This editorial appeared in The Tri-City Herald.
Barack Obama's transition team is being flooded by so many office seekers that observers are beginning to make comparisons to Noah.
They might better look to Obama's idol, Abraham Lincoln.
Flooded? More like deluged.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the number of people seeking jobs in the incoming administration already has passed 310,000 and is likely to reach a million.
That's for about 8,000 jobs in the federal Plum Book, which lists political appointments currently available, or about 125 applicants per opening.
Obama's numbers swamp his predecessors.
President Bush received 44,000 requests when he took office in 2001, and Bill Clinton received 125,000 upon assuming the presidency in 1993.
Obama's transition team members say the seekers may have been inspired by Obama's style and the substance of his winning campaign; that they are, in other words, stoked.
Likely so.
But of all the comparisons being made between Obama and his predecessor president from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, this may be the most lamentable, especially the further down the organizational chart it goes.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Tri-City Herald.
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