Footprints

It's a quote that has guided him. "Footprints in history are never made by someone sitting behind a desk." So it shouldn't be a surprise that my friend is back on the move again. My friend talks about the quote and what it means to him. We are sitting in a restaurant. It will be our last dinner together. Kate had made the phone call to arrange this last supper. With boxes stacked in their home he's sitting next to me talking. His wife is on the other end of the table deep in conversation with my wife. Their two children are nibbling on peanuts and chiming in on occasion.

My friend didn't come to Washington to make history, but he did come to be a part of it. He's a federal worker who is fed up. "When I look back on my career, my 8 years in Washington will be a black hole." There is a real sense of sadness as he says it. "I believe in the role of advice and advocacy. Now it's all about command and control. Everything is the P.MA.." PMA is short for the President's Management Agenda. It guides everything he says. I checked the White House website this morning to read more about it. You can to, here's a link. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budintegration/pma_index.html

According to my friend everything is color coded. All decisions end up within a red box or green box. If it makes sense financially it's in the green box, if it doesn't, it ends up in the red box. Some feel as though New Orleans is in the red box, and Southern California is in the green box. If you question the boxes or bosses you'll end up being boxed out. My friend asks the question, and he knows the answer, "Name one company or country that has benefited by just employing yes men?!" That's what we are becoming he fears, a government of yes men. No questioning, no discussion, and no debate. We talk about the fake FEMA news conference that has blown up in the face of administrators there. This is what happens when there is no dissent, debate or discussion.

I would include his name in this blog, but I don't want to put him in an awkward position. He hasn't left his position just yet. So he will remain nameless. But he's not alone, the PMA has been greeted by the KMA. So many of his superiors have walked, and said in the process "Kiss my @#$@.'

As he finishes dinner he fights back tears. It's not bitterness, but sadness that will send him on his way to a new job in a new city. "I put every ounce of my being, my passion into my work, I cared." He shakes his head. As he walks out, I know I will miss him as a friend, but both you and I will miss him as a public servant in Washington. I wonder how many other good people like him are leaving Washington. I also wonder what kind of a box we will all be in if all the good people get fed up and leave. I don't know about you, but if I was to give it a color it would be red.