TNA Press Release on Open Cabinet Seats
February 3, 2009
by The New Agenda
|The New Agenda issued the following press release this evening:
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2009
Contact: Amy Siskind
(484) 844-2996
NewAgendaPress@yahoo.com
Obama Gets Do-Over and a New Chance for Women
The New Agenda, a non-partisan national women’s rights group, is calling on President Obama to fill recently vacated seats with qualified women. The Secretary of Health and Human Services position is now open due to serious tax issues that derailed Senator Tom Daschle’s nomination. These tax and legal issues are also calling into question Timothy Geithner’s fitness for the Treasury Secretary position.
The New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind said: “A fraternity of leadership has led our country into an economic crisis of epic proportions. We call on President Obama to pick from the thousands of qualified women to take these two important cabinet positions and deliver on his promise of change.”
The New Agenda also notes that President Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner is in a position that puts him in charge of the Internal Revenue Service. The New Agenda questions how a man with this history can have the nation’s confidence to lead the Treasury Department during a time of economic crisis.
The New Agenda urges President Obama to ask Timothy Geithner to resign and instead appoint FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair to take on the role of Treasury Secretary. Sheila Bair has a proven track record and the respect of Wall Street as well as Main Street.
The New Agenda noted that in total, President Obama has picked 22 cabinet positions (including Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary after Bill Richardson withdrew). Of those first 22 picks, only 5 have been women.
Co-founder Amy Siskind said: “As President Obama selects his 23rd cabinet pick, we encourage him to remember the constituency that overwhelmingly voted him into office – the women of this country. We also encourage President Obama to give serious consideration for the person most qualified to Treasury Secretary, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair.”
To reinforce the message that there is a rich pool of candidates, The New Agenda released the following list of exemplar candidates for Cabinet positions.
• President of the University of Miami and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala
• U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut
• Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill
• Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
• Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
• Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
• President of the National Business Group on Health Helen Darling
• Former Healthcare Finance Director Nancy Ann Min Deparle
- 30 -
Fantastic Amy and TNA!
Great! Thank you!
I really like that you put forth the names of qualified women. That is so important, such a proud statement, and a long list to send out for Women’s History Month in March.
I wonder, have you heard from any of the women whose names you listed, other posts other openings? Anyone said, thank you New Agenda?
I strongly recommend Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary. Dr. Angell is a physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. She currently is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Marcia is a woman of integrity. She is highly respected in medical circles. She has worked hard for ethics and scientific integrity, and writes frequently in professional journals and the popular media on a wide range of topics, particularly medical ethics, health policy, the nature of medical evidence, the interface of medicine and the law, and care at the end of life.
Marcia is a supporter of women’s issues. Her book, Science on Trial: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case (1996) received critical acclaim. In 1997, Time magazine named Marcia Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans.
Marcia is not afraid to speak out, and has criticized our current healthcare system and the pharmaceutical industry. She wrote the book: The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It.
I can think of no better woman to be HHS Secretary! She is eminently qualified, and would bring ethics and integrity to the office.
If you agree, let’s unite behind Dr. Marcia Angell for HHS Secretary. We’ll need to act quickly.
ACTION PLAN:
1. Write to the White House and urge Obama to appoint Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary. Click here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
2. Can we activate PUMA Responders?
3. Please contact your friends and colleagues and fellow bloggers and ask them to push for Obama to appoint Marcia Angell, MD as HHS Secretary
great press release–glad to see the Geithner appointment being revisited as well.
ER,
I really like your suggestion of Dr. Angell. I think she would bring more to the position than a random politician would. I’d only favor a governor for this position if she has a track record on health care reform in her state, which I don’t think either Sebelius or Granholm does. I wouldn’t want to just move a woman from one political position to another; I would like to bring new women into political positions. Nominating Dr. Angell would do that.
She also has very thoughtful critiques of the Mass. health reform and a tremendously useful background from internal medicine (as opposed to being a sub-specialist like Dr. Gupta), which makes her a critical role model at a time when physicians are abandoning internal medicine and other general practices in favor of lucrative specialties.
She’s also much more thoughtful than most doctors about the interplay of law and medicine (I have a lot of family members in medicine, and their gut reaction is just to bash lawyers and the law as interfering with them). Hopefully she can partner with legislators to write some good legislation to deal with the negative aspects of our tort system.
(Let’s just make sure she’s been careful about hiring immigrants and paying taxes!)
They are saying on the confluence that H. Dean may be in the running.
ER, emphatically, yes.
Thank you PG and Sis. There are several men’s names being thrown around. . I think we need to keep the pressure on and work hard and be very vocal to get as many people as possible to support Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary.
ACTION PLAN (updated):
1. Write to the White House and urge Obama to appoint Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary. Click here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
2. Send a copy of your email to your Senators and Representatives:
You can find your elected officials’ contact information here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
3. Send an email to: Email Valerie Jarrett at: vjarrett@barackobama.com and to: info@barackobama.com
4. Can we activate PUMA Responders? (Feel free to repost my posts at Puma Responders and any other blogs where people will take action!)
5. Please contact your friends, colleagues and fellow bloggers and ask them to push for Obama to appoint Marcia Angell, MD as HHS Secretary
6. Any other ideas about how we can get Obama’s ear and promote his appointing Marcia Angell, MD as HHS Secretary?
I’ve blogged it around and have written to my senators, representative, governor, friends, etc.
Thank you for the action plan, ER. I will get on it as soon as I have a chance, and will report back.
I’d like to make a suggestion to The New Agenda and its members:
Let’s report back to the website about the action you’ve taken.
I feel like it would be helpful to see what everyone is actually doing, who they are contacting. Could be as simple as “Just called my Senator, so and so, and talked to her assistant.” Let’s put a feedback mechanism in place to keep track of what we’re doing and whether it’s having an impact. Part of the reason I don’t like to write emails is because I feel like I’m shooting darts in the dark. I don’t know if it’s having an effect, don’t know if it’s worth my energy.
Perhaps TNA could consider installing some sort of counter that shows graphically how many of us took action on an issue, or for example if it’s a national issue where we want to contact 50 senators or 25 senators, we could set that as a goal, keep track of it. If we see that only 40 senators have been contacted, we can make an effort to contact the other 10. I’m sort of imagining a ticket tracking system. A ticket is the problem we’re trying to address, and we keep track of who is taking action on it, and then what the results were.
What do you think?
Ann Marie, I like that reporting back option. we need to have a spot other than info@thenewagenda.net where we can report. some place everyone can look up.
you can set goals, we can brag and keep the ball rolling.
re Dr. Marcia Angell. I have not yet studied her background. but there are enough qualifications listed that she should get an interview. Daschle’s closeness to the health care industry made him such a top player but also caused his fall. Dr. Angell sounds much more critical. Interviews could clarify many questions and show that she would listen to a variety of interest groups.
How about Milkulski, the Senator from Maryland? I hear she would be real good.
Anne-Marie – great idea about reporting back!
KendallJ – is Mikulski a physician? Physicians right now are pretty peeved with the healthcare system and with insurance company underlings dictating how they should practice, what drugs they can prescribe, what diagnostic studies they can do. Many, many large issues I won’t go into here. IMO, we need a ‘clean’ physician to lead HHS, and i truly believe Marica Angell fits the bill beautifully, in many ways!
Add Marcia Angell, MD to that list. Bob the Builder turned me on to her in comments at my place, and she looks promising.
Bob’s comment. What he had to say:
Double-links sent my comment to moderation. Help!
I guess it doesn’t matter, since I think ER is Bob, and he posted the comment here as well. I liked what I read about Angell.
Obama,
Okay let’s get this right. One big mistake, Obama has been going after long-term “stars” in politics and when you do that you get people with a lot of long-standing ties to lobbyists, people who are arrogant and tend to think they deserve and have earned everything they have and people who are not hunger.
Obama, go find a woman, women (people), who aren’t necessary “stars” in the party but have a long-standing commitment to better government, high integrity, humility and pragmatic experience (not just high profile prior jobs).
Call this statement sexist, but I believe Obama would have had less of a problem with fulfilling his cabinet, if he would have simply appointed more women. My experience is that majority men, particularly in finance and politics, get pretty arrogant about their stature and simply believe their errors in judgment should be overlooked. With there tax and money problems, Geithner, Daschle, and Richardson should have never allowed their names to be placed in the hat for an appointment.
The New Agenda…thanks for your specific plans of actions and your work in outlining qualified women we can mention in our calls and letters.
YES! Thanks New Agenda.
Regarding Marcia Angell, MD for HHS Secretary: ER said
“Marcia is a woman of integrity. She is highly respected in medical circles. She has worked hard for ethics and scientific integrity, and writes frequently in professional journals and the popular media on a wide range of topics, particularly medical ethics, health policy, the nature of medical evidence, the interface of medicine and the law, and care at the end of life.”
I like the part where she writes for professional journals AND POPULAR MEDIA. It is important to be able to communicate with everyone, not just your credentialed colleagues. Also end of life care is an extremely important issue. Both my parents suffered long drawn out deaths and both had bogus, expensive medical procedures carried out on them anytime there was not a family member sitting by the bed advocating for their best interest. Although they were well insured we had to pay $16,000. cash up front to move them to a nursing home where procedures could not be performed so they could go in peace. End of life care is currently a racket that is unrelated to the needs of the dying.
question–since Daschle withdrew his nomination I’m seeing a number of media questioning the Geithner appointment, which makes me wonder–would this be a good time to send a press release asking some very specific, pointed questions about whether Sheila Bair was considered for treasury? questions like:
1. Does the Obama administration consider Sheila Bair to be one of “few” people with the qualifications to lead Treasury during a time of economic crisis?
2. If yes, was she considered for the position and was she vetted?
3. If Bair and Geithner are equally qualified, and Bair has no disqualifying ethics issues, might she be a better choice for Treasury at a time when confidence in government is so obviously low?
I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking about Anna Belle’s article, especially where she suggests we need to reconcile with other women’s groups. I know she’s right, but at the time I read her post I was thinking this was more likely to be possible after NOW elects a new president in the spring.
but this situation might provide an opportunity for us to come together with the other women’s groups. first, we’d be asking questions, not making assertions. second, both Geithner and Bair are considered to be moderate Republicans, so there are no partisan issues to prevent a joint press release on the matter of Treasury Secretary.
the timing is so good, with media and pols still questioning the merits of the Geithner appointment. seems like there’s an opportunity to get some traction.
Zee,
I am pandering??? Am I portraying my views to fit in line with TNA in attempting to impress? I am sorry that was the impact of my words; it was not my intent. I believe my comments and position have been consistent; at least consistency and objectivity have been my intent. What is yours?
I am stating the obvious??? I do not know, stating the obvious could be associated with anyone’s comments or opinion; again, sorry that the impact of my words had that affect on you.
I have already sent my Congresswoman and Senator an email regarding my belief in diversity, in particular, the need for inclusion and representation of women and minorities in the U.S. Congress. I also sent an email to the Obama administration asking who will ensure their Women’s Agenda http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/women/ is accomplished. I have not received a reply yet.
I hope my actions meet with your approval.
“second, both Geithner and Bair are considered to be moderate Republicans, so there are no partisan issues to prevent a joint press release on the matter of Treasury Secretary.”
That’s factually disputable — Bair is definitely a Republican, but Geithner’s more like a moderate Democrat. He only got political appointments under Clinton, and he left U.S. government for the CFR and IMF after Bush came into office. He’s registered as an independent and does not donate in federal elections. Bair has donated over $10k in federal elections, and only to Republican candidates. (You can look this up on fec.gov, searching for Bair, Sheila C.)
Also, I am trying to think of a prior instance of someone’s getting confirmed, and then being asked to resign for stuff that already was well known and that he was questioned about before the confirmation. Considering that Obama is getting called a “wimp” and that people are saying that Dems are weaker about standing behind their people than Republicans are (Christine Todd Whitman, for example, employed an undocumented worker and failed to pay taxes, yet had the support of the GOP in running for office and then in getting confirmed for the EPA), if Geithner goes, it will be because of his incompetence as Sec.Treas, not because of issues that were fully aired prior to his confirmation.
Imo Geithner and Killifer(sp?) are not disqualified by their tax problems, which are common errors. Daschle’s and Richardson’s problems involved money coming from very questionable sources — a very different sort of problem.
As to Bair being qualified for Treasury, she is already doing a fine job with FDIC. Moving her to Treasury puts both Treasury and FDIC in hands less experienced for those particular jobs. If FDIC works, don’t fix it.
ER – Great, great, great idea re: Dr. Angell for all of the reasons you stated. Thanks, as always, for not only coming up with great ideas, but for organizing actions in an easy-to-read-and-implement way. ((((((((((((ER))))))))))))))
Also, (sorry, not keeping track of names and scrolling up and down is giving me a headache) agree with the idea of not moving women around so much as bringing new women into the political fold.
Also, second, third, and forth the idea of having a place to keep track of what we’re doing, action wise. It will help TNA keep track of what members are doing and will also be inspiring. And, I know TNA is working on like a thousand things, but the sooner an Action Center can be organized (even if in rough draft form), the better. My head spins trying to keep track of stuff on the blog and find info I need after the fact, etc. I’ve offered many times to help with this, and am making yet another offer to help construct catgegories and sub-categories.
Kevin – I don’t think women with power will be any more immune to how power can corrupt. Likely just that so few women have held power for long enough for us to see the corruption unfold (though there are those who can’t stand the Clintons who would surely site many an outrageous claim about Hillary). sigh
fsteele – I think you raise an interesting point re: Bair.
Kay, excellent points…let’s follow through. There are plenty of people who are done with this double standard! Let’s challenge Geithner.
PG, you make valid points, but we should keep the pressure up for Obama to ask for the resignations of both Geithner and Favreau, because we need a pattern of his poor judgment to build on, as he will indubitably do even worse in the future.
Someone above said of Geithner: “He only got political appointments under Clinton, and he left U.S. government for the CFR and IMF after Bush came into office.”
This makes Geithner a Clinton 90s veteran — a veteran of the Clinton Treasury that healed the economy in the 90s, turning the biggest deficit into the biggest surplus. And makes him a very likely ally for Hillary in her efforts to heal the global economy.
So why, exactly, do we want to get rid of Geithner? What are the odds of a woman being appointed in his place? Perhaps Romer, an inexperienced Obama supporter from Berkelely — whom Obama appointed to some lower cabinet job as token woman earlier.
Kevin-
“With there tax and money problems, Geithner, Daschle, and Richardson should have never allowed their names to be placed in the hat for an appointment.”
You’re absolutely right! I wonder if it is arrogance that allows them to think they can slide in without anyone calling them on these kinds of things. They ought to be held to a higher standard than average citizens, rather than get special consideration and “slack” the people they are supposed to represent would never get.
I would not support Claire McCaskill , Kathleen Sebelius or Rosa DeLauro. They lack the qualifications necessary for the job. McCaskill is an embarrassment to the Democratic party.
fsteele,
I want Geithner removed because: 1) being a former ally of HRC shouldn’t be one of the top priorities for an appointment, 2) there are more deserving women, 3) he had worse tax problems than the people who have already resign, 4) he was of the Paulson crew who got us into this financial mess and 5) he comes across as a arrogant frat boy.
Thanks Anna, Anna belle, and All.
Anna belle, I fess up. I did post last night as Bob the Builder here and there. A little humor. I think it was Bob the Builder who first said “Yes We Can!” (for those who may not know, Bob the Builder is a favorite child’s toy and character).
Just trying to preserve my anonymity so i can keep my day job. BTW, I’m not a guy; I’m a woman and a feminist. I’m glad people saw the posts on Marcia Angel and hope they’ll take action!
kevin,
Geithner clearly had experience in the successful Clinton 90s Treasury — then left government instead of working for Bush/Paulson. He has replaced Paulson. Further delay may put the Paulson crew effectively in power for longer during a crucial time.
Geithner’s tax problems are similar to Killifer’s: accounting error. Daschle’s and Richardson’s problems are much more serious: the income itself is possibly pay-to-play.
T, Kevin, Thia, and fsteele – You all raise such great points that my head is spinning. T, I do tend to agree with you about McCaskill. I’m still trying to find it in me to move beyond her glib comment during the primaries about how “The Democratic party will be just find with our without Hillary Clinton.” So, here we go again, the complex issue of supporting women, addressing policies and values, fitting in, or not, our feelings about some who readily abandoned Clinton for the new kid on the block, etc.
I’m gonna let you all fight this one out and tell me when you reach a concensus! I’m too tired right now to think!
ER – As to additional ideas as to how to promote your brilliant suggestion re: HHS, I often contact the co-chairs of the Congressional Women’s Caucus on any and all issues that pertain to women.
fsteele,
I thought Geithner’s tax were worse
From what I read not only did Geithner neglect to pay his taxes, he accepted payments from his employer for the very purpose of offsetting those taxes. When he took the money, he signed a statement promising to pay the taxes and then ignored his obligations—for years. Protected by a statute of limitations, he did not pay his 2001–02 taxes until his nomination made them a public issue.
Geithner lacks integrity – he is an arrogant frat boy, who believes he is indispensable; he also tried to fire Bair – the person who should have gotten the job.
Zee,
“we need a pattern of his poor judgment to build on, as he will indubitably do even worse in the future.”
I’m not in this with the hope that Obama will “do even worse”; I criticize when he is wrong and support when he is trying to do right. If Geithner is bad at his job as Sec.Treas, he should step down. Otherwise, the time to get rid of him for his tax issues was before he was confirmed and sworn in. Have you thought about the effect it will have on confidence in U.S. markets if we’re going back and forth about whether we actually have a Sec.Treas? If you believe that Geithner will fail to do anything about our economic problems, then call for him to resign for *that* and be replaced by someone you believe can do better. I can find 50 people who have worked a simple wage job for 20 years and have no tax complications if that’s the most important qualification for the job.
Kevin,
Not being a tax expert, I assume the IRS had a reason to hit Daschle with penalties but not Geithner. They’re both well-off, well-connected white males, so it’s not like there’s going to be a sexual, racial or socioeconomic bias (as opposed to trying to compare penalties for drug crimes as a way to evaluate how bad the crime was). Killifer’s problem was that her tax deficiency was identified, yet she didn’t pay it until the city imposed a lien on her house. It’s not good to ignore letters from the government, if for no reason other than that it kills plausible deniability. You can’t say, “I didn’t realize I owed the money” when the city has sent you a letter saying, “You owe this money.”
Re: Geithner’s lack of integrity, I’m not quite clear on how “arrogant frat boy” or “believes he is indispensable” provides support for that claim. As for the claim that “he also tried to fire Bair,” that seems to be based entirely on rumors from unnamed sources, which is not something I’m going to hang the guy on. Neither he nor Bair has said anything like that happened.
kevin,
Geithner owed iirc $13,000 which is worse than Killifer’s c. $900. Both are mistakes often made honestly and do not involve receiving money from dubious third parties.
Daschle owed over $100,000 from income and gifts from people he should be regulating; anyone knows that should have been reported, whether as income or as gifts. Richardson is under investigation for pay to play.
Moving Bair would unstabilize both departments.
fsteele and PG, obviously Geithner should not step down, or resign, now that he is confirmed.
If not paying your taxes when you can easily afford to pay them and only paying because you want to be confirmed doesn’t show a lack of integrity and arrogance which makes one unfit for a job in the Treasury, I guess integrity and humility don’t count for much.
Kevin, I agree with you and that’s not a knock on anyone here. The entire country is being forced to swallow a line of baloney on Geithner. I’m glad the President owned the problem on Tom Daschle, but Geithner getting through was just more of same old, same old in Washington.
Another HHS idea:
Betsy McCaughey
Former Lt Gov of NY, now ED of RID (Reduce Infection Death)
A real powerhouse. Read about her here:
http://hospitalinfection.org/
Click on “Who is Besy McCaughey?”
So why can’t we ask that he resign?
By that I mean, Geithner should resign in the interest of integrity, honesty, transparency, etc that Obama has stated he would uphold in his administration. It worked with Daschle’s resignation.
Even if Geithner is confirmed, why can’t there still be a resignation, in the ‘public’s and administrations best interests’ etc. We’re talking about respect of the American people and requiring values and integrity in our public officials. Daschle’s resignation was a start. We could push further.
Just my 2 cents.
Kevin and KayJL,
Both of you seem to be taking the position that Geithner was consciously aware that he owed the taxes while he was working for the International Monetary Fund, and did not pay them in the arrogant assumption that he wouldn’t get caught. The IRS didn’t prosecute him for tax fraud; the Service even waived penalties on the taxes and interest that he paid ($17,230). The IRS did assess penalties on Daschle, an indication that they found his omission to be culpable.
Now, I think it’s possibly somewhat stupid and irresponsible not to pay attention when you’re starting a job and get the 1000-page stack of papers about diversity policies, life insurance, health insurance, dress code, direct-deposit, 401K etc., to miss the form that says you’re responsible for paying payroll taxes. But since the IRS has all the facts and chose not to treat Geithner’s failure to pay payroll taxes as culpable, I’m not going to assume that Geithner must have failed to pay those taxes with the conscious, deliberate calculation that he wouldn’t get caught.
ER,
Daschle didn’t resign; he withdrew from the nomination when it became clear that he might not get confirmed. That’s completely different from a resignation by a Cabinet officer who has been duly confirmed by the Senate (60-34, which means at least a couple Republicans crossed over). There’s also a big difference between not having a Secretary of Health and Human Services for a couple months, and not having a Secretary of the Treasury at a time when there’s a global crisis of confidence in the U.S. financial markets.
I realize that some people see this as just another downturn in the business cycle that’s a feature of capitalism. But I am not aware of the kind of freeze in credit we’re seeing now, which cripples start-ups and many existing businesses’ ability to operate, since the Depression. Even in the biggest prior downturn of my lifetime (the correction to stagflation of the first couple years of the Reagan Administration), the problem was unemployment, not the flow of money.
In such a situation, I really can’t take lightly the prospect of forcing out the confirmed, in-office-doing-his-job Sec.Treas unless he shows that he’s making the problem worse, not better. If there were something about his tax issues that created distrust in the markets, I’d agree that those issues would be a valid reason for him to resign. Do you have any indication that they are? If not, let him do the job he was confirmed to do.
ER,
While Geithner should have never been confirmed, I think him resigning now only creates chaos in the country that is not needed when we are on the edge of a depression, not just a recession. My guess is that the markets would crash, if Geithner resigned now.
Obama’s mistake (and he has done a lot of things I applaud and to which I agree) is:
- Create a high bar for integrity and transparency and then
- Made too many exceptions with respect to that bar.
For example, if your are pushing bipartisanship, you cannot allow the House Democrats to exclude the House Republicans in crafting the Stimulus bill. He set a standard, then made an exception and now the Republicans are teaching him a lesson in humility and politics. He commented the same error with respect to his cabinet selections who have tax and, or lobbyist concerns.
His exceptions either illustrate naivety or arrogance. I hope its naivety. If it is arrogance, may be the hard lesson he is learning now with respect to passing the Stimulus and getting his appointments through, will teach him some humility such that he better serves the country.
Kevin – With a bit of tweaking your most recent comment would make a great letter to the editor. I hope you will consider adapting it and submitting it as such.
Just saw this on the PUMApac blog:
HILDA SOLIS
Today a Senate committee is going to vote on the nomination of Obama’s labor secretary, California Democrat Rep. Hilda Solis. As of right now, her nomination is being blocked in the Senate.
The Nominee Who Lobbied Herself
Hilda Solis’s breach of House ethics rules may disqualify her from serving.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....1mswgc.asp
Anna,
I will review the other letters and make some tweaking.
I also saw this regarding Solis:
Husband of Rep. Solis, Labor nominee, settles tax liens
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....axes_N.htm
How could the husband let a tax lien stand for 16 years if his wife is a Congresswomen?
I am starting to firming believe that Obama had his mind made up on the people he wanted (Dashle and Solis are definitely professional qualified for the position to which they were nominated) and thought they would fly regardless of what was learned about them through the vetting process.
Even Mickey Kaus, who hates card-check and therefore is Solis’s natural enemy, thought that objection by the Weekly Standard and National Review was silly.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blo.....e-you.aspx
PG and Kevin, I see your points, and agree, given the serious financial mess this country is in.
Kevin, your assessment of what’s happened with Obama is great:
Leads to people’s hopes being let down.
I disagree with a few of the aforementioned potential women. I think J. Granholm has all but destroyed her state. The education system is severely lacking. The illiteracy rate is astounding. The economy of MI is suffering severely and that was prior to the automakers financial dilemma.
A. Klobuchar has not been in the senate all that long.
Claire McCaskill was Obama’s puppet during the election. Her opposition to Hillary incensed many.
I also feel that if he is truly reaching across the aisle, he ought to consider Republican or 3rd party female candidates for consideration as well.
Well, just my 2 cents.
PG,
I agree. Also, Geithner was told by two different accountants that he didn’t owe anything.
Anna, if you’re around, with your scientific mind, maybe you should outline a study taking random people who might be qualified for these positions and find out how many if any of them have NOT made some tax mistakes in the last couple of decades. Maybe the reason Obama’s nominees keep failing this test, is because NO ONE can pass it — once they have so many income sources things get so complex that errors are bound to happen. And those who can hire nannies — how many nannies are out there who never make mistakes on their immigration papers? If they were that sophisticated, they wouldn’t be nannies.
I blame the IRS and the Immigration service for having such crazy, complex rules. Maybe Geithner, having been stung, will reform those rules.
Here’s the latest story I’ve found re: HHS post. It places Sebelius at the top of the list:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....s_sebelius
fsteele – Just saw your post. Funny, I was wondering if YOU would want to conduct a study with YOUR scientific mind!
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