"If You Leak, You're Gone": Obama Transition Team

Marc Ambinder reports on the Obama team's somewhat unsuccessful attempt to run a tight ship:

Several Obama transition staffers have put a version of that quotation in transition co-chief John Podesta's mouth.

Many of the major staff appointments so far - Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, Greg Craig as White House counsel, the fact of the Clinton meeting, along with details about internal thinking on Gitmo and other subjects - have escaped whatever barriers the Obama team has set in place.

Every transition staffer and adviser has signed a non-disclosure agreement, and staff members are regularly warned by their superiors not to talk to the press.

My guess is that the sheer size of the universe that Obama's now dealing with - huge agency teams, reams of outside advisers being asked for their opinions - renders silence virtually impossible.

Read more about Obama's transition team here.

Comments

[anopenmind]

If you leak you're gone, he should make an example of one of the leaker's and make who it is public!

[JohnnyKay]

Then I hope it's Hillary.

[FirstShirt]

Leaks. Hopefully it won't happen in the Obama presidency. it doesn't do the country any favors.

[kgb999]

Aren't leaks the only way we found out about domestic wiretaps and a host of other Bush malfeasance?

I would argue those disclosures were huge favors to the country. What do you base your assertion on?

[rollingdivision]

Progressives hate Bush, so the evaluation criteria is evolving Bush is singular, is this bad for Bush?

[1ladybug]

Keep bringing on Clinton people who's number one loyalty is to the Clinton's not the President Elect and some of whom still feel Hillary should be the President not Barack then you will get leaks, strife, and chaios.

[winnie47]

The Clinton peoples' #1 loyalty is to themselves, and their own careers. If they have to climb over someone's bleeding body to get ahead, so be it.

[kgb999]

Bingo!

[Angelic11]

Besides, we need to leave all the democratic senators in place to keep a strong majority!

[davidly]

Maybe all the cabinet posts should go to Republican Senators from states with Democratic governors;-)

[winnie47]

Sounds like a plan!

[kgb999]

Awesome! I wonder what the GOP would do?

[RobertAndropolis]

"If you leak, you're gone." (Several Obama transition staffers have put a version of that quotation in transition co-chief John Podesta's mouth).

Um...isn't THAT a leak? What are you guys, high school? I saw Rahm Emanuel on Charlie Rose with his two high-achieving brothers. It was taped last summer I think. Rahm said as an undergrad he narrowed his choice of major down to Poli Sci and Child Psychology. He has since realized they are virtually the same.

[JMBrodie]

OBAMA’S potential picks (Revised) – Who would you select?

Secretary of the State:
• Hillary Clinton (dark horse Bill Richardson)

Secretary of the Treasury:
• Paul Volcker (dark horse Paul Krugman)

Secretary of Defense:
• Chuck Hagel

Attorney General:
• Eric Holder

Secretary of Homeland Security:
• Richard Clarke

National Security Adviser:
• Susan Rice

Secretary of Agriculture:
• Jim Leach

Secretary of Commerce:
• Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Education:
• Inez Tenenbaum (dark horse Bill Richardson)

Secretary of Energy:
• Jeff Bingaman

Secretary of Health & Human Services:
• Howard Dean or Bill Frist

Secretary of Housing & Urban Development:
• Shirley Franklin

Secretary of the Interior:
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Secretary of Labor:
• Andy Stern

Secretary of Transportation:
• Ed Rendell

Secretary of Veterans' Affairs:
• Tammy Duckworth

United Nations Ambassador:
• Caroline Kennedy

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency:
• Kathleen McGinty

Council of Economic Advisers:
• Austan Goolsbee

Supreme Court Nominee(s) – pick two:
• Cass Sunstein, Legal scholar and Professor at the University of Chicago Law School
• Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, comprising of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont

[myangeldog1]

I like Hagel in the Sec. Defense position and I'd like to see a new generation of Kennedys in the picture, I also like Tammy Duckworth for Veterans affairs.

[mukTech]

Not Susan Rice for NSA. Nooooooooooo!!!!

I am from Dem. Rep. of Congo. During Susan Rice's tenure are Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, she aggressively pushed for that country to be divided into smaller "more governable[sic]" countries.

If it wasn't for the people of Congo wanting their country to be ONE, today we would have multiple civil wars in the heart of Africa.

Now, as NSA Susan Rice will continue with her plan to divide my beautiful country now that she will have more power and access to President Obama.

Noooooooooooooo, not Susan Rice, please!!

[JMBrodie]

Was she really that bad? Would like to hear more.

[Angelic11]

The Clinton's leaked it;


Thier POINT...to try to force Obama's hand in choosing her. It's their pattern.

Rememeber how they "hinted, sent folk and leaked" information about her becoming the Vice President.

[Grunty1]

If so, then I really hope Obama sticks his guns on the phrase the article is based on!

[JBL55]

Absolutely. That was clear from the get-go. Strategic leaks are SOP for HRC staffers, and that alone should help persuade Obama (if he isn't already) that, while it was "nice" to vet HRC for the position and probably made a lot of her fans happy, she is not the right person for SoS.

[Myshkin57]

I actually doubt it because, if they did leak it, then they would have given Obama an easy way out of picking her. He could easily say, he's not going to deal with the old-style politics and be done with it. I'm pretty sure he leaked it to force Bill's hand and make him give up his private ventures.

[Tom Joad]

I can't believe Bill will give up his business for HRC's sake. He's never done that before. Why now? That will be the show stopper and everyone can disengage gracefully.

[kgb999]

Get a Ferraro or Wolfson to do it and all of a sudden it's not even Clinton's fault. They are the masters of plausible deniability.

[Angelic11]

If that is so...Obama is even more brilliant than even I ever thought ...

But if Bill gives up his ventures ('hobbies' for millionaires) what would he ever do with all that extra time?

Oh.

[johnnynyc]

8 degree wind chill factor in Chicago today.

[myangeldog1]

Ugh....I'm so not ready for winter!

[Angelic11]

Govenor Palin, is that you?

[Angelic11]

...literally and figuratively.

[Myshkin57]

But it was wonderful on election night. I think it was a record high on November 4th in Chicago.

[Shieldmaiden]

Part of me thinks the leaks - intentional or otherwise - are a good think. More transparency. That way we can talk about what our government is doing because we actually KNOW what it is up to.

[CostaDelBarto]

I agree more transparency in government is often needed. But you do know, right that he's not president yet.

If you want to know what your govt is doing you should look for leaks from the Whitehouse not the office of the president elect. Obama will need to keep his deliberations private while making job offers. That's just common sense.

When you want to apply for a new job, or hire someone for a new job... you have to understand that discretion is really important. If I offer a job to someone and they turn me down, I don't tell that to the next person on my list. I prefer them not to know they were a second choice when they start working for me.

It's common sense to be discrete in ordinary workplaces and it's no different in high politics. The leaks stand to cause trouble when it comes to offering appointments. Obama cannot permit loose talk to perpetuate and he has to come down on it.

[winnie47]

Why do we need transparency on this mindless drivel? This has ZERO to do with policy. And who says any of it is true? Most leaks come from low level operatives with an agenda, and no real clue what the f**k is going on. They are distraction, not fact. If all you want mindless gossip, go watch "EXTRA!" or "Entertainment Tonight".

[Abo]

Except it isn't about transparency it is about creating the momentum of inevitability as leverage.

[benne]

Good move, Obama! It's time to dismiss someone right now before more of this criticism gets out.

[winnie47]

WTF? Criticism? We're talking about naming people to cabinet positions, professor!

[ElBruce]

They've been tighter than any other group in Washington in my memory. We didn't hear about Rahm until it was offered to him, which means we heard about it from his side. We didn't hear about Hillary until he extended an informal offer, which means we heard about it from her side. Everything else we've heard has been "talk" coming from the usual group of so-called "Washington insiders" who don't actually know any more about the transition team's progress than you or I.

[drec1500Madrid]

A couple of very public dismissals of one or two blabbermouths may put a stop to the shenanigans, but probably not...this is Washington after all...and the players act like 2nd graders 90% of the time.

They need to watch The Godfather a few times to see how to plug those leaks..."Leave the gun....take the cannolis..."

[IgIzBliss]

Luca Brazzi--sleeps with the fishes!

[winnie47]

Anybody finds a horse head in their bed,yet,lol?

[gladys46]

So Lieberman keeps his chair seatS !!!

[myangeldog1]

Keep your friends close.........!!

[OregonMaggie]

First of all - let's remember he's telling the TRANSITION TEAM, not his ADMINISTRATION, to stop leaking information to the press. He's likely in high level negotiations with a number of people, and he doesn't need pipsqueak team members blabbing his plans and strategies to the press vultures. Let's give our PE some respect and hav faith. He promised a transparent government. HE DOESN'T HAVE THE GOVERNMENT PART SET UP YET BECAUSE HE'S NOT THE PREZ YET. Part of why he ran such a successful campaign is that the campaign held their cards close to the vest; hopefully the transition team yahoos can get that through their heads!

[winnie47]

Thank you for stating the obvious to the obtuse.

[OregonMaggie]

Winnie47 - isn't that the truth. In the TWO weeks Obama has been President Elect - YES IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO WEEKS, there have been so many negative comments on here about every little decision - give the guy a BREAK. He HAS HIS REASONS for doing what he is doing. All the supreme, all knowing bloggers on here who criticize - and believe me, everyone including me puts their two cents worth in, when in reality, none of us have any clue about what is going on in that amazingly sharp mind of Obama's. It's all supposition. Hindsight is always 20/20, and after the campaign, looking back, EVERYONE realized what a brilliant strategist our PE is. The truth with out, and again we will look back say "He was right all along."

[hamchunk]

Blind obedience and faith in either a Republican or Democratic Administration is a bad thing. That is what got the US in the global mess we are in now.

[rollingdivision]

Secrecy, good for President elect's adminstration, bad if Bush.

[PatA]

The press will do anything within their power to swear the President-Elect.
Get your panties out of a wad and work on your own stuff. He knows what
he is doing. All I have to do is see that smirk on Bush's face and I am
more grateful than children on Christmas morning!

[gladys46]

Ditto !

[GenieG]

LOL AMEN ... Pat

He is quite capable. I have alot of trust for Obama

[kgb999]

With HRC @ state and Lieberman chairing Homeland Security ... on what are you basing your trust?

That seems like some serious clusterfuckery to me - two people who oppose his vision put in key positions with the ability to keep it from coming to pass. If we wanted triangulation and betrayal we could have elected Hillary or Lieberman directly.

Obama proved the ability to run a campaign - what has he done to earn our trust in running the nation? I'm willing to give him a shot ... but he's done nothing to deserve our trust yet. He promised transparency. If he doesn't deliver it, he's a liar. Better to figure that out sooner than later.

[javagirl322]

ditto...again.