This piece on OpinionJournal appeals to me, but its suggestion that to stimulate new ways of thinking President Bush should fire somebody, kind of bothers me, too. I would certainly cheer the firing of Norm Mineta, because his decisions have been bone-headed for someone charged with the safety of the flying public. However, the idea that we just need to find someone to fire, like Bob Mueller's firing was called for by WSJ, is kind of simplistic and stupid, as well.

One problem with this is the difficulty of getting a replacement in place. With all the background checks and political sniping and hearings, what really good candidate would be attracted? And who runs things while the new guy/gal is being vetted? I can understand why Bush is reluctant to go through all that again having most of his first year in office wasted by this nonsense.

It's also very difficult to fire lower level Federal employees. It seems that the worse they are, the harder it is to get rid of them.

It seems to me to be a better tactic to work around the bureaucracy, rather than putting new wine in old bottles. In the meantime, the government needs to reduce its size. It's not easy to get rid of dead wood in a system where so much of it was erected by politicians who view it as the monument to their own achievements.