2nd pick for transportation security chief is out

2nd pick for transportation security chief is out

www.chron.com

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's second nominee for transportation security chief withdrew from consideration Friday because of questions over his background as a defense contractor.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself out of the running as head of the Transportation Security Administration, another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January because he faced a tough confirmation struggle in Congress. The Obama administration has called the job the most important unfilled position on Obama's team.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Another one bites the dust... Who is vetting these candidates and what does it say about the various appointees in other positions?

The TSA position is far too important for this level of incompetency when it comes down to potential candidates to fill the position. Why can't Obama use his overstated intellect and find a viable person for the position?

Can anyone say "lack of executive management experience?"

I knew you could...





www.chron.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by Mirthful Me
Can anyone say "lack of executive management experience?"

And not to have the courage to admit not knowing what the hell he's doing by getting help from someone that does. Not much to be mirthful about, here, unfortunately.

I once read that an important secret to success is to always hire people who are smarter than yourself.

[edit on 27-3-2010 by WTFover]

...Not to mention all those Czars that never get "vetted"!


From endgamenow.com...(With links to full articles)

Concord Monitor — Obama and his 32 czars

“The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States.”
- Senator Barack Obama, March 31, 2008

To say President Obama failed to follow through on this promise is an understatement. By appointing a virtual army of “czars” — each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House — the president has made an end-run around the legislative branch of historic proportions… Vesting such broad authority in the hands of people not subjected to Senate confirmation and congressional oversight poses a grave threat to our system of checks and balances.

NewsFlavor — The Obama “Czars”

These Czars are well paid, earning between $158,500 and $172,200, and using just the lower level of $158,500, this calculates to $5,072,000 annually… These Czars are designing policies in our country, and are neither subject to congressional approval or oversight. They do what they want, when they want, and the public through its elected representatives have no recourse.

WorldNetDaily — Obama’s radical, anti-American czars

Among Barack Obama’s 34 unaccountable “czars” are at least two whose radical roots and extremist views should disqualify them from service in government at any level -– let alone as top advisers to the president… John Holdren, his pick as top science adviser, is a population-control zealot who believes the Constitution justifies compulsory abortions on a massive worldwide scale. So much for the notion that radical abortion politics is ultimately about “choice.” … Van Jones, the special environmental adviser to the White House, has an equally checkered past deep-rooted in radical politics, including black nationalism, anarchism and communism.

The Daily Beast — Get to Know Obama’s Czars

… maybe he just likes delegating, but President Obama has been appointing czars at a furious rate since taking office… … the czar-ness of various executive branch positions is somewhat ambiguous (one man’s czar is another man’s special assistant to the president)…

NoisyRoom — Obama’s Czars Listing UPDATED

Note from ADMC: While this list contains some inaccuracies, it has something none of the other sources offered — a comprehensive list of duties associated with each position. Terrific piece of research by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton. (UPDATE 8/3/09, late evening: All inaccuracies have been corrected.)

IMAO — Czar Czar Galore

The Obama Administration is not the first administration to appoint someone with broad powers to oversee a function. You know. A “czar.” Previously, we’ve had Drug Czars, Energy Czars, and so on. But, Barack Obama has gone Czar crazy....

The Compleat List of Obama Czars
By Nancy Matthis

Bypassing the authority of Congress, Barack Obama rules through czars — the beginnings of dictatorship:

1. Herbert Allison Jr., bailout czar, [replaced Bush bailout czar Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability confirmed by Senate]

2. Alan Bersin, border czar

3. Dennis Blair, intelligence czar [Director of National Intelligence, a Senate confirmed position]

4. John Brennan, counterterrorism czar

5. Carol Browner, energy czar

6. Adolfo Carrion, urban affairs czar

7. Ashton Carter, weapons czar [actually Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and so subject to Senate confirmation]

8. Aneesh Chopra, technology czar

9. Jeffrey Crowley, [openly gay white man] AIDS czar

10. Cameron Davis, Great Lakes czar

11. Nancy-Ann DeParle, health czar

12. Earl Devaney, stimulus oversight czar

13. Joshua DuBois, religion czar, aka God czar

14. Arne Duncan, education czar

15. Kenneth Feinberg, pay czar

16. Daniel Fried, Guantanamo closure czar

17. J. Scott Gration, Sudan czar

18. Melissa Hathaway, [soon to be] cybersecurity czar

19. David J. Hayes, water czar [a Deputy Interior Secretary and therefore subject to Senate oversight]

20. Richard Holbrooke, Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) czar

21. John Holdren, science czar

22. Kevin Jennings, safe schools czar [nominated to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, a newly created post; openly gay founder of an organization dedicated to promoting pro-homosexual clubs and curricula in public schools]

23. Van Jones, green jobs czar

24. Gil Kerlikowske, drug czar

25. Ron Kirk, trade czar

26. Vivek Kundra, infotech czar [Shoplifted four shirts, worth $33.50 each, from J.C. Penney in 1996 (source)]

27. Douglas Lute, war czar [retained from Bush administration, married to Jane Holl Lute, currently a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]

28. George Mitchell, Mideast peace czar

29. Ed Montgomery, car czar [replacing Steve Rattner, who stepped down amid controversy over his former firm’s role in a possible kickback scandal]

30. Lynn Rosenthal, domestic violence czar

31. Dennis Ross, Mideast policy czar

32. Gary Samore, weapons of mass destruction czar

33. Todd Stern, climate change czar

34. Cass Sunstein, regulatory czar

35. Larry Summers, economic czar

36. Michael Taylor, food czar

37. Arturo Valenzuela, Latin-American czar (nominee) [although this post is referred to as a czar, he is nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and so is subject to Senate confirmation]

38. Paul Volcker, economic czar number two

39. Elizabeth Warren, TARP czar [chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Trouble Assets Relief Program; note that Herb Allison is more frequently called the TARP czar]

40. Jeffrey Zients, government performance czar [replaced original nominee Nancy Killefer who withdrew her name after issues with her personal income tax filings surfaced]

Positions established but not yet filled:
41. behavioral science czar

42. copyright czar

Positions being planned:
1. income redistribution czar
2. land-use czar
3. consumer financial protection czar, aka mortgage czar (source)
4. radio-internet fairness czar
5. student loan czar, to oversee a program of mandatory service in return for college money (source)
6. voter list czar
7. zoning czar

Same source as above...

Probably should be updated...This was from August 2009. I know things have changed somewhat from what is posted,but you get the point!

reply to post by WTFover


You made me laugh when you said that WTFover. My last position my bosses, I had 4 of them, use to tell me yes ***** we know you are smart and you know your job but this is how we do it.

The second part of hiring smart or competent people is to let them do their job and not micromanage everything.

My subs liked me because I did not tell them how to do their job, but to ask how I could make their jobs easier.

That is what is wrong with our government. They are a bunch of frelling lawyers. Lawyers can do nothing except..................what is it that lawyers do again? I mean productively speaking of course.

Oh yeah, they destroy production, destroy free flow of ideas, destroy incentive, etc etc etc.

Rant over.

Well, about my bosses, all brothers and the father, as soon as they left any of the projects I was supervising I would tell everyone they talked to, to forget what they said.

The funny thing was, they would catch on later and ask I thought we said we were going to do it this way. I would tell them, No you told me to do it your way. They would shake their head and laugh. It always cost them less my way, to code, and done quicker. I guess that is why the last time I had asked for a raise there was no question asked.

One more thing, they have this thing called KYA in government. No one takes responsibility. They have to have a 1000 debates, studies, etc etc etc to come up with something that a monkey would have said in the first place.

Oh well.