‘Whatever Happened to Vetting?’
by Aaron Goldstein (2/4/09)
One of the biggest watchwords of this past political season, apart from hope and change, was vetting.
Vetting (or vetted as it was sometimes called) was a very popular word with the liberal media especially where it concerned the likes of Sarah Palin or even a private citizen like Joe the Plumber who dared to ask St. Barack a question.
But once Obama was elected President the word seemed to disappear without a trace. It could be said that all vets were off.
We are a fortnight into the Obama Administration and not one, not two but three of his cabinet appointments have withdrawn their nominations.
Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration for Secretary of Commerce on January 4th because of an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into pay to play allegations in his capacity as Governor of New Mexico. Obama has a since appointed New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican, to fill the post.
Nearly one month later on February 3rd, Obama lost two cabinet picks in a single day. First, Nancy Killefer withdrew her nomination as Chief Performance Officer, a new cabinet position created by Obama under the auspices of the Office of Management and Budget to reform government operations and to eliminate wasteful spending in the federal budget. Unfortunately, it was disclosed that Killefer had a $900 lien against her home for failure to pay state unemployment taxes for household help in 2005. Talk about not keeping one’s own house in order.
Later that day, former Senate Majority Leader and top Obama adviser Tom Daschle withdrew his name from consideration as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Last weekend, it was revealed that Daschle had not paid until last month approximately $140,000 in taxes going back to 2005. Daschle did not disclose over $80,000 in income earned as a consultant for InterMedia Partners in 2007. Nor did Daschle report the use of a limousine and chauffeur provided to him by InterMedia Partners founder Leo Hindery. It is worth noting that Daschle himself thought it might be an issue as early as June 2008.
Another Obama appointee, Timothy Geithner, also had a tax problem although this did not prevent him from being confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner had failed to pay $35,000 in self-employment taxes going back to 2001. But in light of the fate that has befallen Killefer and Daschle one wonders if there will be calls on Geithner to resign. After all, Geithner has now been put in charge of overseeing the IRS.
If all of this had transpired under the Bush Administration we would have never heard the end of it. During his eight years in office, only two cabinet nominees withdrew their nominations (Linda Chavez as Secretary of Labor in Bush’s first term and Bernard Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security in Bush’s second term.) But only two weeks into this “new era of responsibility” three of Obama’s nominations have been compelled to withdraw and a fourth could be compelled to resign because of financial improprieties. This ought to raise eyebrows but will likely illicit only yawns from the liberal media.
One can take Richardson, Killefer, Daschle and for that matter Geithner to task for their lack of diligence. The liberal media can also be taken to task for being more interested in the White House dog than picking a bone with the President. All of these events were set into motion by one man: Barack Obama. It was Obama’s decision to appoint these people to cabinet level positions. It was Obama’s responsibility to undertake a proper vetting. For crying out loud, Daschle was one of the national co-chairman of his Presidential campaign. Obama has a duty to vet the red flags, investigate and exercise judgment.
Was Obama unaware the grand jury investigation against Richardson was launched last August? Did Obama not ask Killefer to submit her tax returns? If Daschle knew his car service might be a problem why didn’t Obama? It is clear Obama did not properly vet at least three of his appointments. As such it calls Obama’s judgment into question. Perhaps John McCain was right about Obama’s lack of judgment all along.
Then again what do you expect from someone who sat in the pews of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church for twenty years? If Barack Obama can’t properly vet who baptizes his children what makes anyone think he will properly vet the people who sit in his Cabinet?
Aaron Goldstein
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