You’re Fired!

A city employee in Krum, Texas, was suspended this week for spreading rumors about a former official at City Hall and the nude pictures of said official that fell out of the ceiling tiles above the mayor of Krum’s desk. This same week, Louis Caldera was fired for the horrendously stupid photo shoot above New York, dubbed “Scare Force One” by local media. It’s nice to see, at least at the top, people are being held responsible.

It’s a breath of fresh air considering how many people in the previous administration and in corporate American deserved to get fired but, for reasons of loyalty or out of a lack of due diligence, were not. Is it possible the unemployment rate was so low in the past few years because no one was ever fired?

While difficult, it is nonetheless important to be able to fire someone, to cut out what isn’t working. After years of campaigning, which is merely a glorified street fight in most cases, you grow close to a group of people. You trust them. And it’s hard to let go. But it’s important.

Obama has a clear advantage here because he’s run so few campaigns. He has a relatively small coterie for a president. This compares to the Bush Dynasty, with people like Donald Rumsfeld, who worked with Cheney in the Nixon administration. Remember James Baker? He may have started out as an assistant to Harding.

I mention all of this because, as happy as I’ve been to see the Republicans lose ground, it’s important to have at least one other functioning party. Unfortunately, the “opposition” party has done nothing but offer opposition to itself, and one problem is an inability to fire anyone. Newt Gingrich is back, again. Michael Steele is the party chairman despite, you know, losing. And who doesn’t like seeing Sarah Palin back in the news?

The Democratic Party isn’t without its own legacies (there’s still a Clinton hanging around), but they’ve built a party around a lot new names and new faces — the guy from “Harold & Kumar” is now part of the administration. While the Republicans struggle to reinvent themselves, maybe they should consider replacing some of themselves.