On the very day that he arrived in Washington Presidenty-elect Obama had to deal with a problem relating to one of his top cabinet choices. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson , named to be commerce secretary, withdrew because of an investigation into a company that gained a state contract and contributed to Richardson,s campaigns. There is no indication at this stage that Richardson has done anything wrong.
Mr. Richardson,s departure is an acute loss for Mr. Obama. It raises questions about the thorougness of Mr. Richardsonès
vetting,,deprives thge Obama administration of a prominent Hispanic, and leaves a big h o le in the White House economics team at a critical juncture.
Thi is all the worse because it comes on top of the skullduggery associated with Mr Obama,s senate seat in I
Illinois. Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate say they will not seat Roland Burris whom the disgraced Illinois governor appointed. BNut the governor has every right to appoint h im and Reid will be excluding the onlyu Africain-Merican from the Senate. There is no suggestion that Obama himself is implicated ian either of these matters. But especially in po litics the ;perception is that Obama asomehow blew it and that he is weaker today then he was yesterday.DO YOU AGREE?
Well, at least, Richardson resigned even though only under suspicion. A far cry from the Bush gang when resignations came only before being admitted to jail.
Having a little trouble with the new toy, Neil?
Burris is not being excluded from a seat because of who appointed him. He’s being refused because all his paperwork is not in order. He knows it. He knew it before he tried to take the seat. When the paperwork is done and the signature is on the line, he will no doubt be seated without further ado.
Obama’s not hurt. Richardson, if proven uninvolved in any scandal, will be given some other post in the Obama government. If this is the only glitch, they have done a great job.
By the way, one of my former students has been working on the Obama campaign and the transition team as a vetter. I don’t think he particularly enjoyed mucking around in the world of political reputations. He is happy to be going back to Harvard shortly. I told him to give my regards and assurances of prayer to Obama and Biden. He said he would do so.
No, I don’t agree.
Obama is not weaker because of any of these rumblings. My gosh, he isn’t even president yet. Indeed, he hasn’t even begun the tradiitonal “honeymoon” grace period that new presidents traditionally receive on ascending to office.
So far, my libertarian/conservative worldview is as pleased as punch with Obama’s performance.
Obama should have selected Howard Dean for Health Secretary. Dean is an outsider who, through his 50-state strategy, helped to make the Democrats less elitist and realize grass roots are important too. Paul Begala laughed at Dean…but who has the last laugh now?
Obama was able to compete in key Rep. states b/c of Dean’s actions. He was supposed to be about “change” yet he showed quite a bit of that typical ungrateful political BS.
Neil:-
In today’s Gazette you conclude in your Letter to the Editor, regarding Caroline Kennedy’s try for the appointment to the NY Senate, and in your objection to her effort, “what if her name were Caroline Brown?” Well, I’ll give you something to mull over as you sit under the coconut tree with your NY Times, what if her name were Caroline Obama. Watch out for the winds or move your lawnchair. Sorry for the interjection. Jim