Obama and the New Cronyism

posted at 9:28 am on June 29, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

When Rep. James Clyburn gave his superdelegate endorsement to Barack Obama at the beginning of June, it gave a mild shock, as Clyburn had been insisting on neutrality, despite his supposedly close friendship with Hillary and Bill Clinton.  People assumed that Clyburn wanted to bring an end to a divisive primary, and especially to the ugly racial and gender tension stoked by both candidates.  Clyburn only wanted to get the era of Hope and Change and the New Openness started in Washington, we were supposed to believe.

Yeah, right:

An influential endorsement from Clyburn, a civil rights hero and top member of the House Democratic leadership, would have been welcomed by former President Clinton, who worked closely with him in the 1990s and thought they were close friends.

But the down-South campaigning got a little rough and, as The Ticket noted here, Clyburn didn’t help his old ally. In fact, he started to quietly tilt toward Obama, whom he eventually endorsed after the primary. And Clyburn and the ex-president are not talking much anymore.

Last week, tucked inside a short announcement of White House nominations being sent to the Senate for confirmation was a little-noticed line: “Mignon L. Clyburn, of South Carolina, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission for a term of five years.”

Clyburn is the eldest daughter of James Clyburn and a member of South Carolina’s Public Service Commission.

Recall that Obama ran on the campaign pledge to clean up that one-horse town of Washington DC, including the nepotism and influence peddling that locks out talent and fresh ideas.  As Andrew Malcolm notes, the reality is less Utopia and more Chicago Machine.  Obama has made the federal government his personal patronage system, and not for the first time, either.

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davidk on May 20, 2013 at 6:20 AM

I’m starting to believe there isn’t anything too far fetched to believe with this administration. I remember the Jack Ryan incident. The crazy part? The Illinois GOP powers-that-be backed away and then destroyed their own candidate. The Dems play for keeps. The GOP doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to fight them.

Ajackson, great information and analysis, as usual.

I still just sit here and shake my head. This is crazy, futuristic dystopian stuff going on in this administration and so many people are oblivious to all it. And, Obama’s minions find it “offensive” to challenge him. *shaking my head*

Fallon on May 20, 2013 at 8:31 AM

I’m starting to believe there isn’t anything too far fetched to believe with this administration.

Fallon on May 20, 2013 at 8:31 AM

Fast and Furious alone already told us this, and that’s just one head of 0dumba’s hydra!

Keep your popcorn ready – there’s more to come!

Anti-Control on May 20, 2013 at 8:36 AM

Senate Judiciary – Immigration amendments
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/

House Gov. Reform Oversight Hearings – IRS Wed. 5/23
http://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-announces-irs-hearing-next-week/

Commerce (HHS)
http://energycommerce.house.gov/press-release/look-ahead-committee-announces-hearing-schedule-week-may-20

workingclass artist on May 20, 2013 at 8:45 AM

davidk on May 20, 2013 at 6:24 AM

Could Borowitz actually parody Zero with those QUOTES, and get away with it ?
Did Preezy truly say those things ?
Praps I need to suffer through the address, to know for sure ?

pambi on May 20, 2013 at 9:11 AM

Bingo: Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.

This scam is being run through the greedy-union management structure, which thanks to an Executive Order signed by the REB, cannot be FOIA’d.

The Republicans have to put the greedy-union org structure on the wall and work their way through it like Mafia investigators do.

slickwillie2001 on May 20, 2013 at 9:15 AM

President Obama’s professed ignorance of the targeting of conservatives by one government agency and his support of tracking journalists’ sources by another highlight one of the great paradoxes of his presidency: Sometimes he uses his office as aggressively as anyone who’s held it; other times he seems unacquainted with the work of his own administration.

I nominate this one for the Butterfield Effect award.

Maybe we should help the writer out?

It’s called plausible deniability. He uses the office more aggressively than anyone who’s ever held it, then pretends ignorance when caught. Fortunately, absolutely no one is so stupid as to buy the innocent act.

Oh, wait…..

There Goes the Neighborhood on May 20, 2013 at 10:19 AM

Just four months after his second inauguration, the president is buffeted by gushing investigations, smug and deranged Republicans, and cat-who-ate-the-canary conspiracists. The man who promised in 2008 to make government cool again is instead batting away charges that he has made government “Nixonian” again…

It turns out that Treasury officials knew during the 2012 campaign that an investigation into the targeting was going on. But, enhancing his image as a stranger in a strange land, the president said he learned about it from news reports on May 10. Then he waited three days to descend from the mountain and express outrage…

The president should try candid; wistful and petulant aren’t getting him anywhere. The Republicans who are putting partisan gain above solving the country’s problems deserve a smackdown.

Speaking of awards, this one ought to win Maureen Down an “unintentional humorist” award. The president targets his political enemies, and the only outrage she can muster is those nasty Republicans who are, in her mind, taking advantage of the scandal.

There Goes the Neighborhood on May 20, 2013 at 10:22 AM

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