Don’t Obama’s Four Controversial Nominations Prove His Poor Judgment?
The spin from the Obama camp seems to be all about Obama “fighting the good fight” for “ethics” and “transparency” as public scrutiny of his three failed appointments (which should have been four with Geithner in a just world) ramps up. Obama himself told Charlie Gibson that Daschle’s withdrawal was “embarrassing” and “sends the wrong message.” And now this Politico story suggests that the withdrawal of Bill Richardson, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer proves that Obama’s job of bringing “accountability” and “ethics” to Washington DC is tougher than previously thought.
So it turns out Barack Obama is not immune to the laws of political gravity after all.
As Tom Daschle’s nomination for health and human services secretary slammed to a halt in a pile of broken glass, there was relief among Obama supporters, who will not have to defend a choice that was becoming increasingly hard to defend.
But the Daschle crash was only the latest episode amid several in recent days on a similar theme: Ushering a new era of accountability, civility, and ethics in Washington looks easier from the outside than from the inside.
Old Washington is colliding with the new White House on other fronts, as well.
The way that story casts things it makes it seem as though it’s the White House that’s fighting for ethics and accountability here, but how can that be when it was Barack Obama himself who nominated Richardson, Daschle, Geithner and Killefer? When it was Obama’s own vetting team that discovered Daschle and Geithner’s tax problems but went ahead and sent them out to be appointed anyway?
Obama isn’t the guy fighting for accountability and ethics. Obama’s the guy picking the tax evaders and kickback-takers for appointment.
And didn’t we know from the campaign that Obama had a problem with judging character? Let’s review the list.
Jeremiah Wright
William Ayers
Tony Rezko
Alexi Giannoulias
Rod Blagojevich, who Obama helped bet elected twice.
Now add Daschle, Richardson, Geithner and Killefer to the list and you have a long and storied history of bad decision making from Obama.
At what point does Obama get held accountable for that?
