Letter from Washington

“You are here,” the President occasionally counsels his appointees, “not to fight the alligators but to drain the swamp.” Sometimes it’s easy to forget that injunction, particularly when some of the hunters start acting like alligators. But the good news is that the water level is declining—as measured by the gauges that really count in this town.

Item 1. Hotel occupancy rates are down. It’s not just the recession and fewer tourists. An officer in a hotel chain that caters to businessmen and lawyers who used to come to town for a week to joust with the regulatory commissions reports that business is terrible. Deregulating oil prices was a big first step, but now it’s clear that the President’s men just aren’t making life difficult enough for the private sector for its emissaries to spend their time in D.C. running up big bills.

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Ronald Reagan

Department of Education

“You are here,” the President occasionally counsels his appointees, “not to fight the alligators but to drain the swamp.” Sometimes it’s easy to forget that injunction, particularly when some of the hunters start acting like alligators. But the good news is that the water level is declining—as measured by the gauges that really count in this town.

Item 1. Hotel occupancy rates are down. It’s not just the recession and fewer tourists. An officer in a hotel chain that caters to businessmen and lawyers who used to come to town for a week to joust with the regulatory commissions reports that business is terrible. Deregulating oil prices was a big first step, but now it’s clear that the President’s men just aren’t making life difficult enough for the private sector for its emissaries to spend their time in D.C. running up big bills.