White House photo
Man, when the White House gets ready to sell you as the greatest, they don't mess around. Here's the (de-typoed) announcement for Jack Lew as the new (and returning) director of the Office of Management and Budget:
Lew, who already has outstanding experience in the position under the Clinton Administration, has been serving in the State Department under President Obama. During his time under President Clinton, 11 million jobs were created, and the federal budget was balanced for the first time since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. An inherited $290 billion deficit was turned around, and resulted in a more than $236 billion surplus at the end of 2000.
In our conversation yesterday with Richard Holbrooke yesterday, the first since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan also heaped praise on new OMB director. As a deputy secretary of state, Mr. Holbrooke said, Lew tripled the civilian diplomatic presence in the region. More?
"If he's confirmed, it's a tremendous loss for us because he filled a job that had never been filled before, never existed. The second deputy secretary of state focused entirely on resources and management. He brought to that job six years as head of the office and management under President Clinton.
"In the State Department, it was tremendously complicated because this is a hard place to manage. He also worked with AID. He was my closest collaborator -- still is my closest collaborator in this building. He did a tremendously important job in helping us get the resources to do the civilian effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"But it goes far beyond that. Jack had changed the building, and it was a brilliant decision by Hillary Clinton to bring him into the building. Now it's totally logical that he goes to OMB. It makes absolute sense. He's head and shoulders the best candidate for that job, just as Gen. Petraus was the best candidate to replace Gen. McChrystal, but we will need to fill in behind him.
"He assured me, when called me to tell me what's going on, that if he's confirmed he will spend a lot of time supporting Afghanistan and Pakistan from OMB. So the U.S. government comes out ahead in this thing, because he is coming back into the cabinet and, as Secretary Clinton, said he's been an indispensable person in this building. If he's confirmed it's going to be a great loss for us, but it's the best thing for the U.S."
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Speaking of Holbrooke, did he take a dig at Chris Matthews last night? I couldn't really tell.I thought his comparison of Rachel with Steven Colbert was a little bit backhanded too. Steven Colbert is of course terrific, but the insinuation was that TRMS is a comedy show like TCR.
We need a 'few good men' (and women) like Lew that can land a country on sound footing. Now that the W intellect drought is over Lew can show the way forward. He's been there before. Picked up the broken pieces left behind by Ron and George the first. It must be have been disheartening for him to watch his hard work trashed by Republican budget logic where new spending must have spending offsets, but tax cuts are Free!
I don't know what you people are smoking. I sure don't want someone as Director of OMB of the USA who worked for Citigroup in its Alternative Investment Group as its COO. Will Lew bend over for the IMF? Will Lew justify keeping the Bush tax cuts in place? Will Lew cut social security as a first measure to reduce the deficit before ending the two ill fated Rumsfeld Wars that are hugely responsible for bankrupting the US Treasury? Will Lew even consider the major cuts deserved at the State Dept or will his close relationship to Sec of State Clinton preclude such consideration? And on and on and on...
In conclusion, Lew is intimately part of the problem and thus I do hope the Senate will think about what it is doing rather than go through the motions of an automatic approval. I see his nomination by the President as a terrible, terrible choice, unless you want to rubber stamp the so called Debt Commission's recommendations rubber stamped...when you get how bad and wrong they are, it will be too late! There is a chunk of time between now and the fall Senate confirmation vote and much can happen between now and then. I have already urged my Senators to disapprove Lew for this position.
My question to skyblu5555 is this; who do you believe is the right person for Director of OMB? You have stated the things you believe make Mr. Lew wrong for the position. So I am assuming that you also have an opinion about a better canidate for the job.
Rachel, I thought your interview with Mr. Holbrooke was very good. It was interesting and informative; you asked intelligent questions and Mr. Holbrooke answered you in kind. You only had the one slip up, don't ask a question you already know Mr. Holbrooke couldn't talk about.
I really enjoy your interviews because I feel that you are respectful to the person your interviewing and you ask relevant questions. Thank you so very much!
@ Tricia:
Good comments and I agree with you. Just one thing. Rachel is a journalist and a very good one. You DO ask the question that you already know Mr. Holbrooke ( or anyone else ) can't answer! Your subject might slip or give a hint. They might give you an idea how to rephrase the question so you elicit more information from them. That's not a "gotcha" or disrespectful, it's just smart journalism.
Good point! Thank you!