Jim wrote:
Boater wrote:
From today's Washington Post, expurgated:

Obama Wrote Federal Staffers About His Goals
Workers at Seven Agencies Got Detailed Letters Before Election

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 17, 2008; A01

In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack
Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed
descriptions of how he intends to add muscle to specific government
programs, give new power to bureaucrats and roll back some Bush
administration policies.

The letters, sent to employees at seven agencies, describe Obama's
intention to:


scale back on contracts to private firms doing government work

to remove censorship from scientific research

to champion tougher industry regulation to protect workers and the
environment.

Using more specifics than he did on the campaign trail, Obama said he
would add staff to erase the backlog of Social Security disability
claims. He said he would help Transportation Security Administration
officers obtain the same bargaining rights and workplace protections
as other federal workers. He even expressed a desire to protect the
Environmental Protection Agency's library system, which the Bush
administration tried to eliminate.

In a letter to Labor Department employees, Obama wrote: "I believe
that it's time we stopped talking about family values and start
pursuing policies that truly value families, such as paid family
leave, flexible work schedules, and telework, with the federal
government leading by example."

Obama wrote to employees in the departments of Labor, Defense, Housing
and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, along with the TSA, the
EPA and the Social Security Administration. Defense was the only area
in which he did not make promises requiring additional spending, the
letters show.

Obama repeatedly echoed in his correspondence the longstanding lament
of federal workers -- that the Bush administration starved their
agencies of staff and money to the point where they could not do their
jobs.

In his letter to Labor Department employees, Obama said Bush
appointees had thwarted the agency's mission of keeping workers safe,
especially in mines. "Our mine safety program will have the staffing .
. . needed to get the job done," he wrote.

Obama lamented to EPA staffers that Americans' health and the planet
have been "jeopardized outright" because of "inadequate funding" and
"the failed leadership of the past eight years, despite the strong and
ongoing commitment of the career individuals throughout this agency."

In his letter to Defense Department workers, Obama said he would
examine flaws in pay and evaluation systems, but offered no high-cost
initiatives.

While pledging money to some agencies, Obama also acknowledged that
some cuts may be unavoidable.

"Because of the fiscal mess left behind by the current Administration,
we will need to look carefully at all departments and programs," he
wrote to HUD workers.

His letter to HUD employees suggests a resurgence of the huge housing
agency. Obama insisted that "HUD must be part of the solution" to the
housing crisis and to keeping an estimated 5.4 million more families
from losing homes in foreclosure. Several HUD employees cheered
Obama's letter, saying they hoped one particular line foreshadowed the
end of political appointees who didn't care or know much about the
agency's work.

"I am committed to appointing a Secretary, Deputy and Assistant
Secretaries who are committed to HUD's mission and capable of
executing it," Obama wrote.

Obama also took aim at the Bush administration's focus on
privatization, with contractors hired to perform government jobs --
often at princely sums. He complained that a $1.2 billion contract to
provide TSA with human resources support unfairly blocked federal
employees from competing to do that work.

"We plan specifically to look at work that is being contracted out to
ensure that it is fiscally responsible and effective," he told HUD
workers. "It is dishonest to claim real savings by reducing the number
of HUD employees overseeing a program but increase the real cost of
the program by transferring oversight to contracts. I pledge to
reverse this poor management practice."

- - -

Works for me.

Don't get too excited just yet, Bean Bag. He hasn't really done anything
yet. What he will do is print LOTS of money, bail out his pet projects,
and then wonder why all this new money hasn't really solved any
problems. In the next four years, look for a lot of gum flapping, a lot
of wasted and misspent money, deepening recession, double digit
inflation, an abrupt pullout from Iraq, Crime like you've never seen
before, and loud applause from our resident jingle writer and pustule
picker.



I know it is your fervent hope that Obama fails and this country
continues its descent but, fortunately, there will be progress. And
whatever progress there is, why, if it causes *you* distress and even
personal harm, well, it's all good.

As for "wasted and misspent money," it's hard to imagine that Obama can
compete in that regard with Dubya. Try to keep in mind that Dubya has
been wasting $10-12 *billion* a month in Iraq for years, and has made no
serious provisions to pay for the health care our returning vets will
need for decades.