More Evidence of Obama’s Inexperience: The Shameful Lack of Top Appointees at the Treasury Department

On the campaign trail, the youthful, inexperienced Obama sought gravitas behind a fake presidential seal.

David Broder expressed concern in yesterday’s column that the understaffed Obama Administration is “running on empty.” Broder noted (emphasis mine):

In its first six weeks in office, the administration has launched hugely expensive and ambitious programs, not only to spur employment and arrest a sickening slide in stocks, mortgages and profits, but to overhaul such complex and vital services as health care, education, and energy production and conservation.

It has done this with a mere corporal's guard of key appointees in place. The White House itself is rather fully staffed, but the departments and agencies, where broad policies must be converted into real operations, have numerous openings. Decisions are being made by career bureaucrats, Bush administration carryovers -- or not at all.

In further evidence of our new president’s lack of experience, Schmidt and Christie at Bloomberg report today on the understaffed condition of the Treasury Department - responsible for the success of the financial rescue plan (emphasis mine):

Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Annette Nazareth took herself out of the running after concern about public scrutiny over her SEC work and frustration at the length of the selection process, according to people familiar with the matter. International Monetary Fund official Caroline Atkinson pulled out of consideration for the Treasury’s top international job, people briefed on the decision said.

The setbacks leave the Treasury chief without any Senate- confirmed senior staff just as he tries to build confidence in his plan to cleanse banks’ balance sheets and jumpstart the market for securities backed by loans. Nazareth’s decision may make it even harder to lure skilled candidates, highlighting the challenge of the nomination process, analysts said.

“The vacuum at the upper levels of the department could hardly have come at a worse time,” said Louis Crandall, chief economist at Jersey City, New Jersey-based Wrightson ICAP LLC. The disarray comes even though “it was clear the moment” the bank-rescue fund “legislation was passed in October that getting the Treasury Department staffed quickly would have to be the top domestic priority for any incoming administration,” he said.

Schmidt and Christie point out that the Treasury Department in previous administrations remained understaffed for months; however, they were not facing a global financial meltdown.

The Bloomberg article continues:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker late last month told a congressional committee that the lack of top appointees at the Treasury was “shameful” given the crisis. Bank executives are also upset over their lack of access to the department as it crafts policies that will affect their industry for decades.

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Is the Punditry Finally Waking Up to the Danger of Electing a President With No Relevant Job Experience?

Yesterday, I linked to Tom Friedman’s column at the NY Times in which the native Minnesotan almost overcomes his regional niceness to acknowledge that our “talented young president with many good instincts” took office without a trace of relevant experience and is now under pressure to learn on the job in a potentially catastrophic period in American history.

In today’s Washington Post column titled Running on Empty, David Broder leads off with this startling paragraph:

As if the problems in the U.S. and world economies were not enough of a challenge in themselves, the young Obama administration is also being called on to figure out simultaneously how to govern in such an emergency.

Broder explains:

A big part of the second challenge lies in reconciling the pressure to move rapidly in rolling out its program initiatives with the much slower pace of assembling the leaders it needs to be able to function at all.

In its first six weeks in office, the administration has launched hugely expensive and ambitious programs, not only to spur employment and arrest a sickening slide in stocks, mortgages and profits, but to overhaul such complex and vital services as health care, education, and energy production and conservation.

And here’s the scary part:

It has done this with a mere corporal's guard of key appointees in place. The White House itself is rather fully staffed, but the departments and agencies, where broad policies must be converted into real operations, have numerous openings. Decisions are being made by career bureaucrats, Bush administration carryovers -- or not at all.

Broder concludes with a quote from a former Clinton staffer that nails the Obama Administration with a problem his predecessor never quite figured out – learning the difference between campaigning and governing:

A veteran of the Clinton White House said she worried that the administration is still in a campaign mind-set, with the president and vice president on the road every week promoting their programs. "The only thing that's important now is getting the money out the door, so it can start to work in the real world," she said. "Anything that distracts from that is a waste of time."

Oh, for the equivalent of the experienced and well-trained Chesley Sullenberger in command of America’s ship of state in these troubled times.

Can Obama’s Good Instincts Trump Experience in Fixing the Financial Crisis?

In today’s column in the NY Times, Tom Friedman writes:

I’m worried. We’ve just elected a talented young president with many good instincts about how to propel our country forward, extend health care to more people, make our tax code fairer and launch a green industrial revolution. But do you know what I fear? I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the whole housing/subprime credit bubble we inflated these past 20 years.

Mr. Friedman’s fears are warranted, but he’s a native of the Twin Cities (where this blog originates), and he’s too imbued with “Minnesota nice” to mention that “our talented young president” with all of the above named good instincts took office with no relevant experience for the job. Yes, that’s right. Americans elected a totally inexperienced president to lead us out of a global financial crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, threats from Russia, North Korea, and Iran - not to mention continuous flare-ups between Israel and Palestine.

You remember the excuses for this insanity given by Mr. Obama’s infatuated supporters:

1. Dick Cheney had a lot of experience and look where that got us.

By that logic, no operation in either the government or private sector should hereafter review an applicant’s resume before hiring him or her. The only qualification required would be a charismatic personality that promises to bring people together, e.g., congressional Democrats and Republicans who voted on the stimulus package.

2. Obama’s background is similar to Abraham Lincoln’s; therefore, Obama must be a genius with similar leadership skills.

Need I even address that one?

Friedman continues to express his concerns about the financial crisis:

I hope my fears are exaggerated. But ask yourself this: Why couldn’t former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson solve this problem? And why does it seem as though his successor, Tim Geithner, won’t even look us in the eye and spell out his strategy? Is it because they don’t get it? No. It is because they know — like Roy Scheider in the movie “Jaws,” when he first saw the great white shark — that “we’re gonna need a bigger boat,” and they’re too afraid to tell us just how big.

Friedman summarizes the Obama team’s approach:

At the moment, the Obama team seems to prefer a gradual attempt to nurse these sick banks back to health with repeated blood transfusions — $30 billion more to A.I.G. today, another $40 billion to Citigroup tomorrow. And Lord only knows how much Bank of America will need after its weekend fling with Merrill Lynch has left it with Toxic Asset Disease. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury seem to be trying to give these banks enough capital to survive the next two years, as they de-leverage and de-risk their portfolios — and then hope for the best.

Our Twin Cities born columnist concludes:

For now, though, the banks still threaten to consume the Obama presidency. Indeed, I’m sorry to report that if you just type two letters into Google — “b-a” — the first thing that comes up is not Barack Obama. It’s “Bank of America.” Barack Obama is third.

Like I said above, Friedman’s got too much “Minnesota Nice” to speak the blunt truth: America elected an amateur to do a professional’s job.

Celebrating Women’s History Month (VIDEO)

Watching the video in celebration of Women’s History Month shown at Tennessee Guerilla Women, reminded me of marching in support of the ERA in Chicago on Mother’s Day, 1980.

Secretary Clinton Energizes American Diplomacy in Asia and Middle-East

Secretary of State Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday. Photo credits: Getty Images, courtesy of NY Times.

It’s been years since American diplomats displayed as much energy recently shown by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton first in her Asian trip followed soon by her foray into the troubled Middle-East.

Mark Landler in the New York Times reports today:

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A day after announcing a new diplomatic initiative in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled here Wednesday to show support for the Palestinian authority, saying she had pressed the Israeli government to open border crossings to war-torn Gaza.

“We have obviously expressed concern about the border crossing,” Mrs. Clinton said after a meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. “We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to help alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza.”

Mrs. Clinton also spoke out against Israeli plans to demolish houses belonging to Palestinians in East Jerusalem. She said the orders, issued by the municipal authorities, were “unhelpful” to the peace process.

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Obama Administration Disses Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown and Barack Obama at #10 last July. Getty Images

The same Obama who ridiculed Washington, D.C. a couple of weeks ago for closing schools due to ice cancelled a press conference today with Prime Minister Gordon Brown “because of snow.”

Toby Harnden, U.S. editor for the UK’s Telegraph, is more than a little sarcastic in reporting the non-event:

By 8pm, the press conference - if there'd ever been one planned - was officially off. The White House press schedule stated: "There will be a pool spray of the meeting." In layman's language, that means a small collection of reporters and perhaps two or three quick questions. That means something very quick and ample opportunity to dodge anything difficult.

As Ben Brogan of the Mail puts it, this is "not the standing podium-to-podium with the Messiah image that Mr Brown imagined". Trying to spin as best they can, the British Embassy is describing it as a "press availability" while Downing Street officials are apparently saying that "we are still negotiating".

Brogan quotes one Number 10 apparatchik as saying: "We're trying for something a bit more intimate but there won't be flags and podiums. We were going to do one in the Rose Garden but with the weather. They will be together and they will take questions."

Mr. Harnden continues:

The notion that there would ever have been a press conference scheduled in the Rose Garden at the start of March is, of course, faintly ridiculous.

Mr Brown might be forgiven for thinking that his friend, rival and predecessor Tony Blair would not have been treated the same way by his bosom buddy President George W. Bush. After all, there are 132 rooms in the White House at least some of which, presumably, are currently be free of snow.

On the other hand, President Obama is terribly busy this Tuesday. The White House schedule tells us that he is delivering remarks at the Department of Transportation to deliver remarks about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is also speaking at the Department of Interior to mark its 160th anniversary.

There's a conflab with Pentagon chief Bob Gates. Oh, and Mr Obama will also meet "a delegation from the Boy Scouts of America and receive their 2008 Report to the Nation". in the Oval Office.

And here’s Mr. Harnden’s painful conclusion:

Mr. Brown might lament that despite the so-called "special relationship" Britain is now getting the same treatment as the President of Uruguay but he need not despair. I'm told there's a chance he might get drinks with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening.

Ya think dissing the prime minister didn’t have anything to do with the weather after all? And get this: Brown is the first European leader to meet the new president.

The month of March: behold the epic struggle

Photo: Virginia Bergman

Readers’ note: I wrote this column for my community newspaper a couple of years ago when I lived in Woodbury, Minn. Every March I think of the “thunder snow storm” that transfixed my young children at the window that night when they were supposed to be sound asleep in bed.

It must have been early March some years ago in Ohio when a loud crash of thunder awakened me in the middle of the night.

My children were just toddlers then and moments later, I heard my daughter Jean scamper across the floor above me. My son Steve, the younger of the two, plodded after her.

Rushing upstairs to check on them, I stopped short near the top step; they were standing side by side, gazing out the window in Jean’s room.

Suddenly, Jean turned around. In her bunny rabbit pajamas, her hands on her hips, she said, “Mom, you are ‘be-sturbing’ us.”

Apologizing, I joined them at the window. It was snowing — large, fluffy white flakes. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled in the distance.

March is the month when winter and spring customarily collide in their epic struggle. Even in Minnesota, spring usually wins.

Here in Woodbury, I watch the drama unfold again, hoping as always to see another thunder snowstorm.

My neighborhood is a small island of fields and woods, nearly surrounded by freeway traffic. Despite the sound effects, I enjoy the illusion of country living.

Having grown up in the country, I’ve long been attuned to seasonal changes in hours of daylight and darkness, weather patterns, and landscapes and skyscapes.

Beyond my windows, trees and bushes dance in the wind. Sometimes, three or four deer romp across the fields as if at play.

Birds dart and soar across a wide expanse of sky.

After an ice storm I once saw what appeared to be a large hawk clawing for a foothold on a slippery power line. He gave up in a huff, shook himself, and circled upward.

The simple pleasure of looking out the window whenever I choose to each day has been a big plus since my retirement from fulltime work.

For several years, I’d been confined in a building 40 hours a week where only the privileged few had desks near a window, and yes, I felt deprived.

Among other gifts, a glimpse of the natural world now and then offers continuity to distant times and places.

Fiery evening light in Woodbury transports me to Doheny State Beach in southern California, where I’ve watched Catalina Island rise from the sea, back lit by the setting sun.

Local sunlight occasionally fades into a golden glow across the otherwise bleak landscape near Amarillo, Texas where I spent five months in tech school, completing the second phase of basic training in the United States Air Force (WAF).

Once in awhile, I find myself standing again on the banks of the wide Mississippi near St. Louis where I’ve seen the sun both rise and set.

Returning home to Woodbury from my imaginary wanderings, I feel connected to family and friends.

Wherever we are in the present moment, the same earth turns beneath our feet, and familiar stars and planets keep us company on our cosmic journey.

And you can bet on it, if a loud crash of thunder awakens me in the middle of the night anytime soon, I’ll not roll over and go back to sleep.

Without turning on the lights, I’ll slip out to the kitchen to sit by the window and watch the fireworks.

I won’t be the least bit surprised if a couple of wide-eyed toddlers get there before me.

I’ll try hard not to “be-sturb” them.