The Cheese Stands Alone
I already posted on how the Indispensable Man is having trouble filling top spots in the Treasury Dept. Now he's going backwards because two of his picks have pulled out after expressing impatience with the vetting process.
Annette Nazareth, who was expected to be tapped as deputy Treasury secretary, and Caroline Atkinson, who was being considered to oversee international affairs, have both taken their names out of the running, these people said. Ms. Atkinson's name was withdrawn weeks ago and Ms. Nazareth withdrew several days ago.
Across the administration, several potential candidates have been blocked by the Obama administration's tough rules about who it will hire. In addition, the White House increased the rigor of its vetting process after tax problems threatened Mr. Geithner's confirmation and scuttled that of former Sen. Tom Daschle.
Look, either there is a crisis or there isn't. If there is a crisis, then you need to staff up immediately with the best people you can find and deal with the crisis. Hiring nonentities and strictly adhering to "ethics rules" (which have had no appreciable effect on ethics in gov't) is OK for flush times, but not now.
Supposedly, the Indispensable Man needs to come up with a surefire "rescue plan" for the banking system and come up with a new regulatory framework for the securities market. He can't do it by himself (obviously!); but he also can't do it with no names like "Annette Nazareth." I mean her no disrespect, and think maybe she also didn't want to get off of the iceberg for a cabin on the Titanic. Still, the systemic reforms that are being contemplated demand that the gov't - if it's serious about reform - needs to look well beyond the DC-NY Ivy League crowd for help.
This entry was posted on at 8:16 AM and is filed under Democrats, government, Indispensable Man. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can
