During his two-year campaign for the office of the presidency, Barack Hussein Obama consistently and continually promised his supporters that he would change the culture of Washington and eliminate “Wasteful Washington Spending.” He said, “Do you understand that in this election the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old policies with the same old players, and expect a different result? The change we need doesn’t come from Washington, it comes to Washington.”
How well has he done so far in keeping his promises of Change?
Obama’s original choice for Secretary of Commerce was Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico who had also been running for the Democrat presidential nomination. Prior to being elected governor, Richardson served in the administration of Bill Clinton as Ambassador to the United Nations and as Energy Secretary. Prior to that he was a U.S. Representative from New Mexico On January 6, 2009, Richardson withdrew his name from consideration when it became known that he was under Federal investigation for the way he had conducted state business with a California company. On February 4, Obama nominated Senator Judd Gregg, R-NH. Bringing a senate Republican to the slate has the benefit of removing his influence from the Republican caucus along with making Obama seem more bipartisan.
Leon Panetta, who had served as Chief of Staff to then-president Bill Clinton from 1998-2001, was tapped by Obama to serve as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Fans of UFO's are ecstatic at the nomination, but Panetta has no experience whatsoever with the intelligence community or counterterrorism. Even Senate Democrats are expressing dismay at this selection.
Eric Holder, who as Deputy AG advised then-President Bill Clinton on his last day in office to grant a pardon to fugitive Marc Rich, was appointed by Obama to serve as Attorney General. Holder admitted to a ”lapse of judgment” in the advice he gave to Clinton,
Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated by Obama and later approved by the Senate to be Secretary of State. As such, she will interact with heads of state around the world. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, has been accepting donations from all manner of powerful leaders in countries around the world; will Ms. Clinton have baggage and obligations to them? She has definitely benefitted financially from their donations.
Timothy Geithner was nominated by Obama to be the Secretary of the Treasury. As such, he would be in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, the government organ charged with collecting income taxes. As events progressed, Geithner was found to have not paid $43,000 in back taxes and penalties. The Senate subsequently approved Geithner’s nomination, saying that the position was too important, and that Geithner was too well-qualified to not be seated. But what kind of change is it to have a man in charge of collecting the taxes of other citizens, who ignores his own tax obligations?
Tom Daschle, Senator from South Dakota from 1986-2004, was nominated by Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. After Daschle had left the Senate, he stayed in Washington working as a consultant and lobbyist. Many of the businesses he lobbied were in the health care industry. Like Geithner, Daschle was found to have been delinquent in paying his taxes. He paid over $140,000 in back taxes and interest, reportedly still owes more. On February 3, he withdrew his name, citing his desire not to be a distraction to the President.
Obama had named Nancy Killifer to be a new post in his administration, that of Chief Performance Officer. She withdrew her name shortly before Daschle, citing unspecified tax problems. Her new post was established to “scrub the federal budget.”
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