The Real Meaning Of The Manhattan Fly-By

Word is out (bloomberg.com) that the White House postcard fly-by of Manhattan cost American taxpayers $329,000. And that doesn't include the printing costs. After more than thirty years in government, I can tell you this not an isolated incident. What makes the fly-by newsworthy is a combination of the organizational level at which the decision was made, the complete disregard for the obvious reaction it would draw, and instant media saturation it would attract. This was a decision made out of inexperience, one of many we've seen from this administration in its first hundred days. I get the feeling the Oval Office doesn't have much command and control in the White House. A few more layers of review and approval would give me comfort. Those layers would do much to temper authority and ego that tend to excess and embarrassment, especially among the newly appointed.

Outside the Beltway, you can find the same process at work, only farther down the org charts. There, the negative decisions generally have a narrower impact on fewer people and often go unnoticed by local media. It's there where the costly follies occur by the hundreds from sea to shining sea. The late, endearing senator from Illinois, Everett Dirkson's famous quote that "a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money" would apply nicely. To be honest, the truly rotten decisions I witnessed occurred infrequently, but their cost was often well beyond $329,000. What's frightening is my belief that we not only did good work, but also exceeded the performance of most agencies.

I'm sure Director of the White House Military Office, Louis Caldera, made the fly-by decision with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, an off-the-shelf photoshop program, a few sharp images, and a $328,000 printing budget could have bought at least 33,000,000 postcards without creating a stir until it came time to store them. Someone in addition to the taxpayers will have to "pay" for this sorry incident. The candidate is Caldera and his acceptance of full responsibility is probably not enough. If past is prologue, he'll merely transfer outside the Beltway and descend into the managerial charts where tomorrow's "fly-bys" usually go unnoticed. This is bureaucracy. Soon, it will be building your car, maybe even performing your surgery.