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On Judd Gregg's Withdawal
During the Clinton administration, Judd Gregg fought hard to deny the Commerce Secretary the ability to use the latest techniques to ensure the most accurate Census count. The goal of this effort was to make it harder for the Census to count minorities, young people and the poor, groups the Republicans do not view as part of their coalition.
This history should disqualify him from ever serving in a Democratic administration. In this last election, the American people rejected the politics of the Southern Strategy once and for all, and those leaders who have a history of exploiting race for political gain have no place in an Obama administration.
We at NDN are glad to see Senator Gregg go. His withdrawal says much more about the inability of the modern Republican Party to let go of its failed and anachronistic politics than it does about the vetting capacity of this young administration.
crossposted from NDN
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The most generous interpretation of the J.Gregg mess is that he is personally a fool. Darker interpretations are possible given the rampant partisanship among the republican remnants in DC.
How anyone with all those "years of experience" in our government could have thought that, as a cabinet officer, he would not have to actively support the White House agenda is beyond me. Now he can "be his own man" again... and possibly he could just go on home and disappear from history altogeather. We have enough fools in Washington as it it is... too many in fact for these perilous times... especially in the republican party.
This is a win for the Obamas. Another free lesson in "post-partisan" politics. It takes two to tango and the republicans just don't want to dance.
Thank God this guy bowed out. It is pretty clear what Greggs and the republicans agenda was here. It would not surprise me in the least if the repubs offered up the suggestion of Tom Delay for Commerce Secretary. I say this in jest. Can you imagine Delay in charge of the census, the gerrymandering king of Texas.
Totally agree.
Agree completely - good riddance to JGregg.
I agree!!!
The media is now blaming Obama for Gregg's backing out of his agreement. It seems a little crappy to me to blame Obama when I believe Gregg was well aware of the circumstances and probably cowered to his fellow Repugs!!!!
They'll need to hone their talking points, the MSM.
Byron York confirms that it was Rethuglican pressure that forced Gregg out.
From Atlantic.
Byron York confirmed that it was Republican partisan pressure that forced Gregg to pull out. The idea that a Republican could help give Obama cover on entitlement reform and that he would preside over a big increase in Hispanic representation in the Census was too much for the Rovian partisans. Shill Kristol lets the cat out of the bag:
they were worried that clever “post-partisan” or bipartisan tactics by Obama could split and weaken an already uncertain and demoralized GOP.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/the-gops-war-on.html
It is wonderful to have a president who is an intellectual and thinks long term. However, in today's world of 24 hour news channel and opinions from everywhere floating around, he needs to take the gloves off.
it is self evident that the republicans will just say no to everything Obama asks for. Maybe it is time that Obama's aides and other people in the democratic party give more interviews, write opinion columns and just show how their ideas will work fo the common man, uplift this economy and make life better for everyone; and also compare it to the ideas (or the lack of it) from the republicans.
Everyone has complained that there seems to be a permanent campaign mode in Washington from the time Bush took office. Maybe Obama should keep and mould the campaign mode to a compare and contrast mode.
Basically, shame them to submission!!!
I don't know if the repubs are capable of being shamed. They seem completely oblivious to the reality around them; that their policies have nearly destroyed the country and that a stronger welfare state has always stimulated the economy. They do not seem to realize that they sound like creepy, dim-witted old men from the 1950's with their cliches and fundamentalist ideology that seems immune to reason. I would classify them as "evil" because they are doing everything the can to make sure Obama fails. The more he tries to reach across the aisle, the more they will see him as the enemy. This is because they are divisive and exclusive; they are suspicious of anyone who is more evolved (or anyone with more than a GED education, it appears) For those repubs who are evangelical christians, we are facing a double whammy. (Not to say all christians are crazy, but it sure seems like there's alot of visible ones out there). These people believe that anyone who stands for peace and cooperation might be the anti-christ (god of the bible is a terrifying, murderous, jealous, genocidal psycho, so the anti-christ must be the opposite of that, I suppose). Secondly, these christians are excited for armageddon. After the apocolypse, they will be in heaven and the rest of us, apparently, will be burning in hell. They can hardly WAIT for that to happen.
The last of the shame culture is dying with the baby boomers. Today it is hurray for me and to h e l l with everybody else--and that crosses party lines!
This is exactly what I was thinking. Great post!
Can anyone really deny that moving the Census from Commerce and putting it under White House control looks exactly like the politics of the past with a different suit of clothes? Judd can go, but moving the Census looks bad. Takes a big chunk of Hope right out of me.
Gregg approached the Obama administration wanting the position of Commerce Secretary purely for partisan political reasons. The Republicans had come up with a rather cynical ploy to maintain control over the Census by having Gregg take on that job. The Obama team were not nearly so in the dark as you appear to be; Obama, in another attempt to reach across the aisle, took Gregg up on his offer. The administration then pulled the Census from the control of Commerce in order that it not be politicized if Gregg had approached the administration for purely cynical political reasons. Gregg, who in the past had called for the dismantling of the Commerce, who had approached the administration long after the nuts and bolts of the stimulus package had been publicized, now claims that the differences between his beliefs and that of the administration proved too great to reconcile.
O's strategy is beautiful... give it time... He will keep reaching, keep treating them respectfully, and they will come off looking like cynical political calculators who are willing to bring down everything, the country, the economy, everything, if only their party can regain power.
Excellent comment and spot on!
"wanting the position of Commerce Secretary purely for partisan political reasons. " -this is only your opinion. You might not be wrong, but it pure opinion.
"The administration then pulled the Census from the control of Commerce in order that it not be politicized" - But pulling it did exactly that, politicized it. Even though it's your politics it doesn't make it any less politicizing.
"if Gregg had approached the administration for purely cynical political reasons." Now it's an "if". You have no clue if he did or didn't.
Totally agree with your last para, but it also, is just your opinion. mine, too.
It just occurred to me that the Democrat vs. Republican struggle is like the movie Revenge of the Nerds...lol The Repubs are the jocks, and the nerds are the Dems. Think about it....the perception of jocks is one that they are not necessarily bright and that nerds are smart, but not cool. Jocks use their brawn not their brain, and vis versa for nerds.
Think of the campaign....Dems- Obama's campaign machine (nerdy); Repubs- Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, rabid, violent crowds etc.
Media....Dems- Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman, Randy Rhodes etc; Repubs- Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc.
The stimulus package....Dems- trying to do something; Repubs- Trying to intimidate and bully
The Bush administration....you get the point.
The republicans are going to get smashed for the next couple of years until they change their tune and get smarter. The conscience of the people has awakened. They are educating themselves on the political process. Republicans still think the public is stupid, and they run their agenda based on this mindset. It's going to be a fun 4 years.
Do you really think the gops are capable of changing their tune? And do you truly believe that Obama, probably the coolest man ever to run for President in the US, looks like a nerd next to the likes of McCain, Boehner, and Mitch McConnell?
I think Obama will probably be the best president the US has ever had. And he is very good-looking. But as for the nerd bit...did you see him bowl?
Obama isn't well seasoned enough and showing his hopeful side and not his wise side by choosing members of the viper's party. A mole or a loose cannon is the best he can wish for from repubes. They have no morals and don't even understand the process of governing. They only know constant campaigning and mudslinging.
Maybe his lack of "seasoning" is all to the good. He looks like the winner in this to me. The public sees him extending a hand, and sees the gops rejecting it, and, since they always profess to be for bipartisanship and for ending the bitterness in Washington, who is going to come out of this looking better? It won't be the gops.
It looks like Obama is plenty "seasoned" enough to know what Gregg was up to. He cut him off at the pass and made the goofball look like an ineffectual bumbler. Obama knows more than one way to skin a cat, he is doing it right and left.
Note how the heat rose on Rick Warren when he was chosen for the prayer at inauguration. Before, not that many knew of Rick's insanity about gays...afterward, Rick had no where to hide and had to straighten up.
Same thing with Daschle, the "lovable little lout" until all the news came out of his lobbyist ties and tax scoffing. No problem to Obama...he knows how to operate.
When you are this brilliant, not much is going to get by you...and when you have this much heart, not much is going to stop you...Gobama.
the gop just don't get it they are in a world that is changing and they are still on the dock when the ship has sail you can't fight with history get over it you lost and they are acting like big babies that they would hurt the country just to see our president fail they don't want change and nither do the msm becuase it means they can't keep us dumb down any more and if no bs is going on they might be out of a job i have never see the msm gop all the nuts coming out of the wood work trying to make this president fail it tells you who the racist realy are and its not the poor its the ones who has been all along the gop and the media but its not going to work you can't stop history.
I suspect that Gregg knew all along that he'd be withdrawing. He asked to be considered, didn't he? No one came to HIM to ask him to join the Obama Cabinet. Gregg made sure that he embarrassed the Dems by securing a Republican successor to his Senate position, then attempted to embarrass Obama by withdrawing his nomination. It makes Republican sense to do as much damage to Obama as possible, from every angle imaginable. Gregg's otherwise nonsensical maneuverings illustrate how GOP tactics are meant to work.
Gregg is too old to claim that he's been struggling to find his true self against the Obama backdrop. Please. This guy's no teen-ager. He either knows exactly what he's doing in a tactical sense, or he's batshit crazy and attained his esteemed political position through means that do not demand rationality and maturity.
I suspect there is more to this story behind the scenes: some indiscretion on his part that might come to light, the pressure of his fellow gops?
Thank God he's gone. Obama should stop with this bi-partisan dream of his and find a deserving Democrat to fill this position. I heard the right wing idiots on their talkshows, trying to spin the census debate in a way that would satisfy their base early yesterday morning. Neil Boortz or whatever the idiots name is, was trying to say that Gregg would have problems in an Obama Admin, because democrats wanting to begin sampling in minority areas regarding the census, While actually counting in majority White communities, which is true, but like usual, he had to put a negative twist on it by stating that Whites would suffer, because Democrats would falsely inflate minority numbers to benefit the Party in the years to come, as if minorities would oppress Whites as the republicans have oppressed middleclass and poor Americans over the last 20 or so years. Once again, the only way to keep the support of their robots, rethuglicans must use fear and divisive half-truths to hold on to their uneducated supporters.
GREAT COMMENT!!!!!!
I agree with your assessment Mr Rosenberg. Although I admire the presidents intentions to put together a bi-partisan cabinet, I believe he has overstepped the bounds of propriety by selecting a republican who completed opposed the department he was chosen to head, and did not support funding for the Census.
I think it is far more important to have someone in charge of Commerce that will reflect the principles that Obama ran on, basically, time to look out for the lower and middle class and avoid a Secretary who will simply be a lobbyist for big business, been there done that.
This was a very annoying selection for most liberal democrats and I am happy to see him resign.
Yeah, we don't need to cry about his departure at all. We want someone in there we can trust. Please, go with a Democrat this time.
Exactly.
I think there is a legitimate argument against sampling. It hurts dems, and it hurts minorities especially, but sampling may be unconstitutional. The placement of the census in the hands of the white house however is completely constitutional.
To paraphrase "Uncle Joe" Stalin : it's not the number of people that counts, it's the people who COUNT the number of people that counts!
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