The AP confirms that President Obama met with Charles Bolden this morning, presumably to talk about the NASA administrator position. The only detail provided by a White House spokesman is that “The administration isn’t expected to announce a new NASA chief immediately,” according to the brief report.
In another context, a Name You Would Be Familiar With once advised me to go to Washington under two conditions–either very young and in it for the experience or old and powerful enough to be able to tell the President that his offer is very intriguing but that you’d need full authority to choose your direct reports.
The very worst decision you can make in accepting this type of post is to not drive a very hard bargain prior to accepting the post.
That assumes that the President has no other choices, and will accede to the demands. I highly doubt that the President feels pressured to choose a NASA Administrator.
If you are elected as a “change agent”, and somebody who has some of the elements of the “status quo” starts imposing demands, that might be a deal killer.
Remember, this is first a “job interview”, and only if the candidate gets through the first gate will it become a “hiring negotiation”.
Candidates who jump too soon to negotiations can shoot themselves in the foot.
FWIW,
– Al
Indeed, you have to be willing to walk away from the offer. (It also helps to have F-You money as well).
This person’s point was that it isn’t worth it TO YOU to accept without significant conditions. Otherwise you end up in a situation like Rod Paige who was, literally, unable to hire his own secretary as Sec. Ed. At these rarefied heights it is far better to walk away from a bad opportunity than to accept a position that it is impossible to be successful in.
In other words, this isn’t really a job interview.
So, what is the verdict? Do you think it’s a go or no go? Any type of delay would seem to support the latter.
Actually, one thing Obama could accomplish with such a meeting is to ask Boldin to try to reign in Nelson. If either Obama or Boldin don’t want Boldin to take the job, and Nelson has his senatorial heart set on Boldin and is threatening to exercise congressional muscle if NASA doesn’t get him, some understanding between Boldin and Obama about an optimal Administrator candidate could be very helpful in smoothing things out with Nelson. That would explain why Boldin denies that he’s being considered for the position, and also why a presidential meeting with Boldin is considered important by the WH, and isn’t followed by an immediate announcement of his selection. If true, one might suspect that some conversations are taking pace right now between Boldin and Nelson. Knight to bishop four.
BLUE: Indeed, you have to be willing to walk away from the offer.
Of course. If you can’t walk away in a negotiation, then it is only begging.
But you only get an offer after the interview phase has been completed.
Mike Griffin failed to appreciate this. As we all saw, Griffin started stating his demands (quite publicly) for staying in the job, even before Obama had decided that he might like Griffin to stay in the job. On the assumption that Griffin wanted to keep the job, and to protect his pet project, this was not the most effective approach to success.
We have zero data that the interview phase with Bolden has been completed and that Obama has made Bolden an offer.
We just don’t know.
LASSITER: Actually, one thing Obama could accomplish with such a meeting is to ask Boldin to try to reign in Nelson.
If the President wants to reign in a Senator, there are many other ways to do so. I highly doubt he will ask Boldin to help. Doing so indicates extreme weakness. Right now the President is anything but weak.
However, there is another explanation that might make sense (assuming the Obama does not nominate Boldin.)
It is quite possible that Obama met with Boldin to “check off a box for Senator Nelson”. The President can say “OK, Bill, I did as you asked and met with your favorite candidate, but he does not fit with where I want to go.”
This places Nelson is a pretty weak position. Nelson will have expended a bullet, and the President will have taken time out of his busy calendar to meet with somebody at his request.
I think that is near the limit of Nelson’s power. At that point, Nelson can only cross his fingers at that point, and hope that Obama clicks with Boldin.
FWIW,
– Al
“It is quite possible that Obama met with Boldin to “check off a box for Senator Nelsonâ€. The President can say “OK, Bill, I did as you asked and met with your favorite candidate, but he does not fit with where I want to go.â€
Well, yes, but the issue is that where Obama may want to go is not where Nelson wants to go, and Nelson still holds some strong cards that could make life hard for a WH space policy rep. If Obama wanted to bend over backwards to avoid looking weak, why would he even bother to check that box? Checking that box does nothing, except perhaps to formalize a disagreement, and leave Nelson frustrated. Does it leave him in a weak position? Not particularly. He can make life just as miserable for a presidential appointee as he could before.
Working with Boldin to calm down Nelson is not a sign of weakness for Obama. In fact, working issues interpersonally seems to be a hallmark of this presidency. If Boldin goes back to Nelson and says, “Look, I’ve sat down with the President, and I’m reassured about what I heard”, that’s an arrow he takes out of Nelson’s quiver. Nelson then gets to say “I got my guy on the problem, and we’ve got things covered”. At least then when he crosses his fingers he’s got someone to point at.
“It is quite possible that Obama met with Boldin to “check off a box for Senator Nelsonâ€.
It makes a whole lot of sense to me, considering how long Bolden’s name been up for consideration. I am not sure how much ammunition Nelson actually has. Space probably is not that high on the agenda of the WH. The only thing I can see is the perception, right or wrong (?), that Nelson might have carried Florida. If so he does have some leverage but for how long? If Florida does get on with the WH from now on then it’s pretty weak. This presideent is all about consensus so he will try and do his best but at some point he’ll probably say enough is enough and go on…
I think space is probably higher on the agenda of the WH than one might suspect. Now, it isn’t as if the administration hasn’t been challenged with much larger things in the last few months! The WH does actually seem to be facing square-on the problems in Constellation. Obama could have looked the other way, and just blessed Constellation by default. “Here’s $4B. Now go away.” But he didn’t do that. He’s assigned a team to look carefully at its problems on a fast-track and, by doing that, he’s pretty much committed to respond to their findings.
But until that panel gets well underway, I frankly don’t see any painful need to try to name an administrator, if just because few candidates really want the job unless they know how that panel will conclude. I could be wrong about this, and Obama will name an administrator tomorrow, but the necessity of such a quick appointment just dropped dramatically within the last week or two. Yes, NASA needs leadership, but it also needs a direction for that leadership.
It’ll be interesting to see who Augustine names to be on his panel. Those who sign on to that report will get some qualification for the A job attached to them, though that would obviously delay an appointment.
As to Nelson’s ammunition, his big stick is chairmanship of the Space Subcommittee on Senate Commerce. Sure, that’s just authorization, but the appropriators write the check for just one year. The authorizers set the multiyear direction for the agency. What’s at stake is a vision, not one budget year, and the former is an auth issue.
LASSITER: It’ll be interesting to see who Augustine names to be on his panel.
Just to be clear, it is the White House’s panel, and the White House will decide who is on the panel.
Augustine is an “influencer”, but he is not the “decider”.
Augustine was not elected … he has no authority. Obama was, and does.
FWIW,
– Al
@Doug Lassiter:
Well, NASA is not all about human space flight. The Augustine panel only is about human space flight. So an Admin is needed no matter what.
I don’t know that Nelson hold THE vision. There is a vision (policy) already in place (VSE). Nelson does not make policy. He may help or not, for sure. But he does not decide the policy and I don’t think he is against VSE (?). His more pressing issue is related to the Shuttle workforce I would imagine.
Space is on the agenda probably more because of Shuttle (again) rather than Constellation. Even though they are intertwined issues, unfortunately by design.
As to blessing Constellation it would have been a major mistake considering the status of the program and earlier statements from the WH about programs that perform and those that do not perform…
I know very well that NASA is more than about human space flight. Be aware that Chris Scolese was Deputy AA for Science before he moved upstairs, and he did a great job there and was universally respected by staff (including the AA) and the science community. So with apologies to Aeronautics, I have no science problem with him hanging in there as Acting Administrator. An Administrator is indeed needed no matter what, and Chris is doing a fine job holding the fort. There are no major A-level policy decisions that are faced by SMD right now (I think it’s past the AMS fiasco), and the A-level decisions for ESMD and SOMD are going to be strongly influenced by the Augustine panel advice. Chris still has all his teeth, and a smile on top of that, so …?
VSE is Bush’s vision. Not necessarily Obama’s. It might be. It might not be. (Though I believe a Presidential Directive stays in effect until is is rescinded, and Obama hasn’t rescinded it.) But that vision doesn’t mean anything congressionally unless NASA Authorization says it does. Mike kept pointing at the last auth bill when there were questions about national commitment to VSE. There’s Nelson’s stick.
At the $4B/yr level for Exploration, Obama could *easily* have just turned his head and ignored NASA. Pretty much just like his predecessor did when Constellation was first in trouble and needed WH support. $4B/yr is a sneeze for other parts of government. So it would not have been a “major mistake” for him to put a decision like that off. That $4B/yr is going into the pockets of the aerospace industry any which way.
“Just to be clear, it is the White House’s panel, and the White House will decide who is on the panel.”
Just to be clear, a FACA panel has members formally approved by the sponsoring agency (in this case OSTP), but in all cases that I know of, those members are vetted by the Chair, and sometimes even nominated by the Chair.
It makes zero sense for an agency to impose members on a Chair who he or she doesn’t want to work with. I never said that Augustine had “authority” or was a “decider”. He’s been chosen to lead a panel that will generate formal advice for OSTP. Yes, I guess he has “authority” to do that, though, right? “Influencer”? I don’t know what that term is supposed to mean in a FACA context.
Cowing is reporting that the Bolden Obama meeting “did not go well.” No elaboration, but I am frankly intriqued. What was the source of the conflict? And why was there a conflict, since Obama is no verbose about “finding common ground” with people with whom he disagrees…
good grief, folks, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
Just to be clear, a FACA panel has members formally approved by the sponsoring agency (in this case OSTP), but in all cases that I know of, those members are vetted by the Chair, and sometimes even nominated by the Chair.
It makes zero sense for an agency to impose members on a Chair who he or she doesn’t want to work with. I never said that Augustine had “authority†or was a “deciderâ€.
That’s kinda the message I took away: When the White House is truly in control of a panel’s set up, they wait until they have all the panel members decided – and then announce it publicly. Here, only the head and executive secretaries were announced. That tells me the WH is not focusing on controlling the rest of the panel for whatever their definition of ‘balance’ would be, meaning Augustine is more in of control of the Panel than he might have been in the past.
Would that be/is that a good thing? I’m not comfortable, either way. Augustine does not necessarily have a good past in looking at things holistically, nor does he have a reformist mind-bent. (This is the guy who really kicked off the consolidation – meaning, de-competitivization – of the American aerospace industry). I also disagree with his statements in the past that science was the most important thing in deciding what to do with space.
However…. the Obama WH is not the best place to pick, either. Our new OSTP head is as qualified as anyone for that extremely broad position; particularly when realizing in that the environment and climate change needs to a real focus of science and technology issues going forward. But on space issues, he doesn’t seem to have the same nuanced understandings about NASA and its issues, including needed NASA internal reforms; about space competitiveness, space development, etc. that would be needed to oversee intelligent picks in 2009; and, to my knowledge, he has no advisors on staff who do.
OSTP would do well to up the depth and breadth of its staff on space issues; but, to date, I see no evidence of that happening. Unfortunately.
“Just to be clear, a FACA panel has members formally approved by the sponsoring agency (in this case OSTP),”
According to the Notice of Establishment of a NASA Advisory Committee as published at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=31271
“Explanation of Need: The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has determined that the establishment of a Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee is necessary and in the public interest in connection with duties imposed upon NASA by law. This determination follows consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services
Administration.
AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.”
This would seem to indicate that the sponsoring agency is NASA and not OSTP and that is very troubling indeed.
Good catch. But a FACA committee needs staff support and an account to pay the bills. A FACA committee can be set up by statute, by the President, or by an agency. OSTP has handed that responsibility to NASA. See
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-11323.pdf and
http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/press_release_files/NASA%20Review.pdf
The independence of that panel is part of their charter, and the panel is charged with “working closely with NASA”. I would gather that Norm Augustine has responsibility for ensuring that independence.
This isn’t a review of the agency. It’s a review of U.S. human space flight policy.
It is of some interest that the Aldridge Panel was set up by Presidential Directive. This panel is not. Though the Aldridge panel was charged with fleshing out a vision for exploration, while this panel is just charged with assessing options for a piece of that vision.
This would seem to indicate that the sponsoring agency is NASA and not OSTP and that is very troubling indeed.
Cowing is reporting that the Bolden Obama meeting “did not go well.†No elaboration, but I am frankly intriqued.
Good catch. But a FACA committee needs staff support and an account to pay the bills.
OSTP would do well to up the depth and breadth of its staff on space issues; but, to date, I see no evidence of that happening. Unfortunately.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2009/05/nelson-is-99-percent-confident-that-bolden-will-be-nasa-chief-.html
Well, well, well, Al. Looks like Bolden went in there exactly as I predicted and demanded his own direct reports.
Again, this isn’t a “job interview” for people at this level.
Again, this isn’t a “job interview†for people at this level.