hand, bad policy delivered inefficiently, in an arrogant and ham-handed manner, can result in lasting damage to our governmental model that might take generations to heal.  This is the Obama way.

Civil servants understand they are the foot soldiers of their agency or department heads.  They understand that their lot is to serve and implement; not to devise.  They commonly are faced with the challenge of administering programs or policies with which they might personally disagree; but also realize that they must do their job regardless.  Federal job descriptions are pretty complete and specific and readily point out that most government employees are paid to do, not paid to think.  The requirement that civil servants keep this tenet foremost in their mind when approaching their job performance is paramount in having a government that works efficiently and effectively.  But when politically-appointed leaders are either grossly incompetent to do their job or allow idealism to trump common sense, civil servants cannot help but be affected by it.  The result is two-fold.  First, a department or agency will devolve into anarchy due to the illogical and arbitrary operations dictated by their incompetent leaders.  Second, and most damaging, the army of federal employees that daily delivers the will of the people to the masses will become disillusioned to the point of being inefficient and ineffective.  Government will cease to work; departments and agencies will cease to function.  It is not unlike rot in a towering and ancient tree.  Once it begins, it is very hard to overcome.  I challenge you to look around yourself at people you encounter; especially those associated with government.  Do you see signs of rot?  Do you see disillusionment with the ways things are and the direction they are going?  Does any one of us, regardless of political leanings, think that this bureaucratically-bloated behemoth of a government that president Obama inherited has improved in any single area of function and operation?  Over the last nearly seven years, have we taken actions to tame the beast or have we consistently fed the beast?  Obama has routinely taken the path of least resistance in his presidency.  Rather than roll up his sleeves and tackle the hard work necessary to implement his vision and changes to our government, he has arrogantly trivialized and alienated those who hold differing opinions; choosing instead to layer this government with incompetent and unqualified leaders who seem to accept that thinking it to be a certain way is sufficient to make it a certain way.  Let us all hope and pray that the rot this Obama administration has instilled in our government can be overcome by our next President.