Administration -- Reorganizing Government For The 21st Century

November 13, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers

ADMINISTRATION

Reorganizing Government For The 21st Century

Editor's Note: This is the second in our three-part series on "Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President." See part 1 here; part 3 will appear tomorrow.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton vowed to start building "a bridge" to the 21st century. President Bush's White House, however, has moved backwards in time, operating on a 20th century model. Yesterday, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), with the New Democracy Project, released a new book called Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President. The book outlines new ideas for governing in the 21st century, updating the White House to reflect this century's priorities. John Podesta, President and CEO of CAPAF, and Sarah Wartell, Executive Vice President for Management of CAPAF, explain that creating new White House offices and retooling existing ones "ensure[s] that a limited set of key objectives receive ongoing heightened attention" and allows the new president to make his priorities clear and begin setting his agenda from Day One."

URBAN POLICY: President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago background means that he will bring a fresh, pro-city perspective to a position that has not seen an urban face in decades."To find a nominee with as strong a city pedigree as Obama's, you have to go back to New York Gov. Al Smith, the Democratic candidate in 1928, or even further, to Grover Cleveland, who had been mayor of Buffalo," the Washington Post wrote. Obama has already indicated he will create a White House Office of Urban Policy, a move Bruce Katz, vice president and founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, and Henry Cisneros, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary, endorse in their chapter on revitalizing and updating the department. Metropolitan areas, they note, "have become the engines of national prosperity;" as such, federal policy "needs to shift from an outdated focus on 'urban policy' to an expansive, asset-driven perspective of 'metro policy.'" The Office of Metropolitan Policy would work with key cabinet agencies, such as the Transportation Department, and "would actively engage the true metropolitan experts -- local corporate, civic, and government leaders -- in the design and implementation of new, cutting-edge policies."

TECH POLICY: Science and technology "are the engines of our economic growth," writes Neal Lane, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under President Clinton, but "we risk falling rapidly behind many other parts of the world" in discovery and applied technology. The OSTP should play a central role in the next administration, and should serve in the National Security Council, the National Economic Council, and the National Energy Council. "After eight years of political interference by the Bush White House" into science, Lane writes, the 44th president must ensure that policy decisions "will be informed by the best scientific evidence and analysis." Lane recommends issuing an executive order within the first week of the next administration that emphasizes his commitment to relying on the best scientific evidence. Obama has already proposed creating a "chief technical officer" and wants to aggressively expand rural broadband connection. He has indicated he would move swiftly to overturn Bush's ban on embryonic stem cell research, which Lane says should be done within the first week of his term.

ENERGY COUNCIL: CAPAF Senior Fellow Todd Stern and former Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes write, "Transforming the energy base of the economy will demand top-level participation across the executive branch." The National Energy Council should thus include the secretaries of most cabinet agencies. We cannot transition to a low-carbon economy without enormous technological innovation," the president should also create an interagency Energy Innovation Council "to develop an integrated, multiyear national energy research, development, and deployment strategy." Stern and Hayes urge the next president to pledge to introduce energy and climate change legislation within his first 100 days. "The scope of this challenge is huge," Stern and Hayes acknowledge; climate scientists warn the world will face catastrophe if it doesn't immediately and seriously confront climate change. "Along with finding the right people to staff his Administration," Time's Joe Klein writes, "Barack Obama's most important job now is to find the right words to inspire the nation to undertake this next great cause."

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: At the start of his campaign, Obama pledged to create "a new Social Entrepreneur Agency to make sure that small non-profits have the same kind of support that we give small businesses." He has promised to expand programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and to create a new Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Michele Jolin, a CAP Senior Fellow and the former Chief of Staff of the Council of Economic Advisers, advises the 44th president to create a new White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship to spur "greater innovation, creativity, and success in the non-profit sector." The "non-profit sector can be a source of innovation and experimentation," a testing ground for new government solutions. Jolin warns against creating a bulky bureaucracy or picking specific "winners"; instead, the government should "invest in a range of solutions designed to meet national goals." "In short, the new president needs to focus on creating a policy environment that...fosters new entrepreneurship, improves nonprofits' access to growth capital, and removes outdates tax and regulatory barriers to innovation." The new White House office should create an annual multimillion dollar prize "for developing the most creative, sustainable, and high-impact solution to a defined social challenge," Jolin suggests.

CONGRESS -- BAYH EXPECTS LIEBERMAN TO APOLOGIZE IN ORDER TO KEEP COMMITTEE CHAIRMANSHIP: Since last Tuesday's election, Senate Democrats began discussing Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) future in their caucus. Some hinted at removing Lieberman from his post as Homeland Security Committee Chairman because of ad hominem attacks he levied at Obama and other progressives during the presidential campaign in support of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). However, last week, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) came to Lieberman's defense. "[W]e should have a spirit of forgiveness with regard to Joe Lieberman and reconcile and move forward," Bayh said. Bayh suggested that Lieberman apologize and "let bygones be bygones." Last night on MSNBC, Bayh altered his stance slightly, saying that in order for Lieberman to keep his committee post, Bayh "expects" him to offer "a sincere apology" for the "unacceptable" rhetoric he engaged in during the campaign. Host Rachel Maddow asked, "The game would be up in the sense that he would get stripped of his leadership positions?" Bayh said, "The chairmanship, yes."

RADICAL RIGHT -- GUN INDUSTRY PROFITS OFF NRA'S FEARMONGERING ABOUT OBAMA GUN POLICIES: Gun stores across the nation are reporting a surge in gun sales since the election of Barack Obama, as customers seem convinced that the next president either seeks to limit or revoke entirely Americans' right to bear arms. As the Chicago Tribune reported, "Some say they are worried that the incoming Obama administration will attempt to reimpose the ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. Others fear the loss of their right to own handguns. A few say they are preparing to protect themselves in the event of a race war." News outlets from NPR to Fox News have produced reports documenting the gun buying binge. What the major media outlets have overlooked is that the boom appears to be the result of a multi-million dollar effort launched by the National Rifle Association (NRA) last summer to mislead voters about Obama's gun policy proposals. The NRA said that "never in NRA's history have we faced a presidential candidate...with such a deep-rooted hatred of firearm freedoms." As FactCheck noted, however, the NRA's campaign was based almost entirely on falsehoods.

ETHICS -- AIG EXECUTIVE DEFENDS HOSTING POSH 'JUNKET' AT LUXURY HOTEL: Last month, a House committee reported that just one week after the federal government bailed out insurance giant AIG, company executives went on a $500,000 retreat to a luxury resort. On Tuesday, just as the federal government agreed to increase its bailout package to AIG, ABC News's Brian Ross reported that the company's executives gathered last week at a posh resort in Phoenix for a business conference, complete with "cocktail parties, limousines, and dinner out at a top restaurant." AIG "instructed the hotel to keep its involvement secret, no signs with its name allowed." AIG CEO Edward Liddy defended the extravagant conference on CNN Tuesday night, claiming that the lack of signage was a result of cost cutting measures. "[W]e are really cutting corners. We're doing the same thing the American taxpayer is doing," Liddy said. "We are tightening our belts. We didn’t use any signage." Rep. Elijah Cummings (R-MD) has now called on Liddy to resign. "That a firm already reliant on taxpayers' funding would organize such an event is outrageous," Cummings said.

President Bush may continue to block inquiries into his administration after he leaves office. "The Bush administration overstepped in its exertion of executive privilege, and may very well try to continue to shield information from the American people after it leaves office," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The Bush administration has so far committed $290 billion of the $700 billion financial bailout package. However, "no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed."

The office of President-elect Barack Obama announced that it will send two emissaries to meet unofficially with delegations at the G-20 summit. Former Republican congressman Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will "meet with and listen to our friends and allies" on Obama's behalf, said Obama senior foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Dick Cheney will meet today at the "vice president's residence on the sprawling Naval Observatory grounds in northwest Washington." The Observatory would be Biden’s first home in DC; he has commuted from Delaware throughout the course of his Senate career.

Biden has reportedly asked Ron Klain to be his chief of staff. Klain served as Vice President Gore's chief of staff during the Clinton administration and previously worked for Biden when he was Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman. Aactor Kevin Spacey played Klain in the HBO movie "Recount." More »

Yesterday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to lift "restrictions on the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises off the California coast, a defeat for environmental groups who say the sonar can harm whales." Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the overall public interest tipped "strongly in favor of the Navy."

Gay marriage is now officially legal in Connecticut. "New Haven Superior Court Judge Jonathan Silbert ruled at a brief hearing Wednesday morning that gay and lesbian couples now may pick up marriage license forms at town and city clerks' offices statewide."

According to a new report from the Human Rights Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights, "[f]ormer Guantánamo prisoners released after years of detention without charge went home to find themselves stigmatized and shunned, viewed either as terrorists or as United States spies." The report urges President-elect Obama to investigate the treatment of detainees held by the U.S.

"The world's developed economies have slid into recession and will shrink further in 2009," according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The organization predicts that the U.S. economy will "contract by 0.9 percent" and reports that this is the first time since the Arab oil embargo of 1974-75 that the "U.S., Europe and Japan have fallen into recession" simultaneously.

And finally: In an "elaborate hoax," pranksters yesterday "distributed thousands of free copies of a spoof edition of The New York Times on Wednesday morning at busy subway stations” around New York City. The 14-page paper was dated July 4, 2009, had the headline "IRAQ WAR ENDS," and imagined "a liberal utopia of national health care, a rebuilt economy, progressive taxation, a national oil fund to study climate change, and other goals of progressive politics." The paper was reportedly the work of a group called the "Yes Men."

Advisors to President-elect Obama "are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses" of the law under President Bush's torture program.

THINK PROGRESS: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow wears pajamas on air in solidarity with bloggers, says she sees herself as "a blogger on TV."

WONK ROOM: CAP Senior Fellow Gene Sperling: "We need to take a Powell doctrine approach to economic stimulus."

YGLESIAS: Sen. Max Baucus's (D-MT) new universal health care plan.

AMERICA BLOG: President Bush prepares G-20 lecture on "principles of free market."

NEW HAMPSHIRE: The New Hampshire Senate is the first state legislative body in the country with a majority-female membership.

VIRGINIA: "The Bush administration is moving ahead with efforts to lease the waters off Virginia's coast to companies interested in drilling for oil and natural gas."

CALIFORNIA: State economy loses $28 billion annually due to premature deaths and illnesses linked to air pollution.

"[W]e are really cutting corners."
-- AIG CEO Edward Liddy, 11/11/08

VERSUS

"Reporters for abc15.com (KNXV) caught the AIG executives on hidden cameras poolside and leaving the spa at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, despite apparent efforts by the company to disguise its involvement."
--ABC News, 11/10/08

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