The Op-Fed Page?
Since it was announced a few weeks ago that this New York Times op-ed by Bill Kristol would be his last, there's been considerable speculation about what the Times will do with the column space. Gawker proposed the increasingly-ubiquitous Former Bush Person; Slate's ever-curmudgeounly Jack Shafer suggested 'Nobody'. It's quite a quandary: What do you do with the print equivalent of dead air?
If I may make a modest proposal: How about someone who knows about federal government? The op-ed page has some great writers; Paul Krugman in his non-partisan mode is a genuinely lucid explainer of economics, and Nick Kristof is bravely using his column space to report on things that, frankly, no one else wants to talk about. But there's no one there who really understands how federal government works, from the inside and at a detailed level, and how to explain that in a relevant way to the average reader. Particularly given the more active role that government is likely to begin taking in our economy and our lives, at least in the short-term, I think we would all benefit from having a voice on that page that demystifies the black box here in D.C. for the 300 million citizens (and counting!) that it serves.
Okay, so who? Well, the obvious candidate would be FedBlog's own Alyssa Rosenberg! (And that's how you make sure you get invited back.) But assuming she's unavailable, I think there are a few good candidates. Paul Light, the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at NYU's Wagner school, has been a visible and prolific writer about how the sausage is made. Also from NYU Wagner, Rogan Kersh, who I've had the privilege of knowing personally, is a similarly gifted writer with a true grasp of the nuance of how law becomes policy becomes reality. Don Kettl, the Director of UPenn's Fels Institute of Government, has just written a great book on how to bring government into the 21st century, and it's full of ideas that deserve a broader audience.
These are just a few good candidates; there are tons more. Who do you think belongs in the Op-Fed slot?
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Kitty Wooley Posted Friday, February 20, 2009 9:58 AMDon Rumsfeld
dan ketter Posted Friday, February 20, 2009 11:27 AMDon Kettl doesn't seem to be that great a candidate as Mr. Munz's praise for Kettl's recent book suggests. Kettl's prescription seems to be that "rocket scientists" can successfully address large problems. Adding intelligent, capable individuals is not an original idea (as calls for compensation parity for the federal workforce imply) and it is not a fundamental organizational or institutional change in governing, as suggested by the title.
He may know government, but he doesn't have an answer.
The fundamental problem seems to be that intelligent, capable people have great ideas, but not always ideas that everyone can be happy with. So technocracy fails, and no one trusts that we can always find a benevolent dictator in peaceable transitions. So we have a representative democracy where we can stop dictators before they can get hold of too much power and where everyone gets to choose the lawmakers and influence how the laws are executed, even if that makes it messy and imperfect. Churchill still has it right.
Dave B. Posted Friday, February 20, 2009 12:46 PMI'm with commenter - Dave B. -- let's keep Professor Kettl on campus (assuming he'd want an op-ed gig), Lord knows he and Dr. Light have easy access to big media when needed (is there a Washington reporter who doesn’t have them on speed dial?). I think Mr. Munz’s list of nominees shows his bias for the NAPA/policy wonk recipe to service provider check-ups and issue analysis generally – Mr. Goodwrench meets Woodrow Wilson School -- e.g. open the machine, survey the customers, distill the issues, dataize the problem and conceptualize the solution (kings-X on revolutions or metering paradigm shifts) scan the literature, capture a thesis, run the data (pitch the funding?), write the report, fillet policy points, wash, rinse, and repeat. No, no, big chiefs from the land of grant watered social science and calm rationality just won’t do. “Explaining how government works” is a job for peer review journals, straight news reporters, or, the weekly torturous dissection in the NYT Sunday Magazine (e.g. “The Paradox of Purpose – Unraveling the Puzzle of What Voters Really Want – New RAND Findings-Part 4”). Assuming NYT is really looking for an equal replacement for Mr. Kristol – i.e. an unashamed conservative, intelligent partisan, experienced in national politics, appointive or better elective, a proven “public intellectual” with battle scars won on the hustling– given these qualifications -- we can quickly depart the halls of academe, DC think tanks, NPO monasteries, and those treading-water-til-the-White-House-calls lawyers lurking in the odd boutique law firm, or a “communications consultancy.” All these individuals can birth a column or two, but, they are not long distance runners, their boredom counts are fatal. Most have at best two or three seminar anecdotes (e.g. “Then I said to the President, no we’ll have to take the guns, the butter we’ll freeze for another day.”). Readers of Mr. Kristol will recall that his range is wide, his experience and reading deep, his comments pithy, witty, and wise (depending on your bias). He opines on national issues, the domestic and world economy, historical and social trends, pop and high culture, manners, morals, religion, foreign affairs. My candidates? – someone to complement David Brooks – the NYT house conservative – I’d like to read more of Bill Bennett – but he’s already got a radio platform. A chancy choice? -- Elliot Cohn – nominal Republican, former Maine Senator, SecDOD, investment banker (boo?) – published poet, novelist (pretty bad), but not so bad op-eds – has plenty of opinions. Last choice – an outlyer -- the retiring Senator Voinovich – wise counselor, master of Hill tactics and strategy, student and champion of civil service (what a rarity!) former mayor and governor – likely a tad boring – (attention editors) but to compensate: vast experience, mild Republican, much wisdom -- dry wit. no fat, just lean. Oh, now I must sign off -- my library copy of Bell’s End of Ideology has expired – time to return it so others in my town might peruse this quaint tome.
Concerned Retiree Posted Friday, February 20, 2009 4:59 PM