GovernmentExecutive.com

OMB's Clay Johnson is busy keeping it real. The deputy director for management has updated the "Potomac Fever" section of the White House Web site on the President's Management Agenda. The new section expands on the list of symptoms of the malady, which, in general, involve an inflated sense of self-importance. Sufferers "may get upset at related industry gatherings when other people don't immediately know who he/she is," Johnson wrote in the original section, and "may be continually focused on his or her next position/appointment." But another symptom is apparently failing to utterly subordinate oneself to the president and his agenda. For example, Johnson says, one should never refer to himself as "the assistant secretary" of a department, but rather as "President Bush's assistant secretary." And his symptoms of Potomac Fever include forgetting who appointed you to your position and that you serve at the pleasure of the president. The cure? "Frequently listen to or reading the president's vision for America." (Studying the writings of Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush works, too, Johnson says.)

In the updated list of symptoms, Johnson also admonishes Bush team members against excessive concerns about office space and the tendency to send assistants to meetings. And he cautions them not to attack the career civil service, noting that Bush team members have said that Potomac Fever also is characterized by holding an attitude of " 'Them' as in career staff versus 'Us' as in political appointees." (Thanks to K.P. for the tip on this item.)