June 19, 2005

Study: Second Bush Team Whiter, Older, More Experienced

These are the types of stories that the mainstream media feels compelled to print because...[please insert reason here]?   

WASHINGTON -- A new study shows Team Bush has fewer minorities and young people, and more government insiders, in the president's second term than in his first.

A study by the news weekly National Journal shows that 17 percent of those in the top 367 managerial jobs are minorities. That's down from 20 percent four years ago.

A roughly comparable tally of the Clinton administration put the figure at 27 percent.

Plus the average age in Bush's second-term administration is 51, compared with 48 in the first.

Also, an administration that was experienced four years ago is even more so now. The National Journal found 88 percent of those in the top jobs had previous executive branch posts. That compares with 59 percent in the first term.

I believe that reports such as these are an attempt to undermine the credibility of the presidency.  What about a report on how the president brought in "the best person for the job" versus the breakdown in age, race, sexual orientation, etc.?  The title of this article almost makes it seem like "more experience" is a bad thing.  This handy little story "confirms" the ideas in the minds of liberal whackos that Bush is bad - now the mantra will be "Bush discriminates" or "Bush isn't as mindful of diversity as Clinton was."

I guess I should be used to this banter, but it still drives me crazy.  I just want a person in place to do a particular job who is the best.  Say I needed to hire a body guard.  Would I just select someone because they were a minority?  No - how fair or appropriate is that?  I would check everyone's experience, interview them to get a feel for how they would perform on the job and make a decision regarding who I would hire based upon a consistent list of criteria.

If I was a partner in a physician office whose specialty was surgery, should I hire the young physician right out of school and training, or should I hire the experienced surgeon with a proven track record of success?  As a wise business person, I should hire the surgeon with more experience.  Wouldn't you want that as a patient?