Somewhere along the way, Americans are going to realize how foolish they were to believe that President-elect Obama would be any different than any other mainstream Chicago-style politician. He still has a couple months left before becoming our president, and yet his newly forming cabinet already tells a tale of Washington insiders, Clinton junkies, and partisan leftists. If this is any indication (which surely it is) of Obama's administration, we can expect anything but hope and change. If you don't believe me, I suggest you learn a little more about Obama's new cabinet.
Rahm Emanuel (Chief of Staff):
-After helping Democrats win congress in 2006, he is quoted telling his colleagues that republicans can go "f*** themselves."
-His favorite expression for republicans is "knuckef***s."
-In the 1980s he sent a dead, rotting fish to pollster whom he quarreled with.
-He sat on the board of Fredddie Mac and pocketed over $200,000 in fees after he and his board encouraged risky, sub prime mortgages, and then subsequently blamed republicans for Freddie's collapse.
-As an investment banker in Chicago, Rahm made over $18 million by working on merger deals that caused thousands of layoffs.
Read more here.
Eric Holder (presumptive Attorney General):
-Known for his extreme anti-gun positions, supporting hand-gun bans and believing that the 2nd amendment does not protect an individual's right to own a gun.
-Under the Clinton administration, he supported the controversial presidential pardon of fugitive Marc Rich which was decried by republicans and democrats alike (Marc just happened to be a Clinton campaign contributor).
-"The Attorney General is the one Cabinet member who's different from all the rest. The Attorney General serves first the people, but also serves the president. There has to be a closeness at the same time there needs to be distance." (What about the oath to protect and defend the constitution?)
Read more here.
Janet Napolitano (presumptive Secretary of Homeland Security):
-Represented Anita Hill in controversial sexual harassment case in an attempt to derail Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Later, she was unable to confirm certain details and facts when two testimonies presented did not corroborate and Janet was accused of stonewalling.
-Defended a legislator, Alan Stephens, who illegaly accepted bribes and later appointed him as co-chief of staff.
-Big supporter of more bailouts and federal stimulus packages aka as big a federal government as possible.
Read more here.
Tom Daschle (presumptive Secretary of Health and Human Services):
-“As majority leader, Daschle was a notorious opponent of every pro-life measure,” the Family Research Council said. “He blocked the partial-birth abortion ban, voted for taxpayer-funded military abortions, and supported a measure that would have forced Americans to pay for the distribution of the morning-after pill to young school girls.”
-Has no direct experience or qualification in the health care industry.
-His appointment will cause a direct conflict of interest, one that Obama promised to avoid, by Daschle currently working for a firm that will be effected by his future jurisdiction.
Read more here.
And here.
And then, of course, there is Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Secretary of State. Need I say more?
Come on Obama, I mean... really?? I can't say that I am surprised at all these appointments, but I certainly am disappointed.
What do you think?
2 comments:
Yeah, it looks like we have the second coming of Paris Hilton as Commerce Secretary and the husband of one of the biggest Washington lobbyists as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Not really the kind of stuff he was saying during the campaign.
Although I have to say that Governor Napolitano seems to be a pretty good choice. She has lots of experience, but all on the local/state level. Although she is a Democrat, she's the only one I've heard so far that isn't a raving lunatic or bumbling moron.
Ok, so a few of his recent picks are actually pretty decent. Geithner as Treasury Secretary is great, and Summers as director of the NEC is good, too. And keeping Gates on as Defense Secretary is beautiful.
However, this raises some interesting questions as to what exactly some of these posts are going to do. They are under the direction of the President, but will they get to do what they want? P-E Obama and Hillary fought tirelessly over foreign policy, yet he picks her to be the top diplomat in his administration. Will she do what she wants, or will he make her do what she wants, or will they somehow compromise? Same with Gates. Are we getting out of Iraq next year like P-E Obama said he would, or are we staying the course like Gates says we need to?
What would have been a perfect cabinet? Well, sticking to his campaign ideals would have been nice. Change needed to translate into people who haven't been in Washington, meaning very few Clintonites. "Post-partisan" would imply that his appointees would have been moderates, or at least a closer balance between Democrats and Republicans. And his cabinet should at least agree with him on a majority of issues.
If he was really serious about this, Hillary would've been left in the Senate, and Gov. Richardson would've been put in as Secretary of State. The guy has so much foreign policy experience it sickens me, and he gets put in as Commerce Secretary? That seems like a giant misstep. At least he's better than Ms. Pritzker (the aforementioned second coming of Paris Hilton). And Gates would've been appointed Deputy Secretary of Defense, keeping him around for continuity, but making sure people understood that the campaign promises would be upheld by a Secretary of Defense that is supportive of P-E Obama's ideas.
I suppose I could go on, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see how these relationships play out.
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