Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, formerly director of the Office of Management and Budget, has an op-ed in today's NY Times (I believe it's in "Times Select"--sorry, couldn't link to it). In the op-ed, Daniels explains why it's a great idea to lease public roads to private companies. Not sure I agree with that (for one thing, it seems like part of an agenda aimed at delegitimizing and de-fanging government). But what really got me was Daniels's solemn condemnation of "reckless borrowing" by the government.
The op-ed does mention that Daniels was director of OMB from 2001-2003. Here's what it doesn't mention. When Governor Daniels became director of OMB in 2001, there was a projected 10 year budget surplus of $5.6 trillion. By 2003, when he left OMB, there was an annual deficit of
$375 billion.
Fortunately for him, there is a news outlet willing to give him the chance to sanctimoniously preach the virtue of running government like a for-profit business.
What's next? An op-ed by former FEMA head Michael Brown about disaster preparedness (not so far-fetched--he seems to be in demand as a consultant in this area)? A piece by Scooter Libby on the importance of giving truthful testimony under oath? Or maybe a few hundred words by Colin Powell on the importance of getting your facts right when making presentations on WMD to international bodies?
Good thing the Times is so liberal. I'd hate to see what they'd put in their paper if they were conservative (Krugman, Herbert, Dowd, Kristof notwithstanding).