HERE'S AN ODD LITTLE Hillary Clinton proposal: She wants a government blogging team.

At first blush, the idea could cut either way--nutty or silly. We might even call it ridiculous, if we weren't busy laughing at it.

So let's do what bloggers always do and go contrarian. Yes, let's take Clinton seriously. Let's consider whether her idea of a team of government bloggers has merit.

First, some explanation. Here's what Senator Clinton said just before the New Hampshire primary:

"I want to put everything on the Internet. I want you to see the budget of every agency. I want you to track everything that goes on in your government. You pay for it. You should know about it.

"We should even have a government blogging team where people in agencies are constantly telling all of you, the taxpayers, the citizens of America, everything that's going on so that you have up to the minute information about what your government is doing so that you, too, can be informed and hold the government accountable."

And Clinton repeated the proposal to Tim Russert on Meet the Press on January 13.

"I want to have as much information about the way our government operates on the Internet so the people who pay for it, the taxpayers of America, can see that. I want to be sure that, you know, we actually have like agency blogs."

Just like John F. Kennedy inspired us to go to the moon, Hillary Clinton would inspire us to, well, blog.

That's fine with me. As a blogger, I enthusiastically welcome more bloggers to our noble craft. Eighty million blogs--give or take, oh, ten million blogs, depending on the time of day--just aren't enough. We always could use more. So why not a blog from, say, the U.S. Bureau of Seed Regulation? Or the Department of Redundancy Department? What harm could that do? Not any more harm than that done by a spam blog advertising nothing but sexual prowess and refinancing opportunities.

Meantime, as a former Federal government official in two administrations, I too want a government that's "accountable" and "transparent."

But that's where Hillary loses me.

See, I also want a government that's something else, something more important. I want a government that's smaller.

Clinton says the bloggers would do a number of things, but advocating cuts in their own agencies doesn't seem to be among the mandates.

Pity. Who better to champion the exposure of not just wasteful spending but ill-advised spending than a blogger, the guy or gal with inside insight and first-hand knowledge of program implementation? Government bloggers who suggest budget cuts--now that would be a bold mandate. And it's a bigger and more daunting mission than staffing up with predictable blogocrats.

The fact is, the government already is in the business of blogging. This site lists 16 active government blogs. I'm impressed by this entry by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on his blog:

"French's Mustard is a composite of materials that spread well, including a plant that is processed to provide the brilliant yellow color and a little dab of their mustard oil."