Daylife/Reuters Pictures

The ranks of the nation’s unemployed are swelling this week.

As President-elect Barack Obama’s team transitions into the federal government, President Bush’s political appointees will be locked out, and in these tough economic times many of them are scrambling to find new jobs. High-ranking White House loyalists have deluged Washington headhunters with pleas for jobs. Corporations and nonprofit organizations have stopped hiring. With the GOP out of power, jobs on Capitol Hill are scant and K Street lobbying firms have trimmed their golden parachutes.

So this is the new reality: Instead of boasting to friends and colleagues of new jobs in goodbye e-mails, many longtime Bush aides have offered home phone numbers and Gmail and Yahoo e-mail addresses as their new contacts.

“For Republicans, the inn is full,” lamented veteran GOP operative Ron Kaufman, a close White House adviser to former president George H.W. Bush and an executive at Dutko Worldwide. “You have lots of folks in the House and Senate on the streets and 3,000 administration appointees on the streets at a time when the job market is shrinking anyways. It’s just not a fun time.”

Of the roughly 8,000 politically appointed positions in the federal government, hundreds have been vacant since a wave of departures last spring, administration officials said. But appointees who have remained through the final days of the Bush administration have seen an already shaky job market collapse. The traditional avenues of employment for outgoing government officials — corporations, nonprofit foundations or think tanks — are clogged because of hiring freezes…

For many Bush appointees, this is the first time they’ve been on the job market for years, if not decades. Many came to Washington during the 1990s to take jobs in the Republican-controlled Congress, only to move into the administration after Bush’s 2000 election.

“These are people who haven’t put together a résumé in 20 years,” said Steve Gunderson, a former Republican congressman who is president of the Council on Foundations. He has been reviewing résumés of those seeking jobs in the nonprofit sector. “It’s a first for them in developing résumés, applying for open and competitive jobs, and trying to figure out where their skills might work best.”

So, who would you hire? For what position?.




  1. Gyrus says:

    Reap what you sew…

  2. Floyd says:

    That’s “Reap what you sow,” but your point is taken. It’s tough to be a Republican these days…

  3. Paddy-O says:

    “and 3,000 administration appointees on the streets at a time when the job market is shrinking anyways.”

    They better get used to it. Like FDRs actions that prolonged and deepened the great depression, Obama’s plans are being taken from the same playbook…

  4. Paddy-O says:

    # 2 Floyd said, “That’s “Reap what you sow,” but your point is taken.”

    Maybe, Gyrus makes socks for a living…

  5. geofgibson says:

    I’d hire Dana Perino for a job involving a leather hood. See the scene in Pulp Fiction 😉

  6. Floyd says:

    #4: in that case it would be “Rip what you sew.” You’re welcome.

  7. geofgibson says:

    #6 – ROTFLMAO!

  8. chuck says:

    Obama plans to spend $1 trillion, on top of the $700 billion bail-out. My guess is that a lot of these out-of-work Republicans will get consulting jobs advising clients on how to get their piece of the pie.

    It doesn’t matter that Democrats are “in control” of the pie – politicians from both parties seem equally incompetent when it comes to shoveling money from the back of a truck.

  9. Improbus says:

    Karma is a bitch.

  10. RBG says:

    Yeah, I can just see it now. “Hmmm, This guy’s resume shows being on the President of the United States staff. Nah, who was that kid out of that business school again?”

    RBG

  11. Paddy-O says:

    # 10 RBG said, “Nah, who was that kid out of that business school again?”

    Have you hired any recent college grads? Most I’ve seen have skills equivalent to what used to be 6th grade level.

  12. Named says:

    11,
    “Most I’ve seen have skills equivalent to what used to be 6th grade level.”
    In the US… you are correct. Especially now that God runs your education system, and faith heals the nation.

  13. Paddy-O says:

    # 12 Named said, “In the US… you are correct. Especially now that God runs your education system, and faith heals the nation.”

    Actually, where I’m from the system is run by a very corrupt teachers union and there is no religious influence… Nice try.

  14. Named says:

    13,

    So, half your country is taught by God and the others by lazy teachers. You win.

  15. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    The recent graduates all had their brains rotted by NCLB mandates…all tests, no teaching.

    These aids should have seen this coming. Poor fools.

  16. JimD says:

    Repukes just beginning their 40 YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS !!! Just desserts for DESTROYING AMEIRCA !!! Good Riddance, Repukes !!!

  17. bill says:

    Welcome to ‘our nightmare’.

    Bite me.

  18. Angel H. Wong says:

    #13 & #14

    We should leave education to Catholic nuns, they’ll beat the crap out of your kids but the lil’ runts would definitively learn.

  19. Paddy-O says:

    # 14 Named said, “So, half your country is taught by God”

    Umm, no. There is currently less religion in US schools than the prior 200 years. You must be from a small, backward country that is deprived of current info…

  20. Named says:

    21,

    And what do we find on the ed.gov site? Why, federally protected right to prayer in school…
    http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html

    And… dun dun dun!
    http://www.arn.org/docs/dewolf/guidebook.htm

    But, whatever. You’re obviously the brightest bulb in the pack.

  21. Allan says:

    Come on, who wouldn’t hire Dana Perino as a MILF? The picture above is just begging for a Photoshop treatment….

    Look on the bright side – at least *these* GOP operatives deserve the employment opportunities (or lack therof) they have created with their policies. I can’t say the same for the tens of thousands of Americans losing their jobs EVERY DAY (if you believe the weekly unemployment ports)

  22. thebiggster says:

    #21……..You must be from a small, backward country that is deprived of current info…

    Thats rich coming from an American

  23. Paddy-O says:

    # 22 Named said, “And what do we find on the ed.gov site? Why, federally protected right to prayer in school…”

    Correct, in the US a child, as an individual, has a right to speech & their own religious beliefs.

    So, what backward country without personal rights do you hail from?

  24. Paddy-O says:

    # 24 thebiggster said, “Thats rich coming from an American”

    And what patch of paradise do you live in?

  25. Regenvelter says:

    They’ll just join the Christian Coalition thinktanks to cultivate Legislative,Judicial,Executive reform.

    Since the former AG Frito Gonzales cannot find a Law firm to hire him now,he’ll likely settle into
    the ACLJ or the American Center for Law and Justice.

    http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/american-center-law-and-justice

  26. jca2010 says:

    Paddy-O said: “Umm, no. There is currently less religion in US schools than the prior 200 years. You must be from a small, backward country that is deprived of current info…”

    Umm, one does not follow from the other.. if half your country is educated by God himself, and your country is at a 200 year religious minimum, then sometime in the past 200 years, greater than half your country was being educated by God. Simple, no?

    Fact is your country is still educationally feckless (on both sides of the teacher). Your nonsequitur illustrates this well.

  27. Paddy-O says:

    # 28 jca2010 said, “Fact is your country is still educationally feckless”

    This is fun. Where do you live?

  28. MikeN says:

    What makes you think they’ll be out of work?

    You don’t really think Obama will become President tomorrow do you?

    George Bush has already declared a federal emergency for the DC area for tomorrow.

    Isn’t that step one for THE PLAN?

  29. Glenn E. says:

    Perino got the job because her name might be confused with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. At least it would confuse the elderly voters. And the Bush Admin was all about confustion. And why thousands of aids? Sounds like they hired aids for the aids, to have that many. So while the government was running short operating funds (on a few occasions), they still managed to keep all these freeloaders on the payroll. Nothing like cutting the fat from the budget, by NOT CUTTING A DAMN THING. This sort of spending abuse, and Earmarks, ought to be put to a stop! It the 21th century. With computers and internet, there’s no practical need to have more aids employed than the Buckingham Palace.

  30. Mr. Fusion says:

    #30, Lyin’ Mike,

    You don’t really think Obama will become President tomorrow do you?

    Well, a few million people plan on attending, or being as close as they can, the inauguration. Ain’t nuthin’ gunna stop it now!


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