Casual
STELZER, IRWIN M.
Casual FACE TIME It's more than a decade since my wife Cita and I came to Washington, with the intention of spending a year here before returning to New York. The "why" we came is easy: Irving...
...And, there are always the trees...
...Face time seems to be the minutes some supplicant can squeeze from a person in a position—or thought to be in a position, or pretending to be in a position—of what in Washington is called "power...
...Who very shortly before the appointed hour would call to change the date, something far more important than learning the answer to the question that was just yesterday bedeviling him having come up...
...all sorts of trees...
...For one thing, there is that congenial bunch of scholars and policymakers who think, debate, share, and have fun...
...Or is it Hollywood lemons...
...It amazes me that these possessors of vast power invariably announce, or have their secretaries announce, "This is the White House calling...
...Even Los Angeles has a product—navel oranges, I think...
...It is astonishing how many low level bureaucrats are suddenly and regularly summoned to the Oval Office to advise the president how best to run the country...
...So I take the calls—but refuse to stand at attention during the conversation...
...Before I came here I thought that face time was something you bought from the likes of Georgette Klinger who, paid for her time, would do wonders for your face...
...Only to find at the last minute that the assistant deputy undersecretary of something or other was too busy, and would I please meet with the assistant to the assistant deputy undersecretary of something or other...
...Here it is simply part of daily life, accepted by consenting adults as the way business is conducted...
...You can brag about having spent time with some bureaucrat to clients, or your mother, or your old friends in New York who are still under the illusion that an assistant to the assistant deputy undersecretary of something or other is a person of consequence...
...If that's what turns you on, Washington is the place to be, especially when it isn't so buried in snow or so searingly hot that to venture out of doors is an act of foolish courage...
...But it isn't the weather that gets to me...
...The "why" we came is easy: Irving Kristol, the Pied Piper of the neoconservative set, persuaded us that the intellectual excitement of the Washington policy world would suit us better than more years of the commercial excitement of the New York world...
...tall ones, short ones...
...In other towns this would be called rudeness...
...It is the sale of face time...
...For some, this is indeed true...
...Or the boring newspaper that dominates D.C.—bias I can live with, but boring is another matter, and one that New Yorkers, who live in a town in which there is real competition to attract readers, don't have to up put with...
...It's a good thing that America includes cities like New York, Phoenix, Denver, and other places where real people go to real jobs to create real wealth for Washington bureaucrats to redistribute and waste...
...So, when I first arrived in Washington it was my habit to ask these lesser lights how a house can possibly dial a phone, but the uncomprehending silence at the other end of the line quickly taught me that these are not the sort of people I would likely meet at a Woody Allen movie...
...The wielders of this power can be anyone from the president's inner circle, to a legislator unknown in his own district, to almost anyone wearing an identification badge around his neck...
...There seem to be a lot of trees in Washington—green ones, red ones, white ones...
...IRWIN M. STELZER...
...Politics can be an honorable profession, practiced by men and women who are trying to make life better for others...
...And with Irving and Bea doing the introductions, we quickly became part of a circle that proved intellectually exciting, indeed—people who think big thoughts share them freely, and debate them civilly...
...It is generally some assistant deputy undersecretary of something or other who wants to meet to learn something about some economic issue, and is prepared to devote minutes and minutes to absorbing a complicated subject...
...So why stay...
...I have now learned from more experienced Washingtonians that it is common practice for what are laughingly called public servants to line up appointments, and then when the time comes decide which one it is convenient for them to keep...
...Besides, Cita fell in love with the trees...
...No, not politics...
...After all, they are offering face time, and as everyone in Washington should know, face time is valuable...
...Indeed, those who have climbed the greasy pole are generally intelligent, dedicated, and in my experience, surprisingly accessible...
...But others are housed in buildings far less distinguished than the White House...
...Being public spirited, at one time I would agree to a meeting...
...But even boring would be tolerable, if it weren't for the main business of this town...
...I was wrong...
Vol. 8 • April 2003 • No. 32
