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It seems that the criticism I am reading is that "change" should not include hiring people with Washington experience. But I see "change" as the policies that have been proposed and you need experienced hands to get them enacted.
If you are going to hire competent people, at the highest levels government experience is a plus.
It seems that the criticism I am reading is that "change" should not include hiring people with Washington experience. But I see "change" as the policies that have been proposed and you need experienced hands to get them enacted.
If you are going to hire competent people, at the highest levels government experience is a plus.
Exactly, if we had elected Obama King then we wouldn't have to worry about all this stuff. He would just impose his agenda and be done with it. Since we elected him president he now has to work within the existing system to bring about the change he promised.
Last time I checked congress made the laws. He has to have the right people in place to get congress to support his agenda.
Is anyone in Washington not a lobbist or married to a lobbiest or know a lobbiest??
What I find interesting is Obama is selecting re-treads from the Clinton Admin. Now, on the surface there is nothing wrong with it. They are the only ones with experience working in the WH and no one from the Bush admin will be asked to apply. But, what I find interesting is one of the arguements in support of Obama's selections is that these people have experience. Yet, experience was not a big deal for the CiC. Just seems ironic to me. Other than that...Let Obama have whom he wants (unless they are really crack pots). It wont help. Expectations are so high that the only way to go is down. IMO, there will be many who end up disappointed when he cannot deliver on his promises. I can hear the excuses warming up already....
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The greatest lies are told before a marriage, after a hunt and during an election - Count Bismark
Except that many of these were lower to mid-level staff in the Clinton years -- basically, youngish Dems starting out -- and all broke from the Clinton camp very early to support Obama. They aren't retreads the way people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gates, etc. were. Many were seen (by the Clinton camp) as betraying the Clintons, which brings up the interesting alternative downside to all this -- how do you put people the Clintons accused of disloyalty in the same cabinet if Hillary's there?
He has to find people who know the system -- even if its just 'know thy enemy,' but also, to know how to reach across the party line and towards whom. I was involved with a upper-mid-level Democratic DC lawyer-bureaucrat Environmentalist when Carter was elected. He quickly disabused me of my naive optimism -- he said Carter was making a fatal and stupid error, and DC would destroy him for it -- he was installing people who weren't just outsiders -- they were arrogant outsiders who had no idea how DC operated, who really knew what, who owed who which favors, which enemies would come together to fight what battles, and they made it clear they didn't care. Carter's people were therefore being frozen out, undercut, and discredited almost before he was inaugurated.
I was told firmly there'd be no change with that approach -- there were people in DC who also wanted change in Democratic directions, but you wouldn't get it by treating them all like indistinguishable pond scum.
He said the environmental folks where he was located were a good example. There were dems who'd been waiting for a chance to make some progress on the environment, were waiting to be asked to come out of the closet -- and within a few weeks of the inauguration, they were as angry at Carter's team as the GOP.
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oderint dum metuant (Latin for 'let them hate, so long as they fear').
Well, in truth I'm actually not a total hawk, but I'm not a dove either -- I'm more like an angry pigeon flying over the political arena after a really big meal. -Abba Gav
btw, a medical researcher friend says they are all simply ecstatic at the appointment of Tom Daschle at HHS, and they look forward to once again opening their email messages from the top brass (which she said they've been deleting unopened for the last couple years since it was all religiously-tinged platitudes or guidelines.)
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oderint dum metuant (Latin for 'let them hate, so long as they fear').
Well, in truth I'm actually not a total hawk, but I'm not a dove either -- I'm more like an angry pigeon flying over the political arena after a really big meal. -Abba Gav
Should anyone in the cabinet or dept directorships be allowed to hold dual citizenship?
I believe any (Rahm Immanuel for instance) should have to renounce their allegiance to any foreign powers.
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"Seachicken - it's what's for dinner" - me (until the 'Hawks sweep the Cards)
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Should anyone in the cabinet or dept directorships be allowed to hold dual citizenship?
I believe any (Rahm Immanuel for instance) should have to renounce their allegiance to any foreign powers.
oderint dum metuant (Latin for 'let them hate, so long as they fear').
Well, in truth I'm actually not a total hawk, but I'm not a dove either -- I'm more like an angry pigeon flying over the political arena after a really big meal. -Abba Gav
Rumored:
Gen. James Jones for Nat'l Security Advisor - General James Logan Jones, Jr. MSC, USMC (born December 19, 1943) is the former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) (2003-2006) and the Commander of the United States European Command (COMUSEUCOM) (2003-2006); and served as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps (July 1999-January 2003). Jones retired from the United States Marine Corps on February 1, 2007 after 40 years of service.[1]
In 2007, Jones served as Chairman of the Congressional Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, which investigated the capabilities of the Iraqi police and armed forces. In November 2007, he was appointed by the United States Secretary of State as special envoy for Middle East Security.
However, in the interests of full disclosure - he's also been appointed to the Board of Boeing (Audit and Finance) and Chevron; he's also on an NGO/thinktank that promotes NATO and related trans-atlantic programs.
Bill Richardson for Commerce Dept - the current Governor of New Mexico. He was the first Hispanic candidate for the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. He was involved in several diplomatic efforts as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and afterwards and emphasized foreign policy issues during his Presidential run. He also previously served as a U.S. Representative and as the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He was chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention as well as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in 2005 and 2006, overseeing the Democrats' re-capturing of a majority of the country's governorships. Richardson was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the release of hostages, American servicemen, and political prisoners in North Korea, Iraq, and Cuba.
However: Richardson also joined Kissinger McLarty Associates, a "strategic advisory firm" headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty, as Senior Managing Director. From February 2001 to June of 2002, he served on the board of directors of Peregrine Systems, Inc. He also served on the corporate boards of several energy companies, including Valero Energy Corporation and Diamond Offshore Drilling but divested in 2007.
Tim Geithner: Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years after college and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).
He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department. At the International Monetary Fund he was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003).
In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Once there, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component of the Fed. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.
One problem is that in between friendly administrations, pretty much everyone in politics gets hired in to some big corporation. I'm not sure how you can find people with the kind of expertise to operate huge bureaucracies who haven't had some kind of corporate involvement at some point. None of the people Obama has been looking at so far have ever been registered lobbyists, but most have played revolving door.
btw -- apparently one new hang-up with Hillary is how much say she gets in picking her immediate underlings -- which normally the new appointees share with the administration but don't have full say. I imagine Obama's people want to vet her potential picks and have clear veto power. Also she doesn't want the Nat'l Security Advisor to control her access to the President, which apparently is a key issue -- the Chief of Staff controls general access, the NSA controls cabinet access.
Personally, I'd fire her now and move on.
__________________
oderint dum metuant (Latin for 'let them hate, so long as they fear').
Well, in truth I'm actually not a total hawk, but I'm not a dove either -- I'm more like an angry pigeon flying over the political arena after a really big meal. -Abba Gav
Last edited by AZZenny; November 24th, 2008 at 08:00 AM.
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