Timothy Geithner
William J Lynn III
As candidate, Barack Obama repeatedly offered us not only "Change we can believe in", but openness and transparency in government. As President-elect, he has proceeded to bring in a sackful of former Clinton Administration officials, some with questions lingering over the heads (Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, etc).
Add to this list the names of Treasury Secretary-designate Tim Geithner and his pick for Asst. Secretary of Defense, William J Lynn III.
Geithner, who as Treasury Secretary, would oversee the IRS, has recently, shall we say, been overseen by the IRS. Geithner owed back taxes to the IRS in the total of $34,023 for the years 2001-2004. In 2006, he paid part of it back when that agency audited him. Then, just recently, he paid the remainder plus $8,679 in interest.
Just how recently? As soon as Obama picked him for the Treasury spot.
What is Obama's reaction? "It was an honest mistake."
Change.
Let's leave aside the question of what would happen to you and me if we owed the IRS $34,000. Doesn't this pick put the lie to Obama's claim of Change and Transparency? What goes into the thinking of pushing a man through as Treasury Secretary who failed to pay over $34,000 in back taxes-until he was audited and then nominated for the top spot at Treasury? The answer is easy; it is the same thinking that selects Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State despite the fact that her husband is receiving millions and millions of dollars from countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Change.
Then there is Obama's selection of William J Lynn III to be Asst. Defense Secretary. Lynn, who served at Defense in the Clinton Administration, then went on to become a lobbyist for the Raytheon Corp-a defense contractor. What is the problem here?
Didn't Obama pledge that no lobbyists would hold any position in his administration?
Yes, he did-emphatically.
Yet, Obama now insists that Lynn came so highly recommended that he had to make an exception.
Change.
So where is all the change that Obama promised us? To me, it looks like business as usual in Washington. Except for Obama himself, not even the faces are new.
So did it also bother you that the Bush family are close friends with the Saudi royal family? Didn't you ever see the outgoing President literally holding hands with one of the Saudi royals, taking a stroll?
ReplyDeleteThe government of Saudi Arabia is an oppressive regime. However, no President from either party has or will stand up to them because quite frankly we need them to keep selling us oil.
Good point, Bryan. You are correct. It is pure pragmatism because of the oil. All the more reason that we should be procuring and producing our own oil-like in ANWR. Believe me, conservatives are just as troubled by the whole Saudi thing as liberals.
ReplyDeletePutting aside the environmental impacts of drilling in ANWR, the problem is that it would be a mere drop in the bucket compared to the amount of oil we get from Saudi Arabia and others. It wouldn't make a real difference and would be like putting a tiny band-aid on a gaping wound.
ReplyDeleteBryan,
ReplyDeleteAnd what are the environmental effects of drilling in ANWR, in an area of ANWR the size of LAX?
No ANWR, no-off coast drilling-just keep on depending on the ME and venezuela and others for our oil.
Real smart.
Actually we get very little oil from the Middle East. We get the bulk of our imported oil from Canada. And I don't see any problems with that. Do you?
ReplyDeleteAs for Obama, he's a Chicago politician. That should scream volumes at you. This will be an interesting 4 years, if Rezko et al don't start singing sooner.
Gary, you completely failed to address my main point: we could drill all we wanted in our own country and it wouldn't amount to anything in comparison to the vast amounts of oil we can get from other countries. Which means it's not a viable solution to our problem.
ReplyDeleteGary, you're missing the point - DESPITE whatever environmental impacts it might have, it's STILL not much of a solution. Shoot, it could be good for the environment and it still wouldn't be the cure-all that conservatives seem to think that it will be.
ReplyDeleteAs for ANWR, there is disagreement on how much is there. Of course, off-shore drilling also meets with opposition.
ReplyDeleteI think that the bottom line is that oil is a finite resource. We're going to have to figure out an alternative, and personally I think that America has the potential to be the leader in this regard if only there'd be some more support for it.
ReplyDelete