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After promising to change the ethics of Washington, in
substance and in perception, President Obama nominated three cabinet
officers who had tax and other “business as usual” baggage. One got through
– Mr Geithner the treasury department secretary. The most spectacular in
terms of capability has so much on his plate that should have prevented him
from being put up for consideration that one wonders if he hid the ball on
Obama from the very beginning. It is difficult to accept that his being the
bag man for a lobbying firm without bothering to register as a lobbyist, and
that he was representing the industry he would now have been dealing with as
a regulator of sorts could have been missed by capable Obama staff.
Is this crisis of confidence now diffused by the withdrawal of Daschle?
President Obama may have worn out his cushion on ethical credibility if he
puts up more ineligible nominees. Is there no one at his ear whispering that
he is not immune from his own pronouncements about how great he is going to
be on transparency? If so, that would be a shame.
More difficult than those barriers to success, however, are the now obvious
game playing agendas of his own and his opposition parties. There are more
than enough people populating both groups who have some doctrinaire agenda
to put forward that they believe more important than solving any problems.
How long will the young and enthusiastic stay with him if this persists? The
youthful disenchanted turn on you and eat you alive. That will be a bonfire
of epic proportions, and this could quickly turn into a one term phenomenon
rather than the fulfillment of any dream. Another very fine man learned that
lesson in recent history – Jimmy Carter.
In any event, at this rate the situation will not take long to sort itself
out. Either credibility will reassert itself immediately or support will
drop fast. You can only get so far down the road on the notion that what was
there before you was really terrible. That got him elected, but it won’t
make him re-electable. He will age fast this year. The lobbyists he promised
to marginalize are crawling all over his stimulus package.
Having to work on unspeakable crisis circumstances with your own “allies”
undermining your potential for success, as well as your declared opposition
is the stuff of martyrdom.
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