If you are delighted and/or horrified that Donald Trump is one day away from being our new president, much of the blame/credit goes to the media, both print and electronic. Mainstream outlets from The New York Times or Washington Post to CNN and MSNBC gave him publicity beyond a fundraiser’s dream. Most thought it was bad, but it turned out to be good. For him. How so? When’s the last time you used Jeb Bush or Rand Paul in a sentence? Do you even remember who or what they were?

In the 21st century, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Can you say Kardashian? Or TMZ.

It’s long been said that when it comes to publicity, it doesn’t matter whether the publicity is good or bad, so long as they spell your name/product/brand correctly.

Last year, the media gave the very, very longshot candidate so much free publicity (mostly bad, but they did spell his name right) that he won the nomination. Then the media gave him even more — mostly bad publicity — aimed at the nation’s right and left coasts to the point where he won the election even while losing the popular vote. Are Russian hackers more knowledgeable about the Electoral College than the average American voter?

Even on the federal beat — those of us whose target audience is civil servants, government contractors, retirees and other members of the extended federal family — we have all taken the bait. There have been constant and daily warnings of a coming pay freeze (remember we had three of them during the reign of the good guys), of a hiring freeze and at the same time of a Trump administration hiring surge to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and Defense capabilities drained by decades of Iraq, Afghanistan and other, largely unpublicized wars.

The big picture being painted — for the government — is similar to, but even grimmer than that preceding the inauguration of Presdident Ronald Reagan back in the day. A major Washington media outlet warned that the government — which keeps those of us inside the Beltway afloat — would be “decimated.” In fact, it grew bigger, big time even though the President-elect said it was the problem, not the solution.

Bottom line, who knew? Who knows?

I don’t know any more than you do. I don’t pretend to have any special insights. I say this as an elder (as in older) statesman on the federal beat. We may be in for very tough times. Or maybe not. A Katrina-like hurricane, a Chernobyl-like meltdown, an uprising in Pakistan, a change in the Gulf Stream, a tragedy at home could change everything. Two years from now, we may not be able to remember what we feared most in January 2017.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard from lots and lots of current and former feds. The vast majority — media notwithstanding — say they are not panicking, not planning to resign in protest (as many have developed the habit of eating regularly) and are more or less hopeful about the future. They say that reports of widespread panic and depression in federal agencies are simply not true. Maybe that will happen. Maybe the dire predictions will come true. Or maybe the new political appointees — once well into the mandatory 120-day getting-to-know-you period with the senior career staff at their agencies — will get it. Will see that the government is different than they thought. And that some of the things it does are for a good reason.

Meantime, I for one promise to keep a (somewhat cynical) eye on things, like your pay, your job, your retirement, your mission. No intended hype. Just-the-facts, or at least just a best guess based on years of observation. Meantime …

Regardless of what happened on Election Day and however we feel about things, tomorrow is, well, tomorrow.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

“Tomorrow is another day” is not just a quote from the movie “Gone with the Wind,” it’s also the name of a 1951 film, a Hong Kong TV series, a dance song by Marc Mysterio and Samantha Fox and a song from the 1977 Disney animated film “The Rescuers.”

Source: Wikipedia

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