We Were Warned!

During the campaign of 2008, we were warned about Barack Obama's associations. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Flegler, William Ayers. We were also warned about his attempts to abort children already born and Joe the Plumber brought to light the socialism issue and Obama's inexperience. These were ignored and Barack Obama was elected.

Obama's associations have come back to haunt him. He has now nominated Bill Richardson, Nancy Killefer, Tom Daschle, Timothy Geithner. Richardson dropped out due to a grand jury investigation into contracts being awarded to political supporters. Nancy Killefer dropped out due to not having paid some taxes. Tom Daschle dropped out due to not paying taxes. Timothy Geithner also didn't pay taxes, but he was confirmed before the others came to light. Now there are calls for him to resign. There are others that are surfacing. One that has been hinted at is his nominee for Labor Secretary.

The vetting process, which seems to be poor at best, continues to dog Obama. Now it's Leon Panetta who received over $700,o00 in speaking fees from Wachovia and Merrill Lynch, two principles in the meltdown of September. He was paid in October for his speeches. He apparently also was involved in some lobbying, although it may be indirectly. This violates Obama's new policy of no lobbyists.

Another confirmation pending is that of a man name Ogden. Ogden has advocated for pornography, privacy rights for a 14 year old to prevent the parents of the 14 year old finding out and having any say in an abortion for the 14 year old. I have a bit of a problem with this nomination. I'm not sure he should be disqualified due to his clients as a lawyer. Everyone is entitled to counsel and it's the lawyers responsibility to advocate for his client to the best of his ability. It's implied in the stories that he has a belief in these issues and if so, then this is another indication of how far to the left Obama is taking his administration. If Ogden doesn't believe in these but was doing his job as a lawyer, I cannot find fault with that.

In a discussion on his front lawn with Barack Obama, Joe the Plumber listened to what Obama said about spreading the wealth and said that he thought it sounded like socialism. Obama spent the next couple of days defending himself, then making fun of McCain for calling him a socialist on many issues that McCain never stated. Now we're finding out how much socialism Obama is wanting to implement through the currently pending spending bill (it's not a stimulus bill).

All of these "missteps" are an indication of the lack of experience of Obama and his staff, which he chose, to do the vetting. It's ironic that when Joe the Plumber started making the news because of his one comment, the liberals immediately started investigating Joe the Plumber and discovered that he had a tax lien of approximately $1,500 which Joe the Plumber claimed he was unaware. A government worker in Ohio lost her job due to this investigation and making the results public. Yet, Geithner didn't pay $34,000 in taxes until he was nominated for Treasury Secretary. Daschle didn't pay his taxes totaling over $140,000 in taxes and interest (I haven't heard anything about penalties), until he was nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary. What was used against Joe the Plumber to discredit him is now being said to be an "honest mistake" by Daschle and Geithner.

We were warned about these things during the campaign. They are now coming home to roost and the willing accomplices in the press are making excuses for them. Let's compare to previous administrations.

George Bush had one problem with a nominee when he was elected. Linda Chavez apparently had an illegal alien living with her. She was scrapped for the Labor Secretary position.

Bill Clinton nominated Zoe Baird for Attorney General. She was dropped when it was discovered
that she hired illegal aliens for domestic help. He then nominated Kimba Wood. She too had illegal aliens and the added problem of not paying social security taxes on the help. We ended up with Janet Reno.

Two for Clinton and one for Bush. Obama has already doubled that in less than three weeks.

Just one word of caution. Don't ask "what next?" We may just find out.

Brett