Gregg withdraws nomination to become commerce secy

[MacBeth]

He is just realizing this NOW? This does not pass the smell test for me.....



WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abruptly withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary Thursday, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with President Barack Obama's handling of the economic stimulus and 2010 census. "We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy," Gregg said in a statement released by his Senate office.

Gregg, 61, is a former New Hampshire governor who previously served in the House. He has been in the Senate since 1993 and currently serves as the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, where he is known as a crusader against big spending.

In his statement, Gregg thanked Obama for the nomination, and said, "I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle."

In citing the stimulus and census, he said, "Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."

In his statement, Gregg said his withdrawal had nothing to do with the vetting into his past that Cabinet officials routinely undergo.

Gregg's reference to the stimulus underscored the partisan divide over the centerpiece of Obama's economic recovery plan. Conservatives in both houses have been relentless critics of the plan, arguing it is filled with wasteful spending and won't create enough jobs. Gregg has refrained from voting on the bill — and on all other matters — while his nomination was pending.

The Commerce Department has jurisdiction over the Census Bureau, and the administration recently took steps to assert greater control. Republicans have harshly criticized the decision, saying it was an attempt to politicize the once-in-a-decade event.

The outcome of the census has deep political implications, since congressional districts are drawn based on population. Many federal funds are distributed on the basis of population, as well.

Both of those factors mean there is a premium on counting as many residents as possible. Historically, the groups believed to be most undercounted are inner-city minorities, who tend to vote Democratic.




news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/gregg_withdrawal

[Calluna]

The NYTimes article on this included a bit more. I won't post the whole thing, since about half of it is redundant with the above. But here is the White House statement included in the article:

Moments after the stunning announcement, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, issued a statement that Mr. Gregg had “reached out to the president and offered his name for secretary of commerce.”

“He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda,” Mr. Gibbs said. “Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways.”

www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/politics/13gregg.html

Sounds like Obama was just expecting a yes-man, and Gregg decided he couldn't be that.

[joethree56]

Mr. Gregg had “reached out to the president and offered his name for secretary of commerce.”

Or Gregg thought the tail would wag the dog

[wheelspinner]

It seems a bad time to be going on without a Secretary for Commerce for so long.

It suggests that the new Administration is not very good at executive selection, let alone choosing people who are going to get through the ratification process.

[MacBeth]

It also points out the issue with the ratification process (either access to information, or the occasional non-issue taking over), as well as the possible folly of setting your sites on a certain number of those from the other major party in the cabinet, or other non-job related criteria for selection.

Add to that the reality that who in the world wants a job in Commerce these days and you have a recipe for problems.

[MacBeth]

Gregg flip-flop emboldens GOP
By: Charles Mahtesian

The N.H. senator's surprise decision to remove himself from the Commerce secretary pool gives the GOP a new rallying cry.
more: www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18821.html


I wish I could say that there was not a small part of me that thinks this might have been the goal all along

[MacBeth]

Why Judd Gregg's Change of Heart Was a Birthday Present to Lincoln's Protégé

The president's magnificent speech last night in honor of Abraham Lincoln did exactly what he has been needing to do, and did it artfully and disarmingly: to begin re-branding government as something other than, as Reagan branded it, "the problem, not the solution." Behind a memorable branding campaign is almost always a memorable story, and the story the president told was precisely the one that Americans across the political spectrum have needed to hear, particularly those in the political center, who have developed a deep distrust of the only institution that can now save their jobs, health care, unemployment insurance, homes, and retirements. The story he told is of how government can sometimes err on the side of stepping in where it doesn't need to or in ways that are ultimately counterproductive, but that the pendulum has now swung so far in the other direction that we have forgotten that citizens joining together for the common good -- which, last I remember from the Declaration of Independence, is what democratic government is supposed to be -- is often the only force powerful enough to do what individuals cannot do for themselves. The speech masterfully blended together values shared by people across the political spectrum -- individual autonomy and responsibility, and collective effort and common bonds -- but that have often been touted as values of the right and left, respectively.

In a brief moment, the president also disarmingly dealt with what appeared to be the latest black eye on his administration, Senator Judd Gregg's sudden recognition that he doesn't really believe in things like regulation of commerce, stimulating an economy on the brink of collapse, or making sure everyone is counted in a census, and hence withdrew his nomination to serve as Secretary of Commerce. Toward the beginning of his speech, President Obama set the scene, with a twinkle in his eye that turned into a broad smile, of an Abraham Lincoln before he became Abraham Lincoln, wondering if he'd receive a phone call offering him the position of Secretary of Commerce.

Although another cabinet member biting the dust was probably not welcome news for the White House, this one was actually a Lincoln's Birthday present. President Obama has taken Lincoln as his role model and has tried to emulate his "team of rivals." However, as pointed out by my colleague Joel Weinberger, Lincoln didn't invite Robert E. Lee to give him advice on his war plans or ask Jefferson Davis to serve in his cabinet. If the President wanted a rival on his team for commerce, he might have chosen Nobel laureate and progressive economist Paul Krugman, who would be part of a team of rivals who are, at the very least, on the same team, wearing the same-colored uniform on the battlefield at Elkhart.

But Gregg was a problematic choice long before his views on the census or his non-vote on the stimulus became apparent, for reasons that reflect the way our minds and brains work. Much of our thought is unconscious and associative, not rational or linear, and shaping those associations -- as Reagan did with "government" -- is central to moving public opinion. For years, Democrats have led Republicans in the polls on most of the issues tracked by pollsters except two: national defense and commerce. This administration has an historic chance of changing that, as long-term advantages for Republicans of 30 or more points in the polls when respondents are asked who they trust more, Democrats or Republicans, on both protecting the country and working with business to create prosperity, dropped to single digits in 2008, and for good reason: when the Republicans finally held the reins of power for the last eight years, they destroyed their credibility on national security by waging wars unnecessarily and incompetently while simultaneously precipitating not only the worst year for business since the Great Depression but the greatest economic crisis this country has faced in a century. By choosing Republicans as Secretary of Defense and Commerce, the administration sent out an unintended meta-message to voters: you can trust us Democrats on a lot of things, but when it comes to defense and commerce, let's bring in the Republicans, because they really know something about keeping us safe and prosperous. The last thing the White House needs to do -- even in its unrequited spirit of bipartisanship -- is to reinforce Republicans' historic advantage on these issues at a time when voters are rightly beginning to rethink it.



Drew Westen, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University, founder of Westen Strategies, and author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.




www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/why-judd-greggs-change-of_b_166614.html