Why is it so hard for the Obama administration to find good, honest, decent Americans to work for it? It seems every day we are learning that this person that President wants for his cabinet or that person he wants to work in Treasury has had some problem with something.
I don’t understand. Could Daniel Schorr, in his NPR’s All Things Considered piece of March 4, “Vetting Process Out of Control,” be right when he writes “that the issue should not be past mistakes, but transparency about them,” when commenting on why it’s OK that the Senate confirmed Timothy Geithner despite his tax indiscretions simply because he came clean about them? C’mon, this can’t be right. Simply telling someone you did something wrong doesn’t absolve you from the misdeed. It just means you told someone about it.
Then we learned that the man deemed fit to save the United States automobile industry is “an emerging figure,” according to The New York Times, in the corruption investigation of the New York State pension program. And while Steven Rattner, President Obama’s point man for the auto industry, has not been accused of any crime, according to the same article, he arranged to have his firm pay one of the indicted people being investigated a fee for getting business from the pension plan.
It just doesn’t add up to me. I am confused as to why the President and his advisors just can’t seem to find people to work in Washington who don’t have to come clean or, more pompously, “be transparent” about past indiscretions. I don’t agree with Mr. Schorr’s comments that the vetting process is too difficult. I believe it is too lax. The bar for these people – our leaders – needs to be raised to new heights.
One of the biggest complaints about the Bush administration was Vice President Cheney’s past work at Halliburton and other links to government contractors. While I don’t know all the facts, where there’s smoke there’s probably fire and frankly it seems that we all have been hurt by this relationship. If this type of situation was not acceptable then, it should not be acceptable now. President Obama has to say “Enough is enough” and bring in people that are beyond reproach, as he promised. Only then will he get the respect, admiration and the ability to look us in the eye and say that he’s really brought “Change” to Washington.
THINGS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY!
Right now nothing is bothering me, except that the Red Sox have gotten off to such a bad start. I expect things to turn around soon. If they don’t rest, assured you will read about it in this blog.