Return to Article: Obama pledges to fire managers, cut redundant programs
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75473
At our agency, we have one GS-5 secretary and one GS-6 secretary. All of the other regions world wide has promoted their secretaries to higher grades. Something is wrong with that picture. Should I write to someone that needs to know what is going on. He should fire the managers that are not doing what they supposed to do as leaders.
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62800
the republicans are criminals... what they have said (smaller government) and what they have done (creating multiple levels of crony middle management) is obvious to anybody in any federal agency... they have raped government procurement law, using and abusing sole source contracts... an agency that was lean at the end of the clinton years, the republicans bought out many blue collar jobs just to turn around and create many new positions that were not necessary at grades much higher than needed, most of which make supervisory wages without anybody to supervise... i certainly hope obama trims the fat from our agency and will enjoy watching the rats flee from their sinking ship
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61719
This is perfect! How to get all my friends a job without trying. Then get all the other friends US Govt. contracts. Spreading the wealth, you just have to love it when a plan comes together. This is socialism for a select few and damn the rest of you poor souls.
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59816
I am excited about the upcoming Nov 2008 election. I am hoping for real changes and believe that Mr Obama is and will be the person to bring about those changes. It will not happen overnight, nothing does. He is right about the waste within the government and the top-heaviness with layers of managers who don't know there jobs or are to lazy to do the work. Getting rid of managers who don't perform is a good thing.
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59797
Good Luck achieving this! This is Obama's inexperience talking.
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59665
It's about time America demand that its federal workforce deliver something other than bureaucracy. We federal employees earn more and get better benefits than the vast majority of Americans; it's time we earn it! I especially applaud Obama's recognition that federal managers need to be held accountable for results and fired if they cannot deliver on schedule and within budget! The question is how. More bureaucracy (e.g., PART) won't get us there. Budget cuts might! As we come to grips with the staggering deficit, severe budget cuts are likely. It's the bloated management and administrative layers that need to go, and I believe Obama has the business acumen to figure out how to do it. I am particlarly heartened to hear that Obama is concerned about federal managers' need to better manage contracts, and the need to actually use performance information manage resources.
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59643
I agree with what Sen. Obama wants to accomplish. However, I don't believe that either he or Sen. Biden has any idea of how to make it happen. Unless they put "the right" people in positions below the Assistant Secretary level in every executive agency, they will be as "successful" as the current and preceding administrations. (Placing people deeper within organizations without increasing layers and beauracracy will be a challenge.) Further, they must establish and maintain a culture of responsibility and accountability within the career workforce. Note - this is not intended to denigrate the contributions of the thousands of outstanding and capable civil servants who take it upon themselves to be personally accountable and accomplish their missions efficiently and effectively. However, there are many who do operate in such a manner. They reduce overall organizational capability and effectiveness and hurt morale.
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59516
Those that whine about this and would not support it, would be the ones in Federal Government in those positions that dumped on the rank and file employee. The Managers who are not subjected to the cost saving initiatives due to them padding their own through the cost containment bonus programs that they, the Managers created to ensure their future, all on the backs of the GS / WS / WG lower grade employee's. Instead of all that crying, have your spine re-inserted and do what is right by protecting your staff and not be so concerned about your next promotion or bonus.
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59495
I am really tired of getting the short end of the stick just because I am a federal employee. He is a federal employee and basically did not much of anything while in the Senate. This just shows me that his lack of experience is going to lead to a witch hunt without getting all the facts straight. Why not outline some of the GOOD things that federal managers do instead of this incessant criticism? Oh that right - tell the people what they want to hear and the truth be darned!
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59293
This is what you get when someone is running for office and has no experience in running anything special. Unless you count spending 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, becoming the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, creating a voter registration drive that registered 150,000 new voters, spending 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spending 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spending 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, None of which should really count as having any real leadership experience.
McCain has been talking about his inability to lead. Poor old fella. Barak you got some heady job experience there. You're ready for prime time
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59284
Obama has had the past four years to initiate such a plan to reform the Federal Government, and he did nothing. Why believe that he would do it if elected to the presidency? Say anything to get elected, and then do nothing. Same old story.
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59254
Who do you think will be on that SWAT team?
The fired managers, of course...
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59253
"Imagine the nerve of a politician", on this time of financial crisis, mortgage and Wall-Street collapses, sky-rocketing oil prices, health care crisis, for him to try to do his job if elected and to review government programs for waste and inefficiency, stop wasteful spending and curb the influence of special interests.
It's about freacking time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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59242
Here we go again. Politicains can say what ever they want to without accountability. In reviewing his statements, a couple of issues are troublesome. First, reform in the manner our country conducts business must be reformed. To fire/move/re-assign individuals from one Agency and re-assign, or hire new individuals, to a new Agency that one's other initiatives require, is only status quo and does not reduce Government. Next, performance goals must be linked directly to customer desired results; however, to link to "congressional intent" is very disheartening since Congress has not demonstrated any ability to control anything and many members of Congress do not have business experience. The current Congressional members only want to play political games for posturing and the majority seems to be causing the problems.
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59230
What's Obama's record in running Illinois government? Oh, I forgot, he was a state Senator who voted "present" 140 times. Federal Government? He was in the senat for about a year before he declared himself a candidate, but was still able to steer earmarks to his wife's employer. She got her pay doubled and implemented a plan to dump patients to community hospitals away from the elite Univ of Chicago hospital. That's Change we can believe in!!!
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59217
I've been with the federal government for 37 years. I heard all of these promises by many poliicians. This one of the many promises and not too many of them are being instituted while the person is already in office. LIES, PROMISES that can be broken. Either way, both candidates will cut the government. I hope it will come into reality check. There are many positions in the government that MUST be abolish. All the middle managers MUST be deleted. They are all sitting pretty and does only command here and there but actually waiting for that golden years to retire. They are all laughing on their way to the bank to withdraw their EASY earned retirement. You can hear all around, this is enough FOR UNCLE SAM. What a waste. too much politics in any government jobs.
GOOD LUCK TO THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THEY WILL BE LOSING JOBS COMES JANUARY 20.
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59203
Perhaps I should know better, but my instinct tells me that Obama really IS different from all the other candidates we've seen over the past four decades. He puts his money where his mouth is. If he wins it will be mostly due to small dollar contributions from ordinary citizens. NO ONE in living memory has done that and, if he is successful, he will not be owned by special interests. For that reason, I don't believe that his proposal to eliminate unnecessary layers of federal management is just hot air -- and I hope it is not. The agency I recently left is going through a reorganization with only one concrete effect: to create more unnecessary layers of managers. If Obama's people see this for what it is, it will definitely direct many more limited dollars to the front lines, where it should go! Federal employees have suffered through eight years of the worst mismanagement in decades and a thorough housecleaning and redirection is urgently needed to clean out the politically correct and replace them with employees who care more about doing their jobs for the people than about ideology.
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59197
Do the politicians ever read GovExec blogs? I sure would like to know if the politicians really pay attention to the real issues and concerns that are hashed out in GovExec blogs that pertain to the government workforce?
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59187
It's time for change. Everyone has had enough of this NSPS system that has been a gross waste of taxpayers money. McCain is all for PFP. In fact he'll be cranking it up a notch or 2 if he gets in. That's enough for me. Go Obama!
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59186
I agree with "FED employee..."--it takes two to tango. If McCain, when he inveighs against waste in DC, would say he would end all problems that rate ineffective on PART it would be a start. If Congress would say the same, it would be a start. Even if OMB is able to impose some order on the executive, it doesn't mean much unless Congress and the appropriations committees buy in. And they don't. Until then, neither McCain nor Obama's promises mean much.
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59185
I am pleased that someone is going to clean up Government spending! There are a lot of mismanaged programs out there. We have spent millions of dollars on a system just to scrap it all together. Then after we scrap it, we reward the workers who could not make it work??? As a government worker as well as a taxpayer I am appalled when this happens. I don't understand what about this bothers federal workers or managers who are doing their jobs with excellence. Senator Obama's plan is structured for to protect the middle class (anyone making below $250,000 dollars a year). I don't think anyone complaining here make more than that. There are very few federal workers in that income bracket.
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59180
Where to start? 1. How about a few (hundred) less political appointees? Their interest is in themselves and the "program they created" not the agency. 2. Remind our senior leaders they are not private sector CEOs. Government service means you have a lean staff, make your own copies and do not have a private jet, car, servant. 3. Remind senior leaders to let subordinates tell them they are wrong sometimes. I am so sick of cleaning up messes months because no one had the courage to tell a senior leader or a senior leader did not listen to simple advice. Well ... at least on the last point there is some measure of job security!
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59177
Hmmm, where have I heard this before... oh yeah, from John McCain! The candidate who has really done reform. "McCain has said repeatedly that, if elected president, he would freeze discretionary spending until the administration performed "top-to-bottom reviews of all federal programs to weed out failing ones."
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59176
OK, let's use a bit of perspective on the old waste cutting. EDA's budget is about $300M per year, excluding S+E and the $100M Midwest Floods Supplemental. We have an authorized strength of 175 FTE and currently have open positions. Yes, we do get some earmarks and projects get done for political reasons. However, given the overall size of the federal budget and workforce, how much progress can we make starting with EDA, assuming for the moment that we're all fleckless redundant supernumeraries?
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59174
After 32 years in Federal government as a civil servant, I was glad to retire, and not have to go through another presidential transition. 22 of those 32 years were spent in DC, with 10 out in the field. The higher up I got and the closer to the Heads of the Federal agencies I got, the less I enjoyed my work. Too much political influence. The problem with our Federal government is that there are too many political appointees!! The current administration desire to deregulate and "let the states decide" has led to the financial and economic crisis our country is experiencing.
Mr Obama's heart is in the right place, but we have heard promises during each Presidential campaign, that are impossible to keep.
Trim the excess glut of political appointees, especially Schedule Cs that are nothing but someone's proteges, wanting to build a portfolio for a better appointment in the next administration.
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59173
Have him read the Constitution, first. And then eliminate all agencies that aren't a Constitutional role for our federal government. Education, Energy, Welfare, etc.
That should tighten things up a bit.
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59168
Obama's idea of change is so 1993. This is the NPR on retreads. Does the president have the power to fire career managers? Did someone say politicization?
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59163
Anddddddddddddd what is McSame going to do?
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59162
Obama build up government to reduce it? Smart! And they are calling you savior. I know there is a bunch of cuts that need to happen and as many have said, start with congress. This has helped me make up my mind, McCain/Palin. They may not be the best for this job but Obama it is stupid plans like this that we need the other party in there help keep things somewhat even. We need smart people in the white house not idiots.
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59161
OK OBAMA! the CS is not the enemy. Start with congress first.
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59160
Regardless of who wins the election the requirement to run our programs efficiently and effectively remains the same. Having a consistent and stable way to measure them would be a good business practice. Also regardless of who wins we're going to see some new "experts" who, if the past is any prediction of the future, will have little experience with government and no experience with program management. Read: Political appointees. They'll find some easy opportunity to grab a headline for the administration to show how they've cleaned up Washington while CRs, earmarks, and Congressional interference in federal projects continues. That's the change we can believe in.
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59159
Obama simply re-states what is already law and calls it a "new plan"! For example: he would require non-competitive procurements over $25K to have a write-up to support an exception to competition requirements. Guess what, it's already required and it's called a Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition. It's strictly enforced in the agencies I've worked for. It's bad enough he got it wrong. It's worse that he characterizes devoted civil servants as indiscriminately awarding tax dollars without competition or any explanation why they did so. The worst is that he characterizes this as some sort of "new thinking". This is going to be my "boss"?
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59157
According to Government Executive Magazine between 57,000 and 59,000 federal employees will retire each year through 2010. Twenty three large federal agencies will see over 20 percent of their workforce retire by 2012. This is an excellent opportunity to eliminate questionable layers of management, offices, and positions without triggering layoffs. It would be a shame to fill all these positions when many could be retired with the person.
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59156
A classic empty suit maneuver. Like smoke through a keyhole. Give it a rest Barry.
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59155
Senator Obama is my main MAN (and of course Michele's too)! I have never been more excited about any Presidential Candidate in my life (except JFK and I was to young to vote then)! Sign me up for his SWAT TEAM. After a very successful acquisitions career (with the highest levels of integrity and fairness)in the Federal Government, I have witnessed and supervised the "non-performers," the "trouble-makers," the "discontent," the "blame management" kinds of employees. I would really like to see Senator Obama put in-place effective regulations to remove these types of employees........and please extend it to the Executive Branch!
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59154
Maybe we could focus on performance metrics and use a balanced scorecarding system to track our productivity.
Look how good it worked for defense contract audit agency.
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59153
I'm so sick of people singling out Procurement professionals as scapegoats!
I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, but the Dept. of Labor statistics show the average Federal worker is mid-50's with more than 20 years experience - we're hemorraging decades of experience and knowledge that "more training" won't prevent.
And did someone tell him there are already *thousands* of procurement positions open for analysts, specialists, and contracting officers that no one can fill? Maybe someone should find out why.
Just how do you make a process more efficient when your customer can't state explicitly what they need because, oh, say there's a war going on, and no one can tell you *precisely* where those 500 heavy-duty trucks will be needed a year after the contract is awarded - but they will definitely be needed, so you have to buy the guarantee of delivery today?
PS Enough-is-Enough: my father was a local gov't police officer for 37 years, but you might not have noticed that he was busy saving children from abusive parents, de-escalating domestic disputes, chasing down armed burglers, patrolling the streets during blizzards and hurricanes, providing first-aid and comfort to car accident victims, and yes, the cliche - even delivering a baby in his cruiser, when he wasn't "directing traffic", and I promise you no one who does a desk job earns their pay as much as public safety officers and teachers do.
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59151
I didn't realize that when I signed up to received emails from Government Executive that it was a partisan political group with an agenda. I would hope that we are ALL in favor of getting rid of bad managers who don't do their job--unless some of the people posting comments are the bad managers who are not doing their jobs. As to Government Executive, I think I will be hitting unsubscribe.
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59149
Sounds like Senator Obama wants to bring back pay for performance something my union fought to stop and now the union endorses him. When you fire middle managers the employees under them are next! However same ole story and nothing ever will be done!!!! W
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59147
Does Mr. Obama have any idea what the oversight agencies do in the Federal Government? A "SWAT" team would simply replicate what the GAO and IG offices already are doing.
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59145
I'm all for Obama and have NO fear of losing MY job. The current GOP way is to promote and award non-performers who simply belong to the 'good ol' boy system'. In our agency, we call this being part of the 'family'. A true civil servant wants to be rewarded for a job well-done and serving the taxpayer well. I didn't join the federal service to get rich, but that seems to be the expectation of many at the top in appointed positions. It has nothing to do with their ability to perform and serve this nation. Folks, get over it. Obama is going to win this election and bring about reform. If you don't like it, get out while you can! GO OBAMA!!
And, I agree with Kathryn. GovExec is participating in BIASED reporting in this article and fear-mongering. I sure hope most civil servants are reading this article with an open, educated mind! Shame on you, GovExec!!
Mr/Ms NoBodySpecial, I sure hope you are a political appointee. 'Cause guess what? McCain/Palin will cut your job, too, Simpleton! Cuts are going to happen either way! DUH!!
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59143
Been there, done that. This is by and large a recycled, warmed-over version of the National Performance Review initiative under the aegis of the then-VP, Al Gore, the self-touted inventor of the internet. That essentailly amateurish effort accomplished relatively little of a positive nature, while doing great harm to effective implementation of Federal programs. The use of mindlessly established arbitrary percentege targets without regard for their impact on program management reflects the intellectual bankruptcy of the newest horde of "reformers" (led by one from Chicago no less, where "reform" has its own special meaning and is spelled c-l-o-u-t) who haven't a clue as to what effective governance means or requires. Do we really have to go down that self-defeating avenue again? What's discouraging is that the one really encouraging governance management development under the Bush II Administration, the PART process, is being dismissed out of hand as a partisan tool which has not been the case. (My own agency has gone through the PART methodology and found it uncomfortably rigorous. For the first time within memory, we were actually being held accountable to an outside impartial reviewer - OMB - for achievement of results, and they pulled no punches in pointing out our very real deficiencies that had long been swept under the rug.) But the amateurs with easy, mindless solutions appear to be coming back with a vengeance.
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59139
It's really is too bad that some bloggers seem more inclined to annihilate someone's character rather than simply state opinion based on what is reported. I think wanting to improve the workings of the government is a positive and I applaud Senator Obama.
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59138
Just remember this: All presidential candidates make all kinds of promises before elections. Much of what they "promise" cannot be delivered by a president. Take their promises and accusations on taxes. A president cannot "raise" or "lower" taxes without the involvement of those other elected officials who actually allocate money.
As for firing all under-performing performing federal managers, well, it's nice to say that. It sounds good to non-federal workers who think we just sit around and drink coffee and make salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The truth, of course, is that he can't do that. There are civil service laws that he isn't accounting for. And just wait until Senator Obama has to "thank" all his big donors and the folks that got him to the White House (if that happens.)
He might have a different view of political appointees and federal managers then.
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59135
It would be great if they would come "clean house" where I'm at. We have 3 "old timers" that don't do anything but moan and complain about everything. They refuse to learn anything, they backtalk their supervisor, they come and go as they please, they refuse jobs that are given to them; they feel like they are "untouchable" and run to the Union if someone looks at them the wrong way. All they are is a waste of space, sucking up the taxpayers' money. They are at the highest step of their grade which they totally do not deserve and they complain that they need more money. They wouldn't last 1 day in the real world. And as far as the contractor issue goes, they should get rid of all of them so we as federal employees can have job security; we have one around here that does as she damn well pleases, running in and out all the time, taking 2 hour lunches, leaving early, numerous smoke breaks,etc., just another waste of taxpayers' money. Wait, I am a taypayer.
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59134
Most of what Obama is proposing, to "review programs for waste an inefficiency" already exists. Even further, there is good progress in institutionalizing the more elusive practices that identify and promote improvement of "organizational effectiveness" (which is really more important - since improving the efficiency of a bad practices is just increased bad).
One of the main obstacles to improving enterprise efficiency & effectiveness is the very structure our government (checks & balances defined in our constitution between the Executive & Legislative branches). The sheer amount of redundancy and overlap of processes (activities that are performed), infrastructure (things that are purchased), and information collected (including the cost to manage it) is staggering.
For instance, Executive Branch efforts to assess redundancies (or commonality) across the many federal organizations and restructure / consolidate programs are hindered by the way the Legislative Branch fund / controls its mandates. In many cases, it literally takes an "act of congress" to change congressionally directed programs & funding.
In short, organizational / operational changes (improvement) that touch political born programs are very difficult to achieve. Unless both branches embrace not only the goal of improving government but agree to support the SAME PRACTICES, little will change.
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59133
Out of 37 comments only a small number has been fooled by Obama's statement. I think this statement fits: "you can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time." We've heard and seen it before and there is no surprises when a new President takes office. The first thing done is put all their friends in high paying offices, redecorate their offices, buy new furniture, and give them an expense account. We need somebody in office which has the interest and well-being of the country at heart, not their political party, not their contributors, not big business, not interest groups, & not pork-barrel programs. We need to tighten our belts/wallets, become self sufficient, and not depend on foreign markets for our food and products (who can we trust?). Get the illegal immigration under control, if they want to live and work in the US; they must become citizens and pay taxes. We are going broke making Mexico rich! End the expensive conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home. Make the federal government efficient and balanced. If the government must make a profit in order to balance the budget; than do it. The taxpayer cannot afford this endless and futile cycle! We are a GREAT NATION, yet we cannot balance our checkbook! What good business functions this way? Failure is in the forecast regardless who takes office. We need a timely approved budget every year; not a Continuing Resolution! We do not need our TSP and Social Security programs to bail out government programs and companies who cannot remain solvent. We do not need our tax dollars being spent on abortions as a means of birth control.
Don't be fooled by the NSPS (pay for performance) program; a civilian can be moved and fired! NSPS removed your protection.
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59132
I am a small business owner with jobs that pay $17-30/hour. If I have to pay 60 cents on every dollar I make what is my motivation to set up additional businesses? I won't which means office space will go empty or not built, no employees, no additional equipment ordered from factories and the usual supplies. People making $30K/year don't create jobs and transferring money I make to them won't do it either. Go ahead, raise my taxes and I will stop adding jobs. Fools, I don't work my butt off just for fun.
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59131
Regarding Obama's pledge, been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Perhaps he can bring back Al Gore and call it the National Performance Review. The same people with the same vested interests (survival), those that made the mess in the first place, will be involved and decision will be top-down driven. The public at large will be excluded.
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59130
How about cutting out some of the political appointee positions that have creeped into all areas of government. Many agencies have too many for their size and they add complication and hindrance - not value.
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59129
If Obama wants to change the way government works he should start by NOT appointing thousands of political appointees. Unfortunately, it is the "middle managers" the career government employees who are blamed for the governmental paralysis that occurs every four years as political appointees shuffle in and out. At this point it is not only SES political appointees but special schedule GS-15s that are tied to the short term goals of an administration instead of the long term goal of service to the people of the United States. If government employees continue to argue politics instead of looking at the real fundamental problems then we will be riffed and furloughed while the thousands of political appointees enjoy their jobs for 4 years. Real change starts at the fundamental problem not at the low hanging easy fruit.
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59128
We need to back to Basics. Whatever happened to the old adage of leaving this world a better place than when you arrived. New math has definately failed. These people should treat their companies and the taxpayer's money like their own household budget. Don't spend it until you have it and simply do not charge anything. There is no accountability today and it is sad that one on the seven deadly sins GREED has caused all of this chaos. Stop financing things that no one wants or needs and take responsibility when you should.
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59127
Good promises, but it may have alienated some folks who were straddling the fence. Problem is they weren't going to vote for him any way. This just gives them another excuse to stay in their comfort zone, while trying to justify why we've repeatedly getting blind sided the Republicans.
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59124
I do agree with the respondent whose memory of NPR was sparked. The federal machine is huge, not lacking in entrenched bureaucracy. And certainly we can expect to read and hear a great deal of reflective self-interests. I see it daily, as do you all. This election is historic in proportion, no doubt. And as Obama said recently, this is not about him. We should not make it so. It is about vision and pragmatism. It is about a critical examination of the last eight years, and the trajectory set in motion by these years. I do see in McCain a lot of post-WWII era nationalism. For his running mate, I see little. I suspect if he had chosen Lassie he would have the same champions. To be clear, I have voted Republican more often than not, and the McCain I knew eight years ago is not the opportunist I see today. Personally viewing a candidate through a single prism is, I believe, unwise for a country that is mortgaging my son's future (and my ability to ever retire) on policies that were ill-conceived, yet are clung to from equally entrenched political ideologies. I am attracted to Obama because he is smart, articulate, passionate, focused, and because, although ultimately not the persuading instrument for me personally, representative of the best America can offer, and will create a role model for so many young men and women who do not believe in America at all as a land where professional aspirations are met through hard work, education, and high ideals.
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59123
This is hogwash, remember the Union is making hug donations to his campaign. He will not bite hand that feeds him.
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59121
RMD - Guess you want more tax breaks for the wealthy (and higher deficit), less oversight of the financial system (and higher deficit), and an even more bloated military budget (and even higher deficit). BTW, saying that you 'think' doesn't make it so.
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59119
My father summed up this government mess simply. Fire all the head dogs that have deputies and assistants, promote one deputy or assistant, and don't hire any behind them. Apply this principle to the entire hierarchy. That way you eliminate a whole lot of dead wood that generally spends more time interfering than leading and typically the deputies and assistants do most of the work any way.
The problem with eliminating middle management is that there is no one to convert all these grand strategies into operational and tactical plans that can be executed. There is way too much bureaucracy at the top of these organizations. Many government organizations have more staff weenies than line workers.
I'd like to see government service office hours changed so that a working person does not have to take time from work to take advantage of government services. Right now the only people who have access to government are people with money and people that don't work. The rest of us lose time from work to see the IRS, SSA, VA, etc.
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59118
If the people within the government would focus on these efficiency and effectiveness issues as real and get things done on-time, a lot could be done to effect current deficiencies. I work with agencies and see that people do not take these issues seriously, nor do they want to rock the boat to make things work. That's why these initiative fail. These are good ideas and people in the government need to cooperate, investigate, establishj realistic and actionable measures (not green, yellow, and red) from which improvements can be made.
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59116
Unfortunately, he has stated nothing new. I have been hearing this promise since the Carter administration. Maybe he should review the number of Presidential appointees that require so many middle managers to continue with programs that are working
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59115
Throw out the entire do nothing Congress, including himself. Is the senator being paid for his job or did he take a leave of absence to campaign. How do you in good conscious accept your pay check and never show up for work.
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59114
Gosh, I could swear McCain said something about getting rid of CEO's for their bad judgement long before Obama. My vote is for McCain. He is for our country. Whoever gets in the office is going to have their work cut out for them. They're not going to be able to get control of the budget for years. The CEO's should be stripped of all their money and goods and those funds put towards the deficit. Even with all those millions, it will be only a drop in the bucket.... McCain will support our military. I feel if Obama is elected, you better be ready for bombs in the U.S.
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59113
Guess the Senator forgot all about those laws and regulations that contribute to so much overhead and bureaucracy. How will he ever get his former peers to go along with him and change all they have wrought? With little to show for any previous efforts at building consensous on reform within Congress, he'll just brow beat us into submission and taxation. Same old story, different campaign.
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59111
As a federal employee who actually works in a field office, I am all for trimming down bloated washington management. We in the field are understaffed and under equiped; while our so called leaders add make work washinghton and state level positions to do nothing but take credit and blame the field. Moral sucks because we don't get the resources or leadership to accomplish anything, but we get the blame and the cuts while the "managers" pat themselves on the back.
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59109
Sure Obama - replace them all with rich well-heeled contractors who contributed to your campaign.
Business as usual.
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59107
Your email alert and its caption seems designed to frighten government workers into believing Obama will eliminate their jobs. Your publication is participating in bias politics.
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59104
This country is at an all time low with gas prices higher than ever, mortgages falling through the basement and all you people are talking about personal issues. My god help you if John Mccain become president. retired Air Force, civil service worker.
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59096
I recognize that much of this is hyperbole in the heat of a campaign, but it'll be incumbent upon the next President to appoint a top-notch team to run the Agencies and not to appoint folks who contributed or raised $ for the campaign. All too often, we get saddled with hacks and incompetents who know (or care to know) the programs thet administer. They're more concerned with how to look good and political ramifications than they are with recognizing which programs (and people) work and those that don't but are kept alive because of the constituency they serve. Sen Obama says noe that he'll appoint career managers, but I'm concerned what happens after the election. Will these "careerists" be political types that burrowed-in previously or will he select true professional, career employees? I'm not from Misouri, but I'll believe it when I see it.
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59092
The last time I heard talk like this was when I helped elect Bill Clinton the first time. I had been so hopeful having waited for so long to win a vote in this city. And he turned out to be one of THE WORST for Federal employees. I'm still suffering the effects from one of his political appointees. I'm glad I'm retiring in January and won't have to go through this again.
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59088
Seriously, does anyone believe this clown? I don't need to read his latest and greatest. Who wrote this for him? Axelrod? Did he get the words from a teleprompter?
Wake up people and hold on to your wallet if these Demos get in office. If you think it's bad now, you aint seen nothing yet.
-
59083
This is what you get when someone is running for office and has no experience in running anything. McCain has been talking about his inability to lead and this just puts the face on his inexperience. Barak you need some job experience, your not ready for prime time
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59082
"Obama pledged to create a high performance team to evaluate every federal agency and program." HAHAHAHAHA. That's a good one, Senator. What do you think IG's were created to do 30 years ago? Your "high performance teams" will hire teams of sycophantic managers, just like the IG's, to hide their many failures and to exaggerate their mediocre accomplishments.
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59081
So they asked all the people currently managing programs how their programs were going and the people running the programs said, "Fine, just fine," for 80% of them. Sounds having students grade their own work in school, though you have to give some credit to the 20% who were honest.
A government performance SWAT team is no worse than any other idea that's come along in the last 30 years. Having someone outside your organization look at your performance is always uncomfortable, but it's more likely to produce change than having people grade themselves.
-
59080
SWAT--sounds threatening coming from a fellow that votes present and worked only one year in the Senate and two years campaigning. The federal employee is no thief, it is congress (no show "O") that is taking your money and giving it to the bankers while they devalue everything you own. You are collateral for America's dept - a wage slave.
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59075
Junk NSPS and all the people who inflicted it on us. Bring back the GS system.
-
59069
Not only do I welcome Obama's pragmatic approach to government, I volunteer to assist. There is a considerable amount of opportunity to review with fresh eyes many of the smaller programs that have created fiefdoms and have struggled for years to justify their existence as stand alone programs. The basic mission in some of those organizations is important to the people, but the extra layers of managers who contribute nothing to the process except waste and redundancy need to be folded into the more mainstream program areas. Consolidating like programs and eliminating unnecessary layers of management would allow for the expansion of front line employees who actually deliver the necessary services. The idea of creating a smaller government is not the answer especially with the growing population and critical issues facing the American people at this time. Rather, we need to increase the number of those employees who actually deliver those services and provide them with the tools and resources so that they can carry out the mission effeftively and efficiently. Lastly, it would be good to get back to the days of cooperation, collaboration and communication between the union and management in a team like environment. Let's choose to end the days of micro-management and leadership by fear and instead embrace and celebrate the many contributions by the public servant.
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59068
Obama doesn't need to creat a swat team or people in Washington to decide on the working people's jobs. THey have no idea what we do or how we perform. It is the higher ups in DC that need their salaries cut. Where else can you work for 2 or 4 years or more but not enough for retirement and be paid for life. Look at Congress and cut salaries and benefits. Start with Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton and make them get jobs and do not pay them salaries for life or give secret service protection for life they served their ountry and now they are just a citizen let them go out and earn an honest living insteadig of liivng off the American taxpayers.Go back to the constitution and if you want to serve your country well and fine then you go back to work
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59066
Thinning the ranks of middle management (however you define that) sounds like a RIF across the Federal Sector to me.
And then he/Obama says we are facing major deficits and problems in the future, and yet he's promising to cut the taxes of everyone who earns less than $250,000. Not only is he the Messiah, he can change lead into Gold! Or create real money (that the rest of the world will accept as money) out of thin air!
After you look at/through all the rhetoric on both sides (we've entered the battling empty promises that no one can fullfill part of the campaign), will your wallet be thinner/lighter if McCain or Obama is elected?
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59065
Nothing like promising to fire a lot of managers to get the blue collar vote fired up. Clever man, Obama.
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59059
With Obama being a liberal and with no idea what the military does or is supposed to do, look for Clinton era misuse and abuse of the service components along with more deep cuts. At the same time they are cutting they are going to say it was a Bush plan all along and they were just going with the plan. At the same time defense is cut, expect to see lefty feel good programs getting increases.
-
59058
Mr. Obama should really start with firing Congress. The roots of waste and inefficiency lie in the appropriations more than in execution.
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59056
Way to go, Dom. I'm doing the same thing.
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59053
Hopefully Obama can stop military useless spending. Just like closing a Marine Corps building that the MC owns just to relocate all it's employees to New Orleans. I work for Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City Missouri. We have been slated to move to New Orlean because we were on the BRAC list. Why would you want to relocate 100 plus civilians with there families and 200 plus Marine with there families to a location that is flooded repeatedly by hurricanes??? I am trying to save my job and all the other people who work here. None of us want to move to New Orleans. It is a waste of time and money. Please Obama save our job!! My entire family believes in you and that you will always try to do the right thing.
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59051
Same Old Promises. Where have we heard this? From Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II. And noone have lived up to it. Govt is bigger, more costly, and number one employer. The only way to cut govt is to make a 15% across the board cut in positions and funding.
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59049
IT sounds good, but given the manner in which the Civil Service operates, and the rules regarding firing, demoting, and relocating employess, I don't see anything happening but the usual rhetoric. This is a campaign, and this is business as usual. Look at Clinton-Gore reduction of government...that resulted in a cut of 375,000 military personnel (ask them about the effects of that when they are doing back to back to back deployments) and an increase in 15,000 civilian employees. A great job of cutting back government, gentlemen. Expect the same from the Obama - Biden administration if it comes to pass.
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59048
sounds an awful lot like he is re branding Bush's PMA...
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59047
RATC wrote "Based on the statements made here, every manager in the FAA from the administrator to the first line supervisors should be fired ! I am good with that!"
You are so out of touch with reality due to all the union koolaid you drink. You make it sound as though no one did their job (except you of course) and planes fell out of the sky like apples off the tree.
We get it, your a union person above all else, including country so give is all a break! PLEASE!
-
59045
I've seen many departments that were bloated with dead wood. When I was at a SI museum, there was far more admin workers than actual curators, museum program employees, and their support staff - which was appropriate. The admin deputy dir or whatever she was called was a nasty, self-serving conniving woman who'd set up her own fiefdom of power. Pathetic. The admin section was far too bloated and that sort of redundancy is costly and ineffective.
Many fed workers are devoted public service workers. Unfortunately, I've seen all too many who are not and are slugs, in it for the security, pay scale, and leave bennies. For all the whining and contrary to misperceptions, the private sector doesn't pay more than the public for middle managers and below, especially in the more depressed areas.
Two agencies (or whatever they'd be termed) that should be closely examined are the USPS and Brookhaven Natl Labs on Long Island.
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59043
Here we go again. Everytime there is an election for the presidency, the first thing that falls out of their mouths is 'cut goverment waste'. I am tired of being the punching bag for these politicians that use this line to stir up voters. I'm starting to change my mind about voting...who's on the independent tag.
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59040
Obama needs to fire all the Bush "moles" that have been appointed in the past eight years.
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59038
So let me get this straight: Clueless from Illinois is gonna create ANOTHER Federal organization which will supposedly allow him to cut other Federal organizations. What's wrong with increasing the efficiencies of organizations already there? Wasn't that originally part of the charters of GAO, OMB, CBO, etc.? At least it gave me a chuckle this morning.
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59037
And he can start by canning NSPS...a black hole for time and money that will accomplish nothing. Secondly, he can issue a rule that retiring senior officers cannot create civilian positions for themselves and then retire into them. Funny how the positions were not needed until someone gets ready to retire!
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59036
Apparently - Mr. Obama has no idea how the government personnel system works. If he did, he would realize just how long it will take him to "fire" those managers. Not like private industry - where he could fire on the spot. Duhhh.
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59035
Erma, is this how you compose official documents? I counted four grammatical errors, one misspelling, and two incorrect words in your short missive. Watch out for your job; it may be one of the first to go if Obama gets elected.
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59034
Dom - we don't really have a "Democrat-controlled" congress. They have only a slim margin over the republicans. Neither side has enough votes to override a veto. So if you have a president who vetoes everything, and a congress that has no 2/3 majority to override a veto, you have paralysis. That is what has been happening over the last two years. The president has been vetoing almost everything this congress has put in front of him, sending congress back to the drawing board. Republican supporters are blaming congress for the problem, and democrats are blaming the president. Who wants more of the same for the next four years?
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59033
Let's see; 34 years a Fed; this will be the 8th President that I have worked for; all have promised the American people to "straighten out or reform Washington". So fire all the workers who actually get things accomplished and keep the decision makers who always survive and have gotten us into the current financial mess we are in. Obama; like Clinton/Gore will fail to reform the Federal government; that is impossible as long as we have only a two party system. He does love to hear himself talk!
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59032
Seems like President's Management Agenda re-packaged. More reporting and program justification. I will be curious to see who is the first manager to get fired, and how long it takes for that to happen. A SWAT team seems redundant--I thought this is what OMB was supposed to do.
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59030
It all sounds so good. Letting managers manage, proper oversight of contracts. Heard all this before and if Obama is elected I'm sure all government employees can look forward to signing ethics pledges in the first week of his administration, ala Clinton.
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59026
dom - Yea, Obama "sniffed the wind" like a good tracking dog that will locate the target. Vice sniffing the other dogs around one to see which one that he may benefit from personally. All McCain will cut is what he, his party, will not profit from politically or personally. He needs to get his nose where it belongs, finding a target which benefits the majority, the working middle class, not just the elite and wealthy.
Though I can understand McCain's sniffing around finding something interesting and attracting about his running mate and his personal benefit of manipulating some of the female voters. I like to think most female voters see through the facade of his efforts to manipulate them to his benefit.
-
59024
I hear the talk but will he actually do it? I would like to hear the word "accountability" in respect to federal managers. There are a lot of managers that circumvent the law in order to look productive. There are federal agencies that fudge their records and some lie outright to justify their existence. Then, there are the scum bag agencies that victimize people. What if Obama audited the Labor Department? If the truth came out about DOL-OWCP, some managers might do time behind bars. How will he fire federal managers. It seems almost impossible to do that.
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59023
Yep, this is the same guy thats going to raise taxes on people making more money than him, close out jobs because of those raised taxes, talk to terrorists, and if you believe he doesn't realize that cutting ineffiecient programs won't cost him votes, wait until the next speech, he'll promise something else. People, these guys talk this trash while kissing up for your vote. Does he mean it...for today, let tomorrow take care of itself as long as he gets the vote. And this was the clown that said Jesus was a community organizer...what a marooooooooooooon.
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59019
This is nothing more than a repackaging of Ronald Reagan's "grade bulge" strategy. I would like for just once a president to get in and find out what he/she is truly dealing with before he/she gives us, the experienced work force, the benefits of their years of managerial experience.
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59018
Senator Obama cuts waste by first establishing a SWAT team" in the White House "composed of top-performing and highly paid government professionals" and headed by a new chief performance officer reporting directly to the president. Sounds to me like he is adding to the problem before he has even tackled anything. And if anyone believes he will fire anyone other than political appointees, I'll sell you a bridge in Brooklyn. And let's not bet on the vacant positions going away either - they'll just be filled with his appointees. Should he win the election and realize his plan, be prepared to see former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac associates, Rezko friends, etc. Am I ever glad I'm retiring!
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59005
About time to get rid of Dept of Energy, and Education, both are useless.
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59004
OK, so it's Angela Styles from OMB all over again (ca. 2002). First Term President's usual agenda to punish the scapegoats. So once again because of the sins of others like the idiots who bought real estate for much more than they can afford, we have to bail them out, which translates to cuts elsewhere, which translates to yet another threat to my job. Why do the lower level dedicated workers always pay for the sins of the higher level abusers? OK, cut waste. But do so at the STATE Govt level. Why should local Police earn $95K/year (and a $60K/year pension after 25 years service) for operating traffic lights, giving out tickets, and monitoring road construction. Why should teachers earn $80K/year for 9 months work? Our property taxes are killing us! Beware, you are going to push honest people too far and they will react accordingly and you will be VERY sorry for it one day.
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59001
Give me until may of next year, then cut my job first.
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59000
Right hire people to fire people. Good Lord. I'll bet that he does NOT fire any Lawyers.
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58993
Obama has sniffed the wind, and moved like a weather vane in it's direction. Good for him.
A main reason why I'm voting McCain/Palin is to have a democrat-controlled congress offset by a republican president who is ready, willing, and actually eager to veto any bill containing earmarks.
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58991
I think that,s great,I think its about time someone doess something!I think Obama is are man to do the job and do it right!You go,Obama!
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58990
Based on the statements made here, every manager in the FAA from the administrator to the first line supervisors should be fired ! I am good with that!
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58988
I like how in the same breath he is vowing to cut waste by hiring more and more people to root out the causes. Simply amazing. It's the very nature of these programs to be wasteful.
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58987
Well guess what? I'm not voting for someone that wants to cut my job.
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