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A Plan to Turn the Lowly Bureaucrat into a Cherished Public Servant
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jan 06, 2009 06:56pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By JASON DEPARLE
Published: January 6, 2009
WASHINGTON — There is West Point for soldiers, and Annapolis for sailors, but no parallel place of grit and glory for that maligned tribe of government workers known as bureaucrats.
Chris Myers Asch is trying to change that.
With no money, contacts or obvious qualifications, Mr. Asch quit his job three years ago at a Mississippi after-school program and started a campaign to create a civilian service academy — a West Point for bureaucrats.
What began on the back of an envelope found a champion in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, legislative allies in the House and Senate, and a glimmer of plausibility in an age where President-elect Barack Obama pledges to “make government cool again” — the very words Mr. Asch has long used to sell his plan.
“The Public Service Academy can be Barack Obama’s Peace Corps,” Mr. Asch said. “He needs to take advantage of this moment when people are recognizing the importance of government and build institutions that will last.”
There is no word on whether Mr. Obama agrees, but the proposed academy has drawn past endorsements from the vice president-elect, Joseph R. Biden Jr.; the incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel; and at least three cabinet nominees. People who once mocked Mr. Asch’s presumption now congratulate him on his timing.
The surprising ascent of Mr. Asch’s idea can be read as an upbeat tale of Washington’s openness to a citizen-advocate (Mr. Asch’s view) or evidence of its enduring weakness for expensive big-government schemes (as some of his critics contend). |
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