Guest Comment: Obama went to the same well to find ‘change’

During the presidential campaign, President Obama stated, “I’m raising the bar on what Americans can expect from my administration. There will be no more Washington as usual, and decades of abuse and corruption are over.”

But did he keep his promise?

Reneging on his promise of change he proceeded to fill 70 percent of his appointments with retread Clinton insiders.

His White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, was on the board of directors of Freddie Mac after he resigned from the Clinton Administration. Fellow board members state that he opposed every reform measure urged by the Bush Administration. Mr. Emanuel, like President Obama, came from the cesspool of Chicago politics, so we should not really be surprised by any of his actions now or in the future.

One of Obama’s financial advisers, Franklin Raines, ran Fannie Mae and removed the very regulations which would have prevented the sub-prime loans to people who couldn’t afford them, thus causing the housing crisis. His salary for those three years was 90 million dollars!

Obama promised that lobbyists would have no part in his administration and proceeded to appoint two in his first two weeks. William Lynn, Obama’s choice for Deputy Secretary of Defense, who as a lobbyist for Raytheon, promoted gigantic military contracts for his company.

His Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, is a tax cheat but was still confirmed.

His nominee for Secretary of Commerce, Bill Richardson, was dropped because of corruption investigations.

His nominee for Chief Performance Officer, Ms. Killefer, was dropped because of tax evasion concerns.

His nominee for Secretary of Labor, Ms. Solis, was dropped because of unethical practice allegations.

His nominee for Secretary of H.S.S., Tom Daschle, was dropped because of tax evasion concerns.

His confirmed nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, was responsible for pardoning Marc Rich, a fugitive from justice and who donated heavily to Clinton’s library. Mr. Holder, in one o his first speeches as Attorney General, referred to the United States citizens as “cowards.”

Leon Panetta, who stripped and denuded our intelligence agencies during the Clinton Administration, was appointed CIA chief, of all things. Many in Washington attribute our intelligence failures as a major contributing factor in the 9-1-1 attacks. Mr. Panetta’s daughter, Linda, has been a vocal supporter of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the Castro brothers in Cuba. Appearing often in the news, she lauds those dictators as great leaders and the United States as an “aggressor.” Did she learn that dogma while sitting on her father’s knee?

Obviously, President Obama learned all about people and the vetting process while a “community organizer” in Chicago.

President Obama campaigned on the promise to raise the bar in Washington, but to our dismay and chagrin, he then lead a Limbo Dance, leading his band of misfits, under the bar into what is now the change he promised.

Gary Meinert and his wife, Karlyn, spend part of the year in Green Valley and part at their lake home in far northern Wisconsin. He retired from the plumbing, heating and industrial distribution business in 1997, but remains active during the summer in the Wisconsin lake country real estate industry. The opinions above are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.