President Obama announced his pick for the next Treasury Secretary to replace Timothy Geithner. Jack Lew who currently serves as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, is a Washington
insider whom the President said “has helped strengthen our and economy and streamline the government.” Before joining the State Department, Lew served as managing director and chief operating officer of Citi Global Wealth Management and then Citi Alternative Investments (CAI). He holds an under graduate degree from Harvard and a graduate degree for Georgetown. His first order of business will be to address the16 trillion plus deficit, and the upcoming spending limits on government. Their are some concerns that will most certainly arise during his senate confirmation. During his 2010 senate confirmation hearing for white house budget chief, Jeff somewhat downplayed how much deregulation impacted the financial crisis. He then stated that he did not believe that“deregulation was the cause.” Jeff has worked for two administrations. Past positions include the President Obama’s first Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Bill Clinton. Aid to Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill under Ronald Reagan. He was responsible for the 1997 balance budget deal, and the 1983 social security legislation. New Gingrich endorses Jeff Lew and says that“he is very smart, a tough negotiator who understands government and the financial market.” In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in which 12 children and 6 administrators were killed, President Obama announced that he is committed to reducing the epidemic of gun violence in this country.
He announced that Vice President Joe Biden will head an initiative to work with the white house cabinet as well outside organizations to come up with proposals to look at existing gun laws and identify opportunities for reform. 6 Months prior to the Newtown shooting, 12 people were killed and over 70 people shot in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Amidst a growing consensus to look at existing laws and identify opportunities forimprovement, many Americans support a ban on the sale of military style weapon as well as the sale of high capacity ammunition clips. Many Americans also support laws requiring background checks before being able to purchase a gun. The president promised to use the powers of the white house to advance efforts at preventing more gun tragedies. However there is much opposition coming from gun rights advocates such as the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA has been critical of any proposals to change any existing gun laws stating that it is a violation of the 2nd Amendment. However agreed to meet with Vice President Biden to be a part of the discussion. President Obama said that several things will be put on the table including a culture of violence, education and mental health issues. It was no surprise that the National Rifle Association (NRA)did not feel that anything was accomplished on Thursday, January 10, during their meeting with Joe Biden and the Gun Task Force which included Attorney General Eric Holder, law enforcement officials, people from the entertainment industry, victims violence advocates, and gun rights activists. The NRA released a statement that partially read that they were “disappointed” that the meeting did not produce any viable solutions or present any polices that would stop gun violence or protect children, but in essence “attacked the Second Amendment.” They stated that they feel they went into the meeting optimistically expecting to talk about issues such as “keeping our children safe, school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids, and the collapse of federal prosecution of violent criminals.” But stated that “this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners, honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans”, whom they feel are being blamed for the actions of “criminals and madman.” The NRA plans to go forward with their own agenda in which they will meet with both parties of members of congress who want to talk about solutions they feel will work. Vice President Biden is scheduled to present President Obama with his recommendations on Tuesday, January 15th. He stated that “the President is definitely going to act. There are executive orders, there’s executive action that can be taken,” he added. On December 13, 2012, in a written statement to the president, Susan Rice the Ambassador to the United Nations withdrew her name from consideration for Secretary of State. It partly read “I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy disruptive and costly to you, and to our most pressing international priorities. It is simply not worth it to our country. The position of Secretary of State should not be politicized.”
President Obama stated “I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration or Secretary of State. While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first. The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country.” Ambassador Rice was seen as the top pick to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, although the president has said that no decisions have been made. Ms Rice will remain U.S. ambassador the United Nations. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham led the Republican charge to block the Susan Rice nomination. Both have been the most vocal critics of Rice appearing on the Sunday morning talk shows following the September 11th attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya inwhich U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. Five days after the attack, Ambassador Rice appeared on several Sunday talk shows to describe the administrations assessment of the attack. Ambassador Rice stated “Our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous not premeditated response to what had transpired in Cairo.” She explained that the assault had resulted from a spontaneous protest about an youtube anti-Islamic video, "Innocense of Muslims" which had set off several other such protests in other Muslim nations in the days before the Benghazi attack. What is Senators McCain and Lindsey’s criticism of Ms Rice? They say she deliberately mislead the American People by stating the attack was due to Islamic outrage over a video as opposed to it being a terrorist attack. Ms Rice has repeatedly stated that she was reading from non classified talking points given to her by the CIA. At the time she appeared on the talk shows, she stated that at that time it was her “current best assessment.” The CIA's talking points read as follows: "The currently available informationsuggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations. This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated. The investigation is on-going, and the US Government is working with Libyan authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of US citizens." If the CIA has confirmed that Ambassador Rice was reading from talking points given to her by the CIA then why not good enough for Republicans on Capitol Hill. Why what some are calling an old fashion witch hunt? Some speculate the reason being the Republican party does not like the fact that President Obama is African American, that he has too many women and people of color in his administration. It couldn’t be that of course, I mean President Bush had African Americans in his administration including an African American woman. Both Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Why then are Republicans going after Ambassador Rice with such fever? Republicans believed so profoundly that President Obama could not win a second term unless there was some divine intervention. Or unless of course the great conspirator himself somehow tricked the American people into voting for him. So, President Obama, Susan Rice and the administration came up with a plan. Make Americans believe President Obama has desimated Al Queda terrorists. Make Americans believe that Obama somehow is the great savior, and that the country is only safe with him as our President. When in fact President Obama has failed to protect the American people. And we are all in grave danger. And only the leader of the Republican party, Mitt Romney can save us. I know it sounds crazy. But Republicans believe that if the American people somehow only knew how much danger we are really in, Obama would not have won the Presidency for a second term. That’s it, Obama mislead the American people. Pundits say Republicans on capitol hill will stop at nothing to take this president and his administration down. After all they did say that they would do whatever it took to make sure that he was not re-elected. Unfortunately for them he was. All of this sounds crazy. I mean can’t we all just get along? Maybe none of this has anything to do with President Obama being African American or Susan Rice being an African American woman. Could it really be about cutting government spending, and keeping taxes low, democrat vs. Republican, good old American political partisanship? One thing is universally clear. It is tragic that there was attack on the consulate in Libya on September 11th, that it was poorly secured, and and four americans were killed. Who is really the blame for that? I think that is where the focus should be. |
AuthorDenee Anaya - Archives |