As sure as presidential and congressional candidates contrive photo-ops of themselves kissing babies, they can be counted on to "run against Washington" as an evil empire to be despised.
Cursing Washington works: It diverts voters' attention from candidates' thin credentials.
Once elected, however, politicians leave Washington only because of age, a better offer to lobby for industries they once regulated or are defeated for re-election.
As The Washington Post noted this week, President Bush (along with all presidents) rode into office preaching that "all wisdom does not reside in Washington, D.C."—yet has immersed himself in the wisdom of old Washington hands.
Some, such as Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, go all the way back to the Nixon years as presidential appointees, taking only brief time outs to become multimillionaires in industries that feed at the government trough.
Entering a second term, President Bush again relies on Washington habitués. An exception: Karl Rove, the inseparable Texas sidekick who manages and orchestrates the president's every move and policy.
Washington means a lifelong profession for many, not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. Government was to be a temporary calling of citizens who'd serve, then return home.
Instead, as New York University Professor Paul Light, a presidential scholar, concludes, Washington insiders don't produce better government.
"It creates an inbreeding not healthy for fresh thinking..."
Doesn't it seem that politicians who claim they'll solve Washington's problems and make government smaller and less costly actually create more government, more costs and more problems?
