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You are here: Home / Hacks need not apply

Hacks need not apply

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The Washington Post has an article about the awful job market Bush appointees will face now that they’re out of work. Some observers suggest that having been a loyal Bushie will be a blackmark on their resume. Others dissent:

“I think the reports of their unmarketability are exaggerated,” Podesta said. “If you’re an economist at Treasury and you’re smart and skillful, I don’t think the fact that Bush was president and Democrats found him to be unpopular will kill anyone’s chances of finding a good job.”

“The cream always rises to the top,” added Nels Olson, of the executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International. “Those that are the first-rate individuals out of the administration and who have developed good bipartisan relationships and have solid policy experience will be able to make the transition.”

But it seems to me there isn’t so much “cream” among Bush appointees. Indeed, some might argue that the Bush administration’s failures were in no small measure brought about by the incompetence of Bush appointees. And that tiny fraction who were competent have likely been asked to stay on with Obama.

Of course, the article doesn’t make the obvious point, which is that the reason being a Bush appointee looks bad on a resume is not because people hate George W. Bush (though they do), it’s because they assume (correctly) that nearly everyone he hired was a hack.

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    Of course, the article doesn’t make the obvious point, which is that the reason being a Bush appointee looks bad on a resume is not because people hate George W. Bush (though they do), it’s because they assume (correctly) that nearly everyone he hired was a hack.

    There is a market for hacks. Expect a swelling in the wingnut news punditry and snake-oil salesmanship markets over the next eight years. Hacks with political connections and sufficiently high soap boxes can always find work with the right people. Hell, Oliver North gets enough air time on FOX, you’d think he breathes it to survive.

  3. 3.

    Tom65

    I guess the WaPo has filled its hiring quota for Bush hacks, as Michael Gerson is already on the payroll.

  5. 5.

    HL Guy

    Let’s not forget that in addition to the right-wing noise machine there is also a right-wing wealth redistribution service. This is only tangentially connected to the government: winger think tanks, "oil services corporations" and the like will be there to pick up the slack, until they’re back at the levers of power. Loyal Bushies have little to worry about.

  7. 7.

    paragonpark

    The people leaving the administration will, as always, have a much easier time than people needing work who are not connected. Democrat, Republican, popular boss, unpopular boss, etc. really don’t matter.

    They may have to settle for high-paying lobbying or consulting jobs rather than positions on Ivy League faculties but finding work won’t be a problem.

  8. 8.

    PeakVT

    The pay might be less because the Bushies won’t bring much in the way of access, but nonetheless the "revolving door" will continue to revolve.

  9. 9.

    TCG

    I’d treat it as a black mark on any resume that I read.

    The next thing we know, wingnuts may start calling for the expansion of civil rights laws to include Bush Administration hacks and other assorted wingnuts as a protected classification against discrimination in hiring practices.

    They may even call for employers to take affirmative action in employment decisions and establish quotas for Wingnuts who worked in the Whitehouse or on Capital Hill.

  14. 14.

    AkaDad

    Knowing the crowd that surrounds Bush, I have no doubt they will refrain from pursuing the big bucks and dedicate their lives to humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors.

  15. 15.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Just when I think your BDS might be in remission, you start with this again.

    I would respond, but I have to go write a long, rambling screed about how Barack Obama was not born in America, but Canada, and his real father is Malcolm X.

  16. 16.

    Jen R

    “If you’re an economist at Treasury and you’re smart and skillful,

    [Jamie Hyneman]Well, there’s your problem![/Jamie Hyneman]

    I don’t think the fact that Bush was president and Democrats found him to be unpopular will kill anyone’s chances of finding a good job.”

    So 73% of Americans are Democrats now?

  17. 17.

    Bob In Pacifica

    A lot of them will find work. People who spent eight years letting corporations loot the treasury usually get something in return. In any case, I’ll worry about them after my friends get their economic problems straightened out.

  19. 19.

    r€nato

    I’ve been reading Fiasco, Thomas Ricks’ devastating account of exactly how FUBAR the Iraq war was from conception to today.

    The amount of incompetence, arrogance and just plain fucking everything up is staggering. I mean, we DFH’s all know about it in general, but to actually read about it in specifics is certainly enough to make one’s blood boil.

    One episode: how Rumsfeld and Doug Feith pressured Jay Garner to fire from his post-war Iraq planning group, about the only two people in the government who actually knew a lot about Iraq’s infrastructure and society.

    We literally had no plan for the aftermath; it was literally a real-life "Underwear Pants Gnomes" approach:

    1) Invade Iraq and topple Saddam
    2) ???
    3) Profit! Democracy spreads throughout the Middle East!

    Thousands of coalition troops and tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead – as well as hundreds of billions of dollars pissed away – all because of these neocon douchebags who sincerely believed Iraq would spontaneously form a new government after decades of life under a harsh dictator who repressed ethnic tensions.

    I’m sure that somewhere in the Bush Administration there are folks who are competent at what they do; however I think they have hidden them from view pretty well.

  20. 20.

    DougJ

    I’d treat it as a black mark on any resume that I read.

    It would be hard not to. Not because of what it means about political affiliation, but because…well, it’s kind of the employment equivalent of having gotten a loan from the Money Store.

  21. 21.

    The Other Steve

    I’m sure that those who do not have a law degree from Liberty University will be able to find good work.

  22. 22.

    thomas

    rebublican governance = the new nihilism. Why wouldn’t major corporate citizens want to have the leaders of such a success as part of their package. WTF, how could it become any more screwed-up than it already is?
    However, we should remember that there’s a shitload of corporate governance = the other new nihilism f’heads now out of jobs too.
    Kind’a brings a tear to my eye, especially when I think or how their incompetence has soon-to-be nearly 10% of the country un, or under employed.
    These turds need to go to jail.
    thanks for the opportunity to rant.

  23. 23.

    jenniebee

    I don’t think the fact that Bush was president and Democrats found him to be unpopular will kill anyone’s chances of finding a good job.”

    So 73% of Americans are Democrats now?

    No, that’s just another acknowledgment of reality’s known liberal bias. Bush was unpopular and Democrats found him to be so; a loyal patriotic red stater would have politely looked the other way (and the really patriotic ones jump up and down and shout "Wolverines!" to draw attention away from the unpleasantness at 1600 PA Ave.)

  24. 24.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Why wouldn’t major corporate citizens want to have the leaders of such a success as part of their package

    Here’s my advice to former Bush appointees looking for work: go to William Ford, owner of the Detroit Lions and the Ford Motor Company. Kiss his ass. He will give you a job and you will then basically have to remove and sell his kidney to get fired.

  25. 25.

    Tsulagi

    But it seems to me there isn’t so much “cream” among Bush appointees.

    Of course you had to lob that easy softball in your post. I’m going to take the high road. No Bush snowball brigades or anything like that in my comment.

    I’ll just take this opportunity to wish them all happy job hunting in this robust economy marking the Decider’s departure. Shouldn’t take even six weeks as no doubt they’ll be greeted with candies and flowers.

  27. 27.

    Karen S.

    I just don’t care if they have trouble finding jobs or not. They should have trouble just because they were such Bush loyalists, but, in some circles, that isn’t a liability, sadly. Some posters have already mentioned the right wing punditry industry and the wingnut "think" tanks as places that would be glad to hire the flotsam and jetsam of BushCo. I’m more worried about my friends who work for community newspapers owned by the financially troubled Sun-Times Media Group. The papers they work for were eliminated last week and layoffs are looming. So my emotional and mental energy is going to them and not some BushCo loyalist hacks.

  29. 29.

    Mike in NC

    Thousands of coalition troops and tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead – as well as hundreds of billions of dollars pissed away – all because of these neocon douchebags who sincerely believed Iraq would spontaneously form a new government after decades of life under a harsh dictator who repressed ethnic tensions.

    It was all a very simple conceit, really:
    (1) Invade Iraq and be welcomed as liberators.
    (2) Install Chalabi as puppet-for-life to handle the aftermath.
    (3) Turn on the oil spigots and enjoy!
    Funny how well that all worked out.

  30. 30.

    J Royce

    I don’t think the fact that Bush was president and Democrats found him to be unpopular…

    This is very telling. Supposedly Podesta IS a Democrat. Apparently the Dems at the top do not consider themselves related to those at the bottom.

    Thank you Ralph Nader, you are an American patriot of the People. The People were just … busy at the time.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    The Washington Post has an article about the awful job market Bush appointees will face now that they’re out of work.

    My heart weeps for them.

    If they can’t find work, let them be imprisoned as debtors and sold into servitude licking boots.

  33. 33.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @r€nato:

    Excerpt from VF piece linked earlier:

    Bob Graham, Democratic senator from Florida and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee:

    I asked George [Tenet, the C.I.A. director], What did the national intelligence estimate [N.I.E.] that we had done on Iraq tell us about what would be the conditions during the period of combat, what would be the conditions post-combat, and what was the basis of our information on the weapons of mass destruction? Tenet said, We’ve never done an N.I.E.

    An Oral History of the Bush White House

    Warning, by the end of the article you may want to scream aloud.

  34. 34.

    jake 4 that 1

    If they can’t find work, let them be imprisoned as debtors and sold into servitude licking boots.

    I’m not sure some of those freaks and freakettes would see that as a punishment. Especially if cowboy boots are involved.

  36. 36.

    Mary

    After 8 years of something very non-creamy rising to the top, where does anyone get by with saying, "The cream always rises to the top"

    I guess always is multi-definitional in a parallel universe kinda way.

  38. 38.

    Blue Raven

    @TenguPhule:

    If they can’t find work, let them be imprisoned as debtors and sold into servitude licking boots.

    I could use a couple to work for slave wages under the table to clean my apartment.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    An Oral History of the Bush White House
    Warning, by the end of the article you may want to scream aloud.

    That and take a long hot shower to wash off the scum. Our long national nightmare is almost over…

  41. 41.

    AnneLaurie

    “The cream always rises to the top,” added Nels Olson, of the executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International.

    From my perspective as a peon in the HugeMultiCorp ranks, Korn/Ferry International’s big-dollar business model has always been to assure the Big Swinging Empty Suits that their prospective new hire might be a moral imbecile with a room-temperature IQ, but he (preferrably) would look good in a suit, know all the latest Friedman catch-phrases, and not have any bad habits liable to embarrass Teh Company in public (alcoholism, okay; collage marijuana use, no way). And they used a lot of NSA retirees to ensure that compliance to the corporate norms would be assured, if only because any candidates with a complaint didn’t want their little dinner-party-in-Georgetown-unworthy peccadillos to be broadcast any further. So, this article is the Media Village Idiots’ attempt to reassure their Global-Village-Idiot Masters that, despite their sweaty night terrors, nothing has changed and nothing will change for ‘the right people’ in this best of all possible worlds. Of course it’s all bullshit and inaccuracy, but in their rarified world, perception is FAR more important than reality and its left-wing biases!

  42. 42.

    BombIranForChrist

    Is there anyone who passes this test?

    "and who have developed good bipartisan relationships"

    Isn’t this pretty much antagonistic to the whole idea of working for Bush?

  43. 43.

    TenguPhule

    The market is so poor, Davis said, that some senior GOP congressional aides "are fighting over taking a pay cut from $130,000 to $140,000 to just $60,000 to $70,000."

    Introduce some edged weapons and catch it on Camera.

    "Deathmatch: GOP Jobmarket!"

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