The Truth About Second-Tier Washington D.C. Operatives

They are treated like maggots by the real power players.

Treasury Inspector General for TARP, Neal Barofsky, in his book Bailout wrote:

I had my first interactions with Geithner over the next two days... 

Geithner's brusque style struck me as obnoxious. He was speaking to a group of people who had been working their tails off for the last four months and he barely acknowledged their hard work and sacrifices...It was bizarre... 

The next day I was scheduled to have an oversight meeting with Geithner...I requested a private meeting with Geithner and it was set up for just five minutes before the broader meeting...I spoke for all of thirty seconds before being rushed out the door.

Sheila Bair in her new book, Bull By The Horns, reported on what happened to her when she became FDIC Chairman and before the financial crisis:

My early requests for a courtesy meeting with [Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson] after I became FDIC chairman had been unsuccessful. It had taken months before he finally agreed to a meeting and then, when I arrived at his office, I had been redirected to Robert Steel's office down the hall. Hank had stopped by for about five minutes to say hello. Clearly, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs didn't think the head of an agency that insured $100,000 bank deposits was worth his time.

Jeff Connuaghton held among other positions for Biden that of Deputy National Finance Director and in his book, Payoff, writes:

As my time in his office continued, one fact became clear: I just didn't hit it off with Biden. Only a handful made it into his inner circle...I watched him train his charisma beam on people of all ages....In Washington, he would do the same thing with complete strangers...Yet, behind the scenes, Biden acted like an egomaniacal autocrat and apparently was determined to manage his staff through fear...Biden never lifted a finger for me or one of my clients [when I became a lobbyist].

Bottom line: This second-tier of operators may have mini-entourages of their own (certainly Barofsky and Bair), but the real power players treat them like dirt. It is amazing they put up with it. It must be an allure to be near power, even if that power disses them.

The real political power players, don't spend time with this second tier. To them this second tier contains nothing but technicians, mechanics and soldiers, they are only there to perform tasks for the political power players.

If you want to see who the political power players spend time with, look at their logs. It's filled with phone calls and visits from the likes of Lloyd Blankfein, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon. That's where the real power decisions are made. It's almost sad that Barofsky, Bair and Connuaghton want so bad to get into the inner circle. It's never going to happen. You have to play a very shrewd game to get into that circle. You don't get in by simply wanting to set up a get acquainted meeting. You have to bring something very valuable to the table. Bring something valuable and you don't need a government job, title or anything else, to hook up with the power players, they know when they need to listen.