Legal Commentary

apply for this!

By David A. Giacalone

? . . . Finally, my having CFS seems like an advantage: It’s kept me from even thinking about seeking a job with the Obama Administration (like those surely opening at the Justice Department) — and, therefore, from having to answer the questionnaire they’ve cooked up for high-level job applicants. The New York Times says today that those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts face what appears to be “the most extensive ? some say invasive ? application ever.”

In “For a Washington Job, Be Prepared to Tell All” (NYT, Nov. 13, 2008) we’re told:

“The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants? spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.

” . . . They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.”

..

Gee, have I ever said anything at my weblog or in an email that might embarrass myself or the President-elect?  Where would I start?  At least I never used any “aliases or ?handles? . . . to communicate on the Internet” (other than my f/k/a alter egos like Prof. Yabut and ethicalEsq) and never leave anonymous comments — or, would anonymity have come in handy about now?

How would Pres-e Obama feel about: My reaction to his staff’s politically-correct response to the New Yorker Cover; or my general aversion to the over-played sexism card, and to the Left’s neo-puritanism?  (Was I too tough a few years ago on Lani Guinier? Last year on Hillary Clinton?)  Can Barack take a little constructive criticism from a supporter who hopes he lives up to his own highest ideals? (E.g., my complaints over his dodge on speed limits and his on-going failure to mention the poor)  I think he can, but I’m not as confident about his transition team.

There are so many other questions, my remaining brain synapses are going on overload.  I mean:

• How would my admiration for Wendy Savage, Esq. affect my application?
• If they Google me, what would they make of Ron Baker’s assertion that — based on my questioning value billing by lawyers — David Giacalone is “someone who lacks a rudimentary understanding of basic economics”?  Could my old boss Bert Foer supply a rebuttal?
• Have I taken on the Plaintiff’s Trial Bar once too often over contingency fees?
• Is it okay to stick up for the human and civil rights of sex offenders?
• Would my self-confessed peri-dementia, Boomer Braino Syndrome, and occasional CFS and Fibromyalgia brain fog excuse any omissions in my application?  Or, simply rule out any job prospects?

cuckoo
what did you forget?
retracing steps

ISSA, translated by David G. Lanoue

Emails? Despite my writings and musing over Prof. Solove’s book The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (2007), there are quite a few emails (mostly baring my soul about life’s travails), I’d love to take back. I don’t think they’d embarrass the new administration half as much as they’d embarrass me, but you never know how risk-adverse they’re gonna be.

empty bottle
a few words
I would like to take back

?? by John Stevenson - Quiet Enough (2004)

There’s a part of me that would love to get back to the work force (and to Washington, DC) in order to help Barack Obama bring about needed change in how our government works and how citizens and their government interact.  Having used my Harvard Law Degree in very different ways than Sen. Obama (from regulatory work for consumers and competition, to children’s advocacy, to divorce mediation), and having earned and lost quite a few extra gray hairs, while spending the last decade of “disability” living at the poverty level, I’d bring a rather unique perspective to service in his Administration. But, . . .

No matter how willing my spirit may be, my body is too weak to fill out the application, much less handle a job that surely would require 60+ hours a week dedication.  I’m not worried about conflicts of interest, nor about any nefarious past deeds.  But, after a lifetime speaking my mind, and five years doing it in public on this weblog, there might just be too many verbal skeletons for the new President to worry about.  And, biting my tongue for eight years would considerably weaken my communication skills.  It looks like I’m going to have to serve Barack Obama from the outside, and apply myself here at my home office.

digital age
aging digits
on the keyboard

????????. by dagosan

Full post as published by f/k/a . . . on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).