At a forum designed to recruit talented young people into the federal government, President Bush's chief of staff delivered a decidedly mixed message: Interested in a job in public service? Go corporate instead.

As reported in the July 27 edition of the Washington Post, Andrew Card made his remarks before an audience of 2,000 Washington interns attending an annual event sponsored by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

He told the interns: 

"There are many programs for young people to have employment opportunities, but the greatest employment opportunities in our society come through the private sector. And so I don’t think that everyone who is looking for a job should expect or even want a job with the federal government or one of our agencies. In fact, our economy would not do very well if people just worked for the government.”

At first, these words might seem incongruous coming from Card, one of the highest-ranked and best-paid federal workers in the nation. And it might seem stranger still that he delivered this message at a forum designed to make the federal government “an employer of choice for talented, dedicated Americans.”

Remember, though, that Card hasn't always been a public servant. He's a former General Motors vice president. More importantly, he's a key player in an administration that "reforms" Medicare by cutting poor people from the program, leaves children behind by underfunding its own "No Child Left Behind Act," and uses the National Labor Relations Board to corrupt the National Labor Relations Act. Seen in this light, Card's remarks make perfect sense, but they won't make sense to anyone who respects public employees.