Disconnect in the District

I went to a party two Sundays ago given by a friend, a well-known journalist, who is well connected in Washington and friends with various movers and shakers, particularly in the legal world. The conversation, after the expression of shock about the loss of Tim Russert, turned to Jim Johnson, the "consummate Washington insider," as the papers called him, who had resigned as Barack Obama's chief veep vetter to quell a controversy surrounding his personal finances. The people I talked with seemed to think Obama had been unwise to hire someone who had profited so mightily from his Washington contacts. Still, the general assumption was that any new president will need to hire people who know the town, who are "wired" and get around. (Article continued below...)

Someone in my little group wondered what it would be like if a president hired only outsiders, but he was quickly drowned out. Jimmy Carter had tried to go around the usual powers-that-be with his Georgians; to a lesser degree, Bill Clinton had attempted it with his Arkansans, and before long his team was forced to bring in Lloyd Cutler, the late superlawyer and Washington wise man who seemed to enjoy rescuing rookie presidents from their neophyte mistakes. Besides, someone in the group asked, would it really be an improvement if Obama brought in a bunch of political fixers from Chicago?

There was a certain amount of worry that the Washington establishment was about to embark upon one of its periodic acts of cannibalism and start questioning the client relationships or legal involvements of other Washington insiders close to Obama—notably Eric Holder, another veep vetter who, as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, took part in the Marc Rich pardon. One of the lawyers at the party noted that few big-time lawyers could (or would wish to) withstand such guilt-by-association scrutiny. We all agreed it would be unfortunate if, say, Greg Craig were disqualified from taking a top job with Obama (whom Craig advises on foreign policy) because he has, necessarily, represented some shady types over the years as a white-collar defense lawyer at the law firm of Williams & Connolly.

I joined this chorus. I know Craig to be a decent, smart and public-spirited person. I have no doubt that if Obama is elected, the country would benefit from having Craig, or savvy, high-powered Washington lawyers like him, in top White House jobs.

And yet … One night later, I was standing on the floor of Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, deafened by the roar for Obama, who was giving one of his rousing speeches for change. I wondered what the 20,000 or so people in the crowd, many of them African-Americans, would have thought of the conversation I had participated in in the living room of my well-connected friend. The fact is that Washington is largely dominated by people, some of them very smart, who get paid well to represent the status quo and fairly narrow interests.