Obama's nomination woes continue

[Naked Gents Rut]

CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his name from consideration as the nation’s next surgeon general, opting to continue to devote time to his reporting and his medical career.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/05/breaking-gupta-withdraws-from-consideration-for-cabinet-post/

The person Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wanted as his chief deputy withdrew from consideration Thursday, dealing a setback to the agency as it struggles to address the worst financial crisis in decades.

Annette Nazareth, a former senior staffer and commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, made "a personal decision" to withdraw from the process, according to a person familiar with her decision.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Treasury-secretarys-choice-apf-14561159.html

[DaShi]

Damn Obama! Quit trying to find qualified people and get yourself some cronies! They at least know how to hide and deny their records.

[Darius871]

I haven't studied or practiced tax law or estate planning. I'm an underpaid government attorney, so I never have to worry about dealing with the amounts of money necessary to get myself into trouble.

Tax wasn't on the Bar then? It's basically unavoidable now.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Fun fact: Obama is tied with John Tyler for the most failed cabinet nominees in U.S. history.

[Ramo]

Even more fun fact: The next guy on that list is Bill Clinton. What an utter incompetent. Good thing we had G Dub to fix his mess.

[Naked Gents Rut]

I disagree strongly with that contention. Clinton was a far better President than Dubya (and Obama, most likely).

[Ramo]

That can't be true. Clinton had more failed Cabinet nominees than Dubya.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Since when are failed Cabinet nominees the preferred metric for judging the competence of a President? There are plenty of better measures, like fiscal deficits as a percentage of GDP.

[Ramo]

True. Hoover was a pretty awesome Prez.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Yes. And Reagan was terrible.

[Naked Gents Rut]

For this reason, years later libertarians argued that Hoover's economics were statist. Franklin D. Roosevelt blasted the Republican incumbent for spending and taxing too much, increasing national debt, raising tariffs and blocking trade, as well as placing millions on the dole of the government. Roosevelt attacked Hoover for "reckless and extravagant" spending, of thinking "that we ought to center control of everything in Washington as rapidly as possible," and of leading "the greatest spending administration in peacetime in all of history." Roosevelt's running mate, John Nance Garner, accused the Republican of "leading the country down the path of socialism".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover

God, the '30s were ****ing surreal.

[Theben]

I think the problem is trying to find a squeaky-clean politician. They simply don't exist.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Many nominees aren't politicians.

[Ramo]

God, the '30s were ****ing surreal.

Look at the data. The deficits during FY 1930-32 (ignoring '29 since the pre-Depression years aren't comparable - but that was a surplus as well) were much smaller than those run for the four years later (in '37, FDR tried to run something closer to a balanced budget, leading to the "Roosevelt Depression"). In 1930, Hoover actually ran a surplus that was about half as large as his only significant deficit.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Tax wasn't on the Bar then? It's basically unavoidable now.

It wasn't on the GA Bar when I took it in 2005.