Obama appointees falling short

Treasury Secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, is another in a growing cast of characters who isn't doing President Obama's popularity ratings much good these days.

Yesterday, Geithner took a beating in Congress. Seems elected officials from both parties are getting tired of Geithner claiming the economy is improving while constituents back home provide a more realistic view of how dire things actually are.

Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.) went a step further after others had called for Geithner to step down. "I don't think that you should be fired," he told Geithner. "I thought you should have never been hired."

Geithner fired back several times in a snippy manner, mostly shooting blanks that reflected poorly on him and the president. His only defense seemed to be that it's not his fault the economy continues to falter. He, like other Obama appointees, continues to blame the Bush administration for all that ails us. It's getting old.

We elected Obama, not another Republican, not another Bush. As a nation, we chose to go with change rather than the status quo. But thus far, the change isn't working, particularly in the economy, and it seems no one is willing to accept responsibility for making things worse.

Obama's other lieutenants also seem to be squirming under scrutiny lately.

Take the recent grilling of Attorney General, Eric Holder by a Senate Judiciary Committee as an example of another Obama official who failed to rise to the occasion when defending his decision to try accused Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in federal court in New York rather than through traditional military means.

Never mind that the trial will cost about $75 million in police protection alone. Never mind that there are many who believe the trial will provide a platform for terrorists to spread their lunacy worldwide or might disclose classified intelligence procedures. Opponents of the decision see the civilian trial as Holder's attempt to criminalize war.

In Obama's quest to paint us as a kinder, gentler and just nation to the rest of the world, he and Holder appear to be ignoring average Americans' sensibilities.

“We need not cower in the face of this enemy,” Holder said in defense of his decision.

Huh?

Who is cowering? Holder is either missing the point or diverting the attention from the real concerns, of which there are many more than I listed. These are the same type of smoke-and-mirror games the Bush administration played.

One of the things I was looking forward to with an Obama administration was an upgrade in intellect and compassion, and a decrease in politics as usual. However, whenever I hear Holder or Geithner speak, I usually feel worse about the direction in which we're going. When I read about a government-appointed task force recommending fewer mammograms for women, I have to wonder if there are some shenanigans going on in order to test the waters on public health insurance proposals that might include some form of rationing.

It is clear to anyone with any common sense that the economy is not improving. We have an administration that is apparently more focused on other things, such as how we're perceived worldwide, than it is about job creation. We have government agencies that are more concerned about political correctness than they are about removing threatening and mentally unstable people from the military.

I don't feel any safer from terrorism because of Obama's worldwide goodwill trips or Holder's legal decisions. I don't feel political correctness is making us a smarter country. I don't feel the unemployment rate is going to come down because we've bailed out some large companies with taxpayer money. We have to do more for small businesses, yet that concept seems to escape Geithner, despite the well-known fact that small business hire the most people. I don't feel the future is bright as long as we continue to grow state and national deficits.

Vice President, Joe Biden, and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, also have not appeared up to the tasks at hand, but that's a post for another day.

Unlike radio personality, Rush Limbaugh, I want Obama to succeed. I think most Americans do. It serves us all well as individuals and as a nation if unemployment is low and national defense is strong. It would have been nice for societal and business playing fields to become more level after years of Bush catering to the privileged. But Obama hasn't created a sense of fairness in business, government or anywhere else. At least not yet.

I was never comfortable with Obama's cabinet selections and other appointments that he made at the start of his presidency. While I thought he himself might have the right stuff to get us out of a growing mess, I had little confidence that his recycled hires would bring enough new ideas to the table to enable positive change.

It's time to start judging political leaders on performance, not politics, speeches, race or age. And part of that performance has to do with who they surround themselves with. A good manager hires smart, honorable people. Thus far, Obama doesn't appear to be a great manager. One of the criticisms of him during the campaign was that he lacked executive experience. Well, judging from his hiring track record so far, those concerns appear to have been legitimate.