Maybe I should’ve piled on insofar as the title of this piece, but I chose to stick with President Obama’s most recent mess-ups, instead.  First of all, I find it appalling that Obama, when he should be governing the nation that he has made a financial mess of, instead of goes to Hollywood and make an appearance on the Tonight Show last Thursday.  Then he makes a decision in the form of a statement that will haunt him for the rest of his presidency: He tells 60 Minutes that if Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner offers his resignation, he wouldn’t accept it.

Some of the other “lowlights” in his 60 Minutes interview:

• He said that corporate executives need to better understand the public’s rage over bonuses.  He also said that executives should leave New York and go to either Iowa or Arkansas – where they’re “thrilled” to make $75,000 a year with no bonuses.
• Obama also discussed the Guantanamo Bay detention center.  He said that the U.S. hasn’t done a good job sorting out who should be released from Gitmo because some have rejoined terrorist groups.  He also said that U.S. officials have not always been effective in determining  which prisoners will be a danger once they have been released.
• Obama also said that the Bush administration’s policy of holding detainees for years on end without any trials is “unsustainable” and has only fueled anti-American sentiments.
• Obama also fired back at former Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertions that his plan to close Gitmo would make the U.S. less safe, saying:

“How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?” he asked. “It hasn’t made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment.”

Lots of holes in his arguments, in my estimation.  Firstly, in light of the overall ineffectiveness of TurboTax Timmy, how can you not let him go?  Not to mention Geithner’s knowledge of everything in the AIG bonus fiasco.  But then again, Obama not only received money from AIG, I truly believe that he knows a little more about the AIG bonus provision in the $787 billion stimulus package than he is letting on.

Secondly, how dare Obama claim to speak for and at the same time insult the fine people of Iowa and Arkansas?  Saying that people of those 2 states are thrilled to make $75,000 a year with no bonuses speaks volumes about Obama and his Socialist mentality.  Another thing.  I do not understand for the life of me why Obama would slam Bush’s Gitmo policies.  Last time I checked, our country hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.  There is actually a good reason why these detainees have been held for as long as they have been.  Has it occurred to Obama that of the detainees who have been released, they simply went back to doing terrorist activities?

Folks, Obama is an idiot.  First of all, he messes up our economy.  Then he nominates Geithner to be Treasury Secretary – only to find out that he didn’t pay any taxes.  Then he insults the citizens of Iowa and Arkansas with that “$75,000 a year with no benefits” comment.  Then he decides to have Eric Holder as the U.S. Attorney General – the guy who anyone who follows the Clintons and their history know that Holder played a big part in the pardon of that fugitive Marc Rich.

Obama then appoints Melody Barnes as Director of Domestic Policy Council.  She’s from Chicago – thus a payback hire.  then there’s fellow idiot Christine Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.  She’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the toolbox.  Robert Gibbs – please don’t get me started about him, OK?  Lawrence Summers – yet another Clintonista in Obama’s Cabinet.  David Axelrod – not only is he from Chicago but another Clintonista. 

Then there’s Eric Shinseki.  He was appointed as Secretary of Veteran Affairs; you’d think that Shinseki, as a retired member of the military that he would be most sensitive to wounded veterans’ needs.  Apparently not.  Then there’s that Clintonista tool Leon Panetta, who is now head of the CIA – are you kidding me?  Panetta as CIA chief?  That’s like having Rod Blagojevich becoming the head of the Salvation Army.  Panetta is nothing more than a glorified office manager.

Of course, we can’t leave out the old Chicago Sopranos wannabe Rahm Emanuel – yet another Clintonista who now serves as Chief of Staff.  Let’s not forget – speaking of Clintons – good ole’ Hillary Clinton, our current Secretary of State.  Obviously, Obama chose her as homage to Abe Lincoln.  You know – keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?  Then there’s Carol Browner; she’s Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change – and a known Socialist.

Then there’s Steven Chu – liberal whacko who is now U.S. Secretary of Energy.  He wants to make the entire nation “green” with a green electrical grid.  What is it with these wacky scientists, anyways?  Oh, let’s not forget that former governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, the current head of Homeland Security.  She uses the term “man-made disasters” instead of terrorists.  Memo to Janet – terrorists do in fact exist, and a man-made disaster is a poor choice of terms.  She has always reminded me of the bureaucrat who, when she leaves her worksite, goes home to her cats and is miserable.

Then there is the Colorado tool aka Ken Salazar, the current Secretary of the Interior.  Firstly, I find it real hard to take seriously a Democrat who dresses up like a poor man’s version of Will Rogers.  And points get taken away for his weird environmental policy.  They should create a Cabinet position that’s perfect for him – the Secretary of the Exterior.  In this position, Salazar would create policy on a deserted atoll – the Marianas way out in the Pacific Ocean is a good place for him.

And folks, for the sake of being redundant, it is exactly situations such as this which require immediate action from we, the people.  It is high time we start being proactive and help ensure that the GOP retake the House and Senate in 2010 and the White House in 2012. 

 How can you be proactive?  Writing your Republican senators and congressmen/women in your district is a good start; this is your forum to state your displeasure with the way out taxpayer is being spent like a bucnh of drunken sailors with no regard of the consequences.  You can also be proactive by volunteering at a campaign for the GOP senator and/or congressman/woman in your district.  they are a vital cog in the success of a politician’s campaign.  Last but certainly not least – get out there in 2010 and 2012 and vote.  Only 53% of us voted in 2008, which contributed to the Democraps taking not only Congress but the White House, as well.  Do you want that again?  If you’re a conservative like me, then it is obvious that you don’t. 

Now – if you choose to just sit on your ass, do nothing and hope for the best, then perhaps maybe you want the Dems to continue to run Congress and the White House for 6 and 4 more years, respectively.  That’s not being Republican is all about, and if you want your country back like I do,  then you need to take action and take it right now.

As was expected, congressional hearings began for the Obama appointees, as reported by The Washington Times; first up was the Attorney General appointee Eric Holder.  And like a pit bull, Congress grilled Holder, especially about the Marc Rich pardon; according to Holder, he only had a “passing familiarity” with the Rich case.  Correspondence relevant to the case which was secured by Congress from other witnesses indicated that about 15 months before the pardon, Holder met privately with Rich’s attorney and received a presentation of sorts which Rich’s defense thought were flaws in the federal government’s case.

Holder – who at that time was the #2 man in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton – proceeded to contact the federal prosecutors handling Rich’s case in New York and tried to arrange a meeting; the meeting never took place, due to the fact that Rich never turned himself in and had been a fugitive for about 16 years.  But here is where it gets interesting.

Rep. Dan Burton, Republican from Indiana, who oversaw the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee when it investigated the Rich pardon back in 2001, said that Holder had more than the “passing familiarity” of the case; he further added,

“I know human beings are fallible and they make mistakes, but making statements that are not accurate while under oath before a congressional committee goes beyond the pale. Sure as the dickens, he was not straight with our committee.”

Meanwhile, back at the confirmation hearing, Holder said that there was certainly some things, in retrospect, that he wished he had done differently.  To view the whole, ugly proceeding, click here.  I don’t care what anyone says, the confirmation of Eric Holder to the Attorney General post is not a slam-dunk, not by a long-shot.

As one would expect when there’s pending Cabinet confirmation hearings in the works, the President of the United States – or in this case President-elect – wants the hearings to be as painless as possible.  This certainly would be the case with President-elect Barack Obama as he has three nominations that are not without controversy; the names in question are: Commerce Secretary nominee Bill Richardson, Homeland Security nominee Janet Napolitano and last but certainly not least, Attorney General nominee Eric Holder.  Let’s see what is so controversial about these three, shall we?

• Janet Napolitano.  She’s spent all of her political career in the State of Arizona yet she has Washington connections, indirectly.  While as a private attorney in Phoenix, she was part of the legal team which represented Anita Hill during her lawsuit against Clarence Thomas, current Supreme Court Judge.  At that time, some Republicans suggested that Napolitano may have coached a witness for Hill into changing some testimony; ironically, Napolitano refused to answer questions on grounds that it would violate the attorney-client privilege.  Despite all of that, Thomas was confirmed.  She was also the U.S. attorney appointed by President Bill Clinton for the State of Arizona when the Justice Department declined to prosecute John McCain’s wife, Cindy for stealing prescription drugs from her medical charity; however, she took no part in that case due to waiting for her Senate confirmation, on which McCain was to vote.
• Bill Richardson.  Two incidents will make his confirmation difficult, the first being when he offered Monica Lewinsky a job at the United Nations in what Federal prosecutors describe as an attempt to buy her silence on behalf of President Clinton.  The second incident involves accusations that he faced from both Democrats and Republicans for failing to properly protect nuclear secrets after he left his United Nations post to become Energy Secretary.  What really takes the cake is that after the delaying of Richardson’s appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2000 for inquiries into security lapses at Los Alamos National Labs, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia told Richardson to not expect support for any future office that he sought.  Should Byrd be part of these upcoming hearings, expect Byrd to bring that up.  Byrd may be old as dirt, but his memory’s all there.
• Eric Holder.  One would think that he’d have the smoothest path to confirmation, but not so fast.  Holder has to answer questions about his role in the Marc Rich pardon.  To recap, Rich was the fugitive billionaire who was given a pardon by President Clinton on his final day of office, despite the fact that Rich had been pinned with tax evasion charges.  Also bear in mind that Rich’s wife, Denise Rich, was a big contributor to Clinton’s campaign.

To say that the confirmation hearings will be smooth sailing I think would be inaccurate; with all these skeletons in these three nominees’ closets, there is no guarantee that any of them will get nominated at all.  My best guess is that Napolitano gets confirmed easily, Holder gets nominated – but by the skin of his teeth – but Richardson is not confirmed.

Picture: Fox News

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) discusses the ramifications of Eric Holder being tabbed as President-elect Barack Obama’s top choice as US Attorney General, especially in light of Holder’s involvement in the Marc Rich pardon.

Even though former President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder is currently in the vetting process, a source has told Fox News that Holder is very close to becoming President-elect Barack Obama’s next Attorney General; as with all Cabinet posts, Holder will have to be confirmed by the US Senate.  To give you an idea how close Holder is to obtaining the position, feelers are being put out as to whether Holder could pass muster within the Senate.

On Tuesday, Obama offered the job to Holder; however, Holder – as expected – is offering no comment.  One thing may get in the way of holder’s confirmation – the Marc Rich episode.  To recap, Marc Rich was the fugitive billionaire who was pardoned by Clinton in his final day in office; not coincidentally, Rich’s wife was a big contributor to Clinton.  Not surprisingly, Holder was asked as to whether Rich should have been pardoned – did I mention that Rich was on the run after being pinned with tax charges? – Holder said he was “leaning towards favorable” on the pardon.  Holder later said that it was a snap decision and had he taken more time on the case…well I think you get the gist of this.  Just another way of saying that he dropped the ball.  Should he get nominated – I hope that isn’t the case – he would be the first black Attorney General.