Distance

So, Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, got invited to the White House to discuss cost estimates for health care legislation, and being at CBO, blogged about it. And noted "People have asked whether it was exciting to meet the President and be in the Oval Office: Yes, and my kids will be jealous when they get back from summer camp and hear about it." It's an odd reminder that even the folks who head important offices and agencies get only so much time with the President. And the distance between the President and the deputies of those agency heads is almost unimaginably huge. The pinnacle of power in Washington, D.C. is a pretty crowded place. If the distances were smaller, maybe it would be easier to prioritize concerns like HR and IT. But then the president would be unimaginably overwhelmed.