No Hope

Obama’s Cabinet falls apart

By Naveen N. Srivatsa

Walking back from the Institute of Politics after the presidential election results were announced, I must be honest: I felt hopeful. After all, with hundreds of my fellow Harvard students cheering maniacally in the Yard, I could not help but feel that if Harvard students would take to the streets in support of Barack Obama, there must be something special about the man.

My attempts at understanding the force that would propel such a demonstration, however, soon fell through as I saw the president-elect’s hubris as he appointed his Cabinet. I applauded some of his picks—Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State and Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense, for example—but eventually began to wonder whether by quickly naming names in order to create an image of confidence, he sacrificed his promise of careful and intelligent governance. As the scandals involving Bill Richardson, Timothy Geithner, Nancy Killefer, William J. Lynn, and Tom Daschle emerged, it became clear that Obama’s forceful promises to promote ethical and competent governance and his insistence on having the judgment to lead were nothing more than political posturing. 

Through the arduous Democratic primaries, the choice between then-Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was a clear choice between experience and change. Clinton argued that her experiences as First Lady and Senator made her more qualified to be president, while Obama alleged that in the face of Clinton’s experience, he had better judgment. When it came to the War in Iraq, Obama argued that Clinton walked lock step with President Bush, while he had the courage to oppose the mission. Obama sidestepped the experience issue, expecting Democrats and later the American people to vote for him not because he made any real decisions, but because he thought the right things.

During the general election, Obama promised to hold his administration to the highest ethical standards. His argument, though typical, was a crucial. Obama argued that he would bring government back to the people by appointing honest, law-abiding individuals who understood the common American.

On both of these promises, the President has failed to live up to the standards he set for himself. If Obama’s clarity and judgment are so acute, then certainly his first actions as president-elect would be the careful, diligent, and thorough vetting of appointees. Instead, Obama offered us candidates who failed to do correctly what most Americans do every year: pay their taxes. An inability to manage their personal lives is sufficient cause to deny Daschle, Geithner, and Killefer more duties, particularly obligations that directly affect the wellbeing of the American public, particularly for Geithner who now oversees the IRS. Just as Democrats assailed Senator McCain for his hurried choice of Governor Palin, it is just as reasonable to criticize the President for his sloppiness. If anything, it is more important for such criticism to be leveled because the while the Office of Vice-President is essentially undefined, the duties of executive officials are immense.

It is easy to assume from Obama’s promise not to hire lobbyists that he would not hire lobbyists. Yet, the nomination of William J. Lynn as undersecretary of defense demonstrates once again that Obama’s soaring rhetoric falls flat when put to action. A former registered lobbyist of the Defense Department, Lynn would be involved in the budgeting process of the Pentagon, a role that screams “conflict of interest.” On the domestic front, Obama’s nomination of Daschle, who received sixteen million dollars for advising healthcare lobbyists, to be secretary of health and human services raised many eyebrows. More severe is the nomination of Bill Richardson, who was in the midst of an investigation into alleged pay-to-play dealings. Surely a thorough vetting would discover those tidbits about the men and women the president nominated.

Obama convinced America that he would deliver fundamental change. By promising ethical standards that he did not maintain and competent governance he did not carry out, it really doesn’t matter what Obama says. At the end of the day, he’s just another politician.