When the ins become the outs

When the ins become the outs

Scripps Howard News Service: One of the cruel realities of a change in administrations in Washington is that the winners get the jobs and the losers hit the streets.

There are 8,000 presidential and political appointees in the executive branch, and at noon Tuesday those who had remained in their jobs were unemployed. The Republican congressional and committee staffers whose members were defeated or retired had the modest advantage of beginning their job searches at the beginning of the month.

After Josh Bolten took over as President Bush’s chief of staff midway through the second term, he told any political appointees thinking of leaving to do so now or otherwise commit to serving through to the end of the presidency.

Now look what they’ve got

Those who stayed were rewarded for their loyalty by walking out of government and into one of the worst job markets in years.

The corporations, lobbying and PR firms, political consultants, think tanks and activist organizations that are hiring want people who have an in with the Obama administration and the Democratic congressional leadership. But many of those firms simply aren’t hiring in this economy.

The job search is particularly tough for junior staffers and those who came to town with the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and have been off the job market that long.

Elected politicians and Cabinet types may profess to disdain Washington, but the people who work for them love it. Thus, the job-seeking advice they are getting is particularly unpalatable: Go home.