Email this postBy and large, a Democratic White House held its own on the policy front during the 1990s (I know it was a while ago, but remember that whole peace and prosperity thing?) but they lost me at times with their corruption as well as their constant sucking up to big business. Monica was one thing but the selling of the Lincoln Bedroom to big-ticket donors was much, more more troubling. Maybe that's why I had a queasy feeling that Barack Obama was going to the Clinton-era well too many times for his new team -- and I was apparently right.
The chickens of the Clinton era are coming home to roost, or they almost did:
WASHINGTON (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday announced that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.
Meanwhile, this story by the New York Times' Charlie Savage isn't getting the play it deserves:WASHINGTON — An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.
The donor dude is nominally a Republican, which makes it smell more fishy. Blago is Blago, but Obama didn't pick him for anything. Richardson and Clinton are a different story. My favorite Obama cabinet choice so far has been Steven Chu for Energy Secretary, a Nobel laureate who's a complete D.C. outsider. I know Obama wants to hit the ground running, but you can't run very fast when you're carrying so much baggage. Sometimes change means, you know, change.
Comment removed.
Comment removed.
Someone once said to me "Change for a dollar is, still, a dollar." Meet the new boss, folks, as corrupt as the old boss. And the old, old boss. And the old, old old... you get it. Will we ever have another presidential administration not tainted by some scandal?
Comment removed.
This Richardson pay-to-play info has been out there for a while now but has rec'd little to no coverage by our watchdog media. Gee - why is that Will Bunch?
Apparently SBVFT (aka Swiftie) does not pay attention to serious media. The Richardson story was presented plainly in the NY Times when it first emerged. But I think we are not going to get rid of problems linking campaign contributions to policies and favors until we get rid of political contributions completely. Then if someone bribes a politician it will clearly be a bribe (although sometimes it might be disguised as a contribution to a foundation or even to a special chair at one's alma mater).
"The Richardson story was presented plainly in the NY Times when it first emerged" ......on page A482 and then dropped like a ton of brick never to be seen again, picked up, or revisited by any networks. Nor was The Anointed One ever asked about it. Nice try Archie.
Hope, Change.
No politician can get anywhere without influence peddling so it's impossible for it to be completely done away with. We will never see an administration without some sort of scandal because there never has been one. So far the little scandals involving Obama don't amount to a hill of beans. Perhaps worse scandals will happen. Probably be better if people waited until he got sworn in at least before they advocate impeachment however.
Wish we could get away from being ruled by the 'elite' like Bush and Clinton. They have grown fat and lazy. We desperately need new blood in our ruling class. More than 200 years have passed since we won independence from these kind of people who think they better than us all. Don't see this changing very soon so I expect the rich to continue to get richer which of course makes the rest of us poorer and poorer.
10 comments
About Will Bunch
Will's book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Dick Polman
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
Blog Roll
Get it now
today's 
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
Site Services:
Classifieds:
- Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Rentals | Marketplace | Celebrations
Partners:
