The President's Call: Executive Leadership From FDR to George Bush (78 page)

Read The President's Call: Executive Leadership From FDR to George Bush Online

Authors: Judith E. Michaels

Tags: #test

BOOK: The President's Call: Executive Leadership From FDR to George Bush
12.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
 
Page 252
His only advice to his successors regarding how to deal with stress was simply to expect it. He had not anticipated his current level of stress. He had experienced stress before, he observed, but "this is
Olympic
stress. You have to live this, there's no way to know it otherwise."
The end of an administration brings a curious mixture of slowdown and mania. Said one PAS, "The last nine months of the administration things lighten up, you don't initiate anything new. The main thing is to make sure there are
no surprises."
Another called his own stress level "pretty low" but added that "everything's crazy under the surface with the election panic."
Washington is a very expensive town where professional and social obligations mean a certain amount of entertaining and black-tie dress, which placed a significant financial burden on some. One remarked that his work and social obligations meant his wife was expected to be an unpaid worker for the government.
Family stress was mentioned by many of the PASs. Many traveled a great deal; fifty- to seventy- or seventy-five-hour work weeks are the norm in Washington's highest echelon. One mentioned that he and his wife were separated, a fact "not unrelated" to his travel schedule and stress. Many times the spouse of a PAS is a highly educated professional who is unemployed or working at a level below her or his capacity. This, too, contributes to stress at home.
Many mentioned the lack of time to spend with their spouse and children, or a family living out of the area, as part of their stress load. Those whose family did not relocate to Washington usually traveled home on the weekends, which got them out of the nation's pressure cooker, but made for solitary week nights alone in Washington. When they were home, accumulated details and a spouse weary from being a weekday single parent added more stress.
Conclusion
Intrabureaucratic conflicts continued, for all intents and purposes, nearly unabated during the Bush administration. While the Bush PASs expressed obvious support for the careerists with whom they worked, there was a clear schizophrenia in their feelings about them. They respected their expertise but at the same time resented it because of the power it gave them. It was not apparent that there was a significant improvement in political-career relations from the Reagan administrations that had so vociferously attacked the public service and its servants. Whether or not this lack of improvement can be attributed to the nature of government,
 
Page 253
the basic Republican stance toward government, or any other factors (or combination thereof), it is clear that the objective of improving political-career relations toward the goal of improving government is still elusive.
Presidential appointees indisputably derived great satisfaction from their work. As might be expected, those at the top of the hierarchy were the most satisfied, those in middle management the least. Those serving a specified term in flat structures (the IRC PASs) tended to be more satisfied and less stressed than those serving at the pleasure of the president in tall structures in large, complex agencies. For most appointees, the intellectual stimulation, policy involvement, ability to "make a difference," and their location at the center of the policy-power nexus compensated in large measure for the stress of the job. They relished breathing the rarefied air of power, even if they were not always able to exercise it directly themselves.
However, stress undeniably figured in the life and work of the Bush PASs, dominating all too often. To a certain extent, of course, it goes with the territory, given the enormous responsibility they carry, the many players on the scene, the Constitution-based separation of powers, the high stakes involved, and the nation's zero tolerance for error. Nonetheless, not all stress is unavoidable; certainly, less would be preferable. The PPO should lead in educating PASs about the dangers of excess stress and ways to deal with it, both personally and institutionally.
The president could also lead by example and directive, though there was little hope of that with the frenetic workaholic Bush in the White House. It would be interesting to know if Reagan's PASs took their cue from their frequent-napper boss and slowed down or if they had to work even harder to pick up the slack. In any case, following the tragic suicide of Vincent Foster, Clinton's close friend and aide, the president did publicly state the importance of maintaining a balanced life. On the other hand, Clinton EPA chief Carol Browner thought it a major advance to organize her staff schedule so each person got home before 9 o'clock at least one night a week.
It is difficult to assess the extent to which George Bush's and Ronald Reagan's PASs, and thereby their administrations, differed. Certainly Bush, "the quintessential bureaucrat," did not mount the full frontal attack on government to the extent that Reagan had. He supported the public service both in concept and in reality, at least until he lost his bearings late in the 1992 election.
As had every group of PASs before them, the Bush PASs stressed the crucial importance of the career staff and their belief that they could be trusted. Early PAS orientation by the Bush PPO included, apparently for
 
Page 254
the first time, a brief segment on working with careerists. Only a concerted effort by the White House will move new PASs quickly beyond whatever anticareerist prejudice they bring into office with them. They should not have to spend the first year on the job learning that lesson.
This lesson is particularly important for an incoming administration, many of whose members would likely mistrust the careerists who labored long and faithfully for the previous administration or party. Newcomers should recall the solid recommendation given careerists by Republicans in similar situations, as well as studies that indicate that as much as 44 percent of senior careerists are not affiliated with either majority party. Independents, along with party-related careerists, are inclined to follow political leadership, mostly out of allegiance to professional standards of neutral competence and partly out of simple expediency. New presidents and their people should play to the strength of professionalism and not fear residual pull from the previous administration.
There is also a certain cynicism about government by those who know it from the inside, accompanied by a desire for change in the agencies, that works to the next administration's advantage. As one careerist observed,
The agencies are eager for change. Twelve years of one party is too long. The system is dependent on the dynamic of change. My agency loves crisis and heroes-it focuses attention on issues-it likes opportunity, new directions. Careerists see themselves in the white hats, very committed to the agency and its mission, rather than to the public service, per se. They don't really care who wins, they just want change.
These factors should assure incoming PASs that they need not fear sabotage or disdain policy input from their careerists. In fact, as many Bush PASs acknowledged, the politics/administration dichotomy lives, as it always has, more in theory than in fact. They used and valued careerists for policy as well as administrative advice. Incoming PASs of either party would do well to do likewise.
 
Page 255
9
Interbureaucratic Issues: The End of Village Isolation
Heclo's 1977 claim that federal executives were operating independently in isolated villages (executive branch agencies) was rendered obsolete by three terms of one-party control of the White House. Because President Bush chose as much as one-half of his initial political executive force from the Reagan cohort, very many of the Bush PASs already knew one another at the start of the administration. The initial getting-to-know-the-players time was thus significantly shortened for Bush's team: after twelve years, most PASs knew one another and did not have as much need to get together. They had already "arrived" so they had less need to network (read: jockey) for personal power.
This chapter addresses three larger issues of bureaucratic lifePASs' interaction and sense of collegiality and solidarity across the government, and their relations and experiences with the White House and with the Congress, including the sometimes-hellish confirmation process. The primary basis for this analysis is data from the Bush PAS Survey and personal interviews with PASs and others.
The Villages Form a Colony: PASs Governmentwide
What nurtured the Bush PASs' sense of collegiality? One factor beyond the aforementioned familiarity is that most PASs met with or talked with their colleagues in and beyond their own agency often during the week. Nearly 95 percent of the PASs reported working contact by telephone or in meetings with PASs in other agencies; 68 percent had at least
 
Page 256
one contact per week, 35 percent had four or more per week. Fewer than 6 percent reported no contact at all outside their own agency.
Personal communication in the modern era of government has been facilitated by interagency task groups, which have become a very common form of governing, or at least of problem solving. In fact, 77 percent of the Bush PAS Survey respondents reported at least some involvement in an interagency working group. Government's functioning is mandated by interagency task forces because so many of the issues are interrelated that the agencies have to work together to get anything accomplished. As one PAS said of her work, "EPA issues absolutely
fall
over everybody else's issues because EPA regulates federal facilities and energy plants, and relates to agriculture and trade issues."
1
The staff of the various agencies often informally work out issues among themselves. (If a settlement cannot be reached among the agencies, the PASs may have to elevate issues to OMB or the White House for resolution.)
However, some also commented on a sense of isolation and tunnel vision within the agencies, quoting Henry Kissinger's dictum that "the immediate drives out the important." PASs are usually so absorbed in their daily activities of their villages that they do not often step back and assess the larger picture.
Some, by virtue of their position, are not really able to connect with other PASs. Inspectors general, for example, always have to remain a little outside the politics of the agency. Similarly, with those in the agencies that regulate other agencies (such as OMB, OPM, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority [FLRA]), there is a need for neutrality. The FLRA's Pamela Talkin observed how her role makes personal or social relations awkward. They are "the cop in the federal sector" so they cannot get too close to other PASs who might at some point be litigants in a case.
Certainly, Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) Democrats serving the Republican administrations were odd politicians out, as noted above. Conservative enough to be appointed by Reagan or Bush, they were "Reagan Democrats, out of step with Republicans and out of step with other Democrats." They had few or no relations with Congress or with other Democratic PASs because their interests were localized in their agency, though some reported social connections around town.
Because there are so few women PASs (only 20 percent), Democratic women PASs were even more isolated. While there was a women's PAS group, one Democrat reported that she attended once and found the group's focus was on how to get Democrats out of the Senate. She "sneaked out with a 'respectable' member who had to leave early and never went back."

Other books

Shadows and Light by Anne Bishop
Leaving Everything Most Loved by Winspear, Jacqueline
Vanilla by Scarlet Smith
Caged Sanctuary by Tempeste O'Riley
When Tomorrow Never Comes by Raven K. Asher
Thistle and Thyme by Sorche Nic Leodhas
The Confession by John Grisham