Emissaries

I didn't think very much about Michelle Obama's visit to the Housing and Urban Development headquarters last week other than to think that it was nice the Obama administration was doing something to acknowledged federal employees akin to President George H.W. Bush's semi-legendary early meeting with the Senior Executive Service. But now that it's clear that this is going to be a regular part of the First Lady's portfolio, and it's also clear how much criticism she's getting for doing it, I do have some thoughts.

Look, obviously I would prefer that President Obama be immediately and deeply engaged with his career workforce. I would love for him to be making a multi-agency tour, I'd love for him to have a great permanent director of the Office of Personnel Management in place and for his Chief Performance Officer to be confirmed and hard at work. I would also like a lightsaber and a nicer handbag, but you know, you can't always get what you want.

But the economy is tanking. Obama's tied up in an increasingly tense fight over the stimulus bill, which will just be a preview of the budget fight looming in March. He's also got to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. The guy has no time. I get that.

Under those circumstances, I think Michelle Obama is the perfect person to make a tour of the agencies and listen to the career workforce. It's like Eleanor Roosevelt going where her husband couldn't. Of course Obama and Roosevelt's face entirely different constraints on their mobility, but the challenge is the same--who do you send in to represent the President on a very personal visit when he can't show himself. Michelle Obama is perfect for this role, and it's perfect for her. She's the person closest to the President, so she brings a little bit of his aura with her when she visits the agencies, and sending her is a signal that he cares personally about both what she's saying and what she's hearing. She has direct access to the President in a way that no one else, not even Joe Biden, does, so he'll hear back from her more swiftly than he would from anyone else.

But it's not a job that requires her to commit to anything, to take any sort of major stance on reform, etc. This isn't Hillary Clinton taking on healthcare reform and raising issues and resentments about nepotism. It's genuinely not her overstepping her boundaries. It's just a serious listen, and a serious expression of gratitude. Lady Bird Johnson said that "The First Lady is an unpaid public servant elected by one person --- her husband." It's true. It's kind of a miserable job, and a miserable balancing act for an accomplished, intelligent person to find something substantive to do within the confines of the First Lady's role. This seems to be something both substantive but apolitical that meets those requirements.