Obama Administration Job Application Requests Info On Embarrassing Emails

New York Times:

Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.

A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive -- some say invasive -- application ever.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[mapale]

Verifying all this information will be an HR executive's worst nightmare. Good luck.

[Restoration]

Here's how Obama himself may have responded:
http://falseflagrag.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/obamas-application-to-a-post-in-his-administration/

[ivillage]

`Cosby' Equals Obama Election? Cosby Mulls It Over: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/11/cosby-equals-obama-election-cosby-mulls-it-over.html

[lvdragonlady]

Applications for government service are lengthy and have always asked most of what is listed in this article, except for the references to the technology section and depending where you are trying to get hired, they check everything and always have. This questionaire is similar to one for a TS, so the man is just covering all his bases and there is nothing wrong with that.
After all the BS during the campaign, this is a very very smart move.

[SirRealDeal]

One can see the need for this type of scrutiny by reading the conservative attacks on Obama for doing this that are showing up in this thread. The current microscopic investigation of every detail of every public figure demands this type of vetting.
Need it be pointed out how the media dug into the past of Palin, and Joe the Plumber. Remember the article in Rolling Stone about McCain's past. How often is Biden's use of the unattribute quote from two decades ago brought up. The conservative media dug up everything they could to use against Clinton and his administration. The Whitewater investigation became nothing more than a fishing expedition.
By knowing these types of details in advance, the Obama admin can be prepared rather than surprised by, dare I say it, gotcha revelations.

[nycelite]

The part where you have to list all the aliases or handles you've ever used on the internet would completely stump me. It's not a matter of the content of any posts I've made, since I would stand behind those on or offline, it's just the quantity. I make up usernames randomly. The one I'm using here is just because I found the Mccain Palin NYC elitist comments so darn funny. But when I get bored with Huffpo and stop posting, am I going to remember my username - no.

All in all I think asking questions up front is a good thing. I don't get the sense that people will be disqualified for having a past, but it is good to know about their past. Maybe the GOP will finally get the message that innuendo isn't good enough anymore.

[SeattleCharles]

Good luck to Obama in finding a single who has never sent an embarrassing email. John McCain, maybe? I guess we are going to end up with an administration of puritanical dweebs, with no juice. What a crock of sh**! Obama's election notwithstanding, there may be cause to leave the country yet (and no, I am not embarrassed by this post; I will never have a part in my government, obviously).

[ckfan]

LEAVE. PLEASE. GET OUT.

[VeroucaSalt]

If the applicants have done anything embarassing in their past, now's the time to own it! Humility is what was replaced by hubris in the last couple of administrations.

[iamnumba1]

I really don't see the problem. The man is extremely smart. Period.

[psbintl]

I agree!

This is what true vetting is supposed to be!

[psch]

He's most probably doing the right thing by thoroughly vetting people, but it's a balancing act. I wonder if it deters those who should actually apply for the jobs, but because of their humility will be very critical of themselves and not apply, because they themself think they do not meet those high standards. My worry is that the bullies with big egos and a lot of arrogance will apply for the jobs, because they have no qualms about skipping some information and hoping that no one finds out.

[murly]

Sadly, this kind of intense scrutiny has become a necessity in this age of overbearing media interest and Internet networks that spread rumors faster than the speed of sound. These days every single tiny thing public people have ever done or said in their entire lives suddenly becomes a way to sell newspapers and get TV ratings. Obviously the Obama camp is trying to avoid unpleasant surprises.

I'm all for vetting, but it's too bad that everything has to be examined so closely that people are not allowed mistakes. I don't blame Obama; he is just doing what has to be done to survive in this political climate. It's as if the whole world is just waiting to pounce.

[SeattleCharles]

Hopefully, the purge will soon end. Once everybody's secrets are fully laid bare (perhaps through constitutionally mandated posting of nude photos), then we will be beyond the destructiveness of shame and simply judge people on their merits, warts and all. After all, it's very, very hard to find a hard-driving person without vices (even things that the person himself might not consider a vice). People come as a whole package, not as idealized drones.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Wow! These are going to be the most boring Senate Confirmation Hearings ever! I love it.

[VeroucaSalt]

As it should be.

[glas672]

Paranoid? Schizo? Or just Egotistical?

Obama would not be qualifiy to work in himself.

[amistad]

You seem to be paranoid, schizo and egotistical.
Obama is doing the right thing here and you are too ign0rant to know it.
If the repubs had done the same thing palin would not have been a vp candidate, the bush administration may have been better for it.
Also: Obama cannot afford a slip up or a slip in judgement because of people like you who b*tch about every little thing that he does. Obama is brilliant; he refuses to give people like you much to b*tch about.
Don't hate the player, hate the game....

[glas672]

Wow! I'd look in the mirror before I call someone ignorant.

I think it's just hypocracy when Obama did everything he could to deny any and all questionable friendships, and distance himself from his church, but now he has such high standard.

Of course you don't hate GWB, you just hate the game right?

[cabledave]

Of course you would like him to do what Bush/Palin have done.

Hire unqualified friends and high school buddies.

You don't think that's why we are in today's financial mess, do you?

Of course not.

You still think Bush is doing a great job.

[SurrealPumpkin]

The application says nothing about disqualifications, it's just a heads up for potential difficulties.

[ckfan]

Isn't it time for you to get your unemployment check?

[eggman]

For instance, if you wrote a book where you admitted to using cocaine.

[amistad]

Yes. he admitted that when bush won't even disclose that information and refuses to even answer the question. The brother cannot win for losing with people like you.
It shows that Obama has b@lls to tell the truth when little boy bush lies and denies....­bush even has a DUI (and both daughers have DUI's)but somehow he is a hero?

[tbsykesopinion]

I got your back.....k­eep ripping them a new one!!

[SurrealPumpkin]

Now consider how much more harmful that would have been if the Republicans had dug that nugget up on their own and thrown it at him during the campaign, say in conjunction with the Bill Ayers attacks. It was a non story because Obama was upfront about it.

[wantthetruth]

Will this apply to the future compulsory service? Or just cabinet positions?

[Quaoar]

A lot of these questions are the same asked of cabinet-level applicants or employees needing a security clearance, although the ones about e-mails and internet handles are new. Rank and file government employees usually have background checks including checking references and criminal/academic records and getting fingerprints but they're not as thorough.

It's politically unlikely that any compulsory government service would happen any time in the near future, no matter what the tinfoil and black helicopter crowd thinks.