OBAMA’S ‘SMARTER GOVERNMENT’
You’re Too ‘Cynical’
The President rolls out another plan for ‘smarter government.’
- EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:Amid what has recently become a full regulatory panic, ObamaCare will be lucky to rise to third-world standards though it isn’t the only part of government Mr. Obama has expanded that could use a “management agenda.” Three years after passage, regulators still haven’t written the Volcker Rule or other parts of Dodd-Frank financial re-regulation. The stimulus cost a lot but never did kickstart a real recovery. And where was “smarter government” when Mr. Obama told his agencies to administer this year’s 5% sequester cuts as painfully as possible so voters would force Congress to oppose any cuts?
President Obama gave a speech Monday instructing Americans not to be so “cynical” about government. This is not a setup for a punch line. He then explained that the major problem with government is that it does not run as efficiently as “one of the most inclusive and most successful campaigns in American history.” His own.
It was unclear if Mr. Obama was referring to his 2008 political operation or the 2012 reprise, but in any case he said he is developing a new “management agenda” to deliver a “smarter and more accountable” government, “just like we did on that campaign.” Call us cynical, but is there an American outside of Washington nostalgic for the last election?
“What matters in the end is completion. Performance. Results. Not just making promises, but making good on promises,” Mr. Obama continued. Sorry, that was George W. Bush in 2001 debuting what he also called a new “management agenda.” Perhaps Mr. Obama’s version is an homage, though he didn’t acknowledge the debt, nor did he mention Al Gore’s “reinventing government” program of the 1990s.
President Obama’s management agenda is also indebted to President Obama’s 2011 call for a scrubdown of the regulatory state for duplicative rules, as well as President Obama’s 2012 proposal to consolidate and reorganize the executive branch. The authorities have since issued Amber Alerts for both projects.
Presidents always summon such initiatives that go nowhere when the polls show the public distrusts government, which is usually when it is largest and most activist, and no more so than the present moment. But it’s especially rich for Mr. Obama to try to ride this painted pony one more time, as government is dumber and less accountable than ever.
The President actually cited the Affordable Care Act as an example of his idea of more user-friendly government: People will be able to shop for insurance, he said, “like you go online and compare the best deal on cars.” Yet the unfortunate government official charged with designing this online tool declared in March that his team had given up on creating “a world-class user experience,” adding, “Let’s just make sure it’s not a third-world experience.”
Amid what has recently become a full regulatory panic, ObamaCare will be lucky to rise to third-world standards though it isn’t the only part of government Mr. Obama has expanded that could use a “management agenda.” Three years after passage, regulators still haven’t written the Volcker Rule or other parts of Dodd-Frank financial re-regulation. The stimulus cost a lot but never did kickstart a real recovery. And where was “smarter government” when Mr. Obama told his agencies to administer this year’s 5% sequester cuts as painfully as possible so voters would force Congress to oppose any cuts?
Americans might be less cynical about government if Mr. Obama’s real preference wasn’t for the government status quo, only much more of it.
