One of the first signals I picked up on regarding the coming savagery of the Bush administration was the newly minted president's tendency to put people in charge of departments and administations that they had spent large portions of their careers working against. The examples are many. Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, was sworn in as the head of the Forestry Service soon after 9/11. Prior to his time as head of the USFS, Rey was known mainly for lobbying to kill environmental standards and enforce mandatory logging of forests.
Then there's Mike Leavitt, who replaced Christine Todd Whitman as Bush's EPA Administrator and then became Secretary of Health and Human Services. Prior to his alleged pro-environment and pro-health positions, Leavitt had served as the governor of Utah, where he allowed US Magnesium to pump out 42 million tons of chlorine each and every year -- nine times the amount of any other state. When he refused to do anything about the toxic chemicals, the EPA stepped in and, in a $900 million lawsuit, forced US Magnesium to clean up its act. So, naturally, Bush put Leavitt in charge of the very administration that had shamed him in his time as governor.
And don't forget about Paul Hoffman, the Deputy Secretary of the Interior in charge of fish and wildlife and parks, who had formerly worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in his attempts to open the parks to more drilling and mining.
What about former mining-industry lobbyist Gale Norton, Bush's choice for Secretary of the Interior, who once argued that corporations have a "right to pollute"?
And who could forget the you'll-laugh-unless-you-cry appointment of former coal-mining executive David Lauriski as head of Bush's Mine Safety and Health Administration? Lauriski bragged to mining-company colleagues about the brevity of his agenda at the MSHA and wanted to cut the number of mine inspectors by 25 percent.
Hey, better mention J. Stephen Griles, the Deputy Secretary of the Interior who was that department's chief representative at Dick Cheney's energy task force. Prior to his time at Interior, Griles was a coal-mining lobbyist. After his time at Interior, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison, caught up in the Abramoff scandal.
And a lot of you folks probably remember John "I Am The Walrus" Bolton, who spoke out early and often against the United Nations and was then, natch, named as ambassador to the United Nations.
One last example, which should bring us up to speed with Gregg. Bush appointed Sen. Spencer Abraham, lately kicked out of office in Michigan by current senator Debbie Stabenow, to run his Department of Energy in 2004. While in the Senate, Abraham had co-sponsored senate bill S.896, which would have abolished the Department of Energy.
So now, you probably see where I'm going with this. Knowing everything that I know about Bush's appointments, blood practically shot out of my eyes when I read that President Obama had named Sen. Judd Gregg, a man who in 1995 voted to abolish the Department of Commerce, to run the Department of Commerce.
So, far from wringing my hands over a failed attempt at bipartisanship, I'm popping open the champagne this morning. Gregg was a phenomenally bad choice to run Commerce. The news of Obama's decision to name Gregg wafted in with the foul, acrid stench of the last eight years. The president, after this and the rancor over the stimulus bill, should accept that bipartisanship is merely a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. When a commitment to bipartisanship creates more problems than it solves, it should be abandoned posthaste. So celebrate with me, ace! Gregg's decision to withdraw from consideration for the post of Secretary of Commerce only corrects a very flawed and cancerous presence in Obama's cabinet. All that remains now is for Obama to avoid repeating the mistake, as Bush failed to do time and again.
But then again, in Bush's case, these weren't mistakes.
The Rebublicans, who always seem to cry and whine about "partisanship," have shown that their boat has gotten so small that there is little distinction left between partisanship and their ideology. That is why they have only been able willing to attack the stimulus plan rather than offering viable alternatives or genuine improvements.
The Republican leadership is fooling itself when claiming they are returning to their core values, e.g being concerne about the ballooning deficit. Those values were nowhere to be seen when they were in control of all three branches of government, so they now look nothing more than obstructionist in the current context of things.
I say, give 'em enough rope Obama. I hope they figure this out and work in a bipartisan manner, because I think that would ultimately result in better legislation being passed. But if the Republicans are too ideologically pure to figure this one out pragmatically, they will be in pure isolationin 2010, and that is fine with me too.
His whole story has changed in a few days. I guess the big brains of the republican party decided to have a talk with him. I think they are just upset because they can't control the results of next years census for their redistricting anymore.
Its just pathetic the way that party is playing political games while people are losing everything. Now that he's back in the senate he'll have to answer to his angry constituents about his inaction.
First off, crazy-awesome screen name. But as far as Gregg answering to the voters, I think one of the reasons he was at all willing to hop into the Obama administration was to avoid just that in the first place. More than any place else in the country, New Hampshire has seen a shocking, tsunami-like change in its voter preferences in the last couple election cycles. The state has gone from New England's nominal red state to almost entirely blue within just the 2006 and 2008 elections. Gregg, the last major elected Republican from New Hampshire standing, was next on the chopping block. He's up for re-election in 2010, and up-and-coming Democrats like Paul Hodes were already nipping at his heels. In light of that, Gregg had already said he probably wouldn't run for re-election.
You want to get back to the Clinton years right?
Well if that's what you want I suggest you start canvassing your neighborhood now to convince people to vote Republican in the 2010 midterm elections.
After all, all the success that Clinton had came after 1994 when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took back both houses of Congress. Then they just did stupid things you know like balancing the budget.
Finally, how is reversing all the welfare reform that Clinton enacted during his presidency going to get us back to the Clinton years. If you had read the stimulus bill you'd see that Obama is basically reversing all of that.
Have a nice weekend and pray for Obama.
I fear you might be exaggerating my position just a teeny, tiny bit.
Glad to see Gregg go. I have a question; according to Robert Gibbs, Gregg was the one who approached the Obama Administration for the Commerce post, so obviously Gregg had some reasons to "volunteer": 2010 Census, but when this was taken away from the Commerce Department, changed everything. There is a post in the Huffington Post by Paul Abrams and it could not be clearer.
I do not really think it reflects bad on Obama, especially if Gregg was the one who approached them. It reflects a lot more on the Republicans, their lack of any coherent idea (just say "No" to anything) than anything else.
The attack on Charlie Crist is just insane; it shows how out of touch Republicans are. People who are losing jobs are Democrats, Republicans and Independents; the same with health care. People want something to happen. I know there is the extreme extreme right wing that seem to live in la la land, but I am not talking about them.
Thanks for your comment. As far as Gregg lobbying for the position, you should check out this recently posted story by HuffPo's Sam Stein, who found that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office had suggested Gregg as a candidate:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/reid-spokesman-rahm-asked_n_166779.html
Which is not to say that Gregg wasn't lobbying for the position. Indeed, he could easily have come to Reid, who then came to Obama's folks.
As for the attack on Charlie Crist, yeah, I agree with you totally. Crist is hopping aboard the train before it leaves the station -- the people within his party who are angry at him are just yelling from the platform as the engine pulls away.
I would happily sacrifice a Democratic seat in the Senate if it meant getting real leadership there.
Yeah, and what the heck is Obama thinking? Why doesn't he appoint Donald Rumsfeld to a post fer chrissake.
If we go by the idea that it makes good sense to put people in charge of things that they're apt to destroy, I think the Republican Party should make Donald Rumsfeld the RNC chair.
I thought the same exact thing when Obama nominated him, a total fox-in-the-henhouse move like all of Dubya's appointments.
Obama has to give up this bipartisanship jones because it's clouding his judgement. All the good conservatives left the party or were pushed out by the religious fundies and Neocons a long long time ago. There really is nobody left to reason with in the GOP.