Who could blame them?

Secretary of State Clinton is chagrined about the length of time it is taking to "vet" candidates for director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Clinton said the vetting process for senior officials gets worse in each successive administration with the requirements demanding in some cases that candidates hire lawyers and accountants, detail everywhere they have lived since they were 18 and name every foreign citizen they know. "I mean, it is ridiculous," she said.

"Some very good people just didn't want to be vetted," she said.

Indeed, and who could blame them?  Right after the election, the administration made available the various categories and questions that people who wanted to serve in the administration would have to disclose.  It basically amounted to going through your life with an ultra-fine comb, and asking you to make lists of various people, and places, disclose dollars spent and invested, and so on. 

For one thing, who even remembers that stuff?  I've met dozens of foreign citizens, but it would take me days to construct a list, and, even then, there would be many names I wouldn't be able to remember.  Secondly, as Hillary said, some very good people are not going to want to subject themselves to such a process.  I took one look at the administration guidelines, and said to myself, "Who would do this?"  In my view, the kind of person that would put up with such intrusive and over-wrought questioning--and worse, could pass the test--is precisely the kind of person who probably should not be in public service. 

 

Comments

[Hypatia]

Because there were so many high profile screwups during the transition, everyone now has to go through the vetting equivalent of a strip search and anal probe. Takes longer.

(It was one of the Obamabots' chief talking points against Clinton during the primary season that she couldn't run her campaign, so she wouldn't be able to run anything else, and Obama's smooth running machine meant that he would never commit any high profile botches, unlike the plainly incompetent Hillary. Sorry, I just like rubbing these things in.)

[John Petty]

Preach it, sister!