(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
I’m getting tired of listening to the same old questions asked of the candidates during the Democratic primary debates:
“Could you please squabble some more about health care?”
“Could you please try to outdo each other on climate change?”
“Could you please rant about the need to get money out of politics?”
Let’s try some new ones:
“Do you promise that you will appoint no political ambassadors, and all of your ambassadors will come from the ranks of career foreign service officers?”
This has been a hot issue lately, and it’s surely worth asking about.
A few of the candidates might jump at the chance to make this commitment. That would be interesting.
Several of the candidates will insist that they don’t take money from the wealthy, so there’s no chance that they’d appoint political donors as ambassadors. Fair enough. (They’d probably appoint their brothers-in-law, but that’s another story.)
Surely a few of the candidates would insist that there’s a need for political ambassadors, because every once in a while you get a good one. For those candidates, the questioner should follow up: “Yeah, but you get about one good ambassador out of a hundred from among political appointees and one good ambassador out of two when you pick from among career diplomats. Why not take my pledge and increase the odds that you’ll have decent appointees?”
However you feel about the issue, you’d probably be interested in the discussion.
Next question:
“We hear an awful lot about ‘white privilege’ these days. What about ‘political privilege’? Should the relatives of politicians be given jobs for which they’re not qualified simply because of nepotism? If you agree that this is wrong, can you give a few examples of unqualified people who’ve been the beneficiaries of ‘political privilege’?”
That’s probably too easy for most of the candidates. They’d agree that people shouldn’t get jobs for which they’re not qualified and, because the debates are among Democrats, they’d all rail about the president’s children. The questioner shouldn’t accept that: “Can you give any examples of relatives of Democratic politicians who’ve gotten advantages because of familial relationships?”
This starts to get interesting. Joe Biden is put to the test. Does anyone care to go after the Clintons, whose daughter is getting vast publicity for her new book because of the identity of her co-author? (Would the child of Joe Bag-o’-Donuts get the same publicity for the child’s book? Or is co-authoring a book the sort of advantage that the children of politicians legitimately get, unlike jobs?) Would anyone care to reach back in history and think about one particular appointment made after the 1960 election? Any other historical examples? This is a real chance to show knowledge, and guts, for candidates who possess one of those things.
Last question for the candidates:
Did you know that today was the ninth anniversary of Mark Herrmann’s column at Above the Law?
The candidates would certainly be shocked: “Has it really been that long? It feels like only yesterday.” “That’s 550 columns! Truly remarkable!” “He ran out of things to say in 2012; why’s he keep writing the damn thing?” And so on.
But surely those candidates, like you, would be tempted to click on this column and celebrate with me.
Not only that — this column had a smidgen of substance, unlike my previous birthday columns, which were designed solely as clickbait.
Anyway, as long as you’re here, I’ll remind you to read my cutest column of all time:
(Although the little turd’s now in a pediatric critical care fellowship. Eight years will do that to a guy.)
And read the first honest advice you’ll get about whether blogging yields business for a lawyer at a large firm, from a guy who blogged at a large firm before moving in-house:
“Blogging For Business Development.”
(I’ve re-titled that one for today’s purpose. You get wiser as the years pass.)
Or how about advice on business development generally, from someone who actually attracted a little business before going in-house:
“Building A Practice: A Case Study.”
Or how about the 547 other little ditties that have appeared in this space across the years?
550 columns. Nine years. Heaven help me.
Ah, well. Another year gone by. Another clickbait scam to entice others to celebrate my anniversary with me. Another slice of cake.
And another thank you for have followed along for all this time.
Celebrate with me! And remember: Drink responsibly.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.