Obama has chosen John Podesta as his transition chief, another member of the Clinton era. A lawyer by trade, he has spent his entire professional life in Washington D.C. This choice does not surprise many and I will explain why later. Now for a little background on John Podesta.
The Clinton years
Podesta was the fourth and final White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. As James Carville put it, the Clintons recognized Podesta’s talent for scandal suppression and they knew they would need it. He was a key player in handling all of Clinton’s scandals to include the Monica Lewinsky ordeal. The choice made sense for Clinton because John and his brother operate a D.C. public affairs firm. I bet they stay pretty busy.
In addition to scandal duty, Podesta also oversaw all of Clinton’s pardons at the end of his term. He was also instrumental in introducing Executive Order 12958, which led to an unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from U.S. diplomatic and national security history. An order that was removed by the Bush Administration.
There was also “Project Podesta”. It was a term given to a system directed by Podesta to push through polices that would not make it through a Republican Congress nor I imagine wanted by the American people. It was a complicated scheme that involved executive orders, presidential directives, White House sponsored lawsuits, and selective regulatory actions against targeted corporations. It was something only a lawyer could devise.
After Clinton
Now to the part where I explain why it was no surprise that Obama picked John Podesta for his transition chief. Podesta is the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington D.C. It is also known as a left wing “shadow government” or government in waiting.
They describe themselves as “a nonpartisan research and educational institute” and I guess they count on people not reading their mission statement.
There mission is to develop a long term vision of a progressive (liberal, socialist…pick one) America, provide a forum to generate new progressive (dido) ideas and policy proposals, respond to conservative proposals (to counter these proposals), and communicate (liberal) progressive messages to the American public.
I don’t know. Maybe I just do not understand the definition of non-partisan.
The CAP refuses to give its donors, but it is fairly well known that the majority of the money comes from ultra liberal financier George Soros, and also mortgage billionaires Herbert and Marion Sandler. The Sandlers are not as well known I am sure. They ran their mortgage company into the ground with sub-prime loans and then got Wachovia to buy them out. That is how they made their fortune.
The Center also has an Action Fund that shares the same staff and address, but carries a different IRS code so they can lobby in D.C.
A couple of their works were the John Murtha plan for Iraq that included a timetable for troop withdrawals. They also advocate the Fairness Doctrine, which goes after Conservative Radio. Radio is the last real stronghold for conservatives as liberal radio shows have really not been popular enough to stay on the air. By forcing radio stations to air equal number of liberal and conservative shows or pay hefty fines, they know that it will force many conservative radio programs off the air. Ironically, this non-partisan group does not promote legislation that does the same to TV media. I guess first amendment protections are only for those who are liberal. Stupid me.
As you can see, it is obvious why Obama picked Podesta as he is very liberal himself. There is nothing wrong with having a different point of view. I just don’t want America to be in shock when this administration takes a hard left. I imagine many will be. It happens when you do not look at the polices of the man you voted for.
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I was thinking the same thing about your last statement. I really doubt most Americans lean that far left. It’s interesting that liberals have a group that goes after conservative radio looking for equality. I guess they aren’t satisfied with having taken over tv media, the internet, and most major newspapers. At least we still have thesteadyconservative.com.
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