ABSTRACT
Polls continue to show a dismal opinion of our federal government; some approval ratings are not far from single digits. True, the media contributes to these poll results by giving so much space to real and imagined shortcomings of government and so little to its achievements. Nevertheless, there are valid reasons for public concern as we lurch from one crisis to another, with war and an out-of-control national debt clouding our nation. Our difficulties in responding to Katrina and our failure to prevent the Gulf oil spill have further undermined public confidence. It is no wonder so many question our ability to meet the big challenges of this new century, many of which require rapid, well-coordinated action by a large number of organizations inside and outside the government. Yet, as one looks at the problems that have undermined recent responses, their solutions seem more possible than one might think. Understandably, the media is preoccupied with controversial policy issues, generally overshadowing the critical role of effective policy implementation. In their recent book, If We Can Put a Man on the Moon …, William Eggers and John O’Leary (2009) suggest that past successes in “getting the big things done in government” have shown how important renewed attention to effective policy execution will be to meeting future challenges. This chapter adds several suggestions on this theme.
