Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.  He spoke in place of Senator Edward Kennedy who is recuperating after a seizure caused by a brain tumor several days ago.  Senator Obama focused his entire speech on Kennedy’s chosen theme of public service, a topic he continues to press on the presidential campaign trail as well.  (Kennedy is already a co-sponsor of the Academy bill - S. 960 -  and we are currently seeking Sen. Obama’s support!)

The NY Times noted that “symbolism of protégé and mentor permeated the address,” but it was the focus on service that caught my attention.  Obama has finally gotten comfortable telling his story to voters outside of Illinois, and it is a story of service.  In the address, he told the graduates about his desire to serve, even in the face of advice to go to law school and start his high-paying law career as soon as possible.  However, he did something different, he wrote letters.  He describes writing letters to “every [service] organization in the country I could think of.”  One finally yielded an offer, a church group in Chicago organizing the community struggling to deal with the hardships caused by the closing of steel mills.  Even though he knew no one in Chicago, and his mother and grandparents balked, he jumped right in.  It was through service that he found himself and was “embraced” by the community he had imagined.

Obama’s letter writing made me think of one thing only: the letters written by our YACers to their Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen asking for their sponsorship of the Academy.   Not to mention all the letters written by volunteers and supporters at Letter Writing Parties!  These very letters are what making this dream a reality.  The power of this small act, this persistence, is creating the opportunity for future college students to attend the Academy to carry on the tradition and obligation of service to country.  Obama also said, “you have an obligation to yourself, because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation.”  The YACers who participate today are doing so not so they can attend the Academy as an individual, instead they are creating the opportunity for the collective of others to follow.

Today, the Washington Post looked more deeply into the security breach of passport records last week of Presidential candidates and U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain by non-government employees.  The article describes how the number of contract employees to government employees “exploded” in the last year when the U.S. Passport requirements for travel to Canada and Mexico changed thereby increasing the number of applications to the State Department.  

The companies contracted out by the State Department provide administrative employees to handle the processing of the passport applications on the clerical side.  However, “the people who review the documentation and approve or deny the application are federal employees” as well as those handling the printing and scanning of the information.  It seems to me that the breaches happened because the contractors are not held to the same standard as the Federal employees, yet they handle the exact same sensitive, private and personal information about all citizens, whether high profile or not.  In addition, the companies that provide the contract employees are making a big profit.  Is our personal and private information for sale?  In this case yes.  And it is your tax dollars paying for a company to profit rather than a well-trained government employee to manage your private information.

So how does this relate to the Public Service Academy?   Well, the Academy will not only train civil servants, but hold them to the highest standard of discretion when interacting with citizens or their information because there is no profit involved.  In fact, the Academy will serve as a symbol for excellence in federal, state, and local government service jobs and return some dignity and respect to the the public sector!  What do you think?