Kathianne
05-24-2011, 09:10 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-milhous-obama/2011/05/23/AFzdYn9G_story.html
Richard Milhous Obama?
By Marc A. Thiessen, Published: May 23
In a television interview last October, President Obama accidentally let slip a key element of his political philosophy: “We’re gonna punish our enemies, and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.”
Obama later apologized — not for the underlying sentiment, mind you, but for his word choice. “I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of enemies,” the president declared.
...
The proposed executive order is so bad that even some senior Democrats on Capitol Hill are refusing to go along. Last week the second-ranking House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer, broke ranks with the administration, declaring “The issue on contracting ought to be on the merits of the contractors’ bid and capabilities. I think there are some serious questions as to what implications there are if somehow we consider political implications in the context of awarding contracts.” Meanwhile Sens., Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate subcommittee responsible for contracting oversight, joined Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) in writing a bipartisan letter warning that the proposed order “risks injecting politics into the contracting process” and urging President Obama to reconsider. “The requirement that businesses disclose political expenditures as part of the offer process creates the appearance that this type of information could become a factor in the award of federal contracts,” the senators wrote.
Political contributions should never be considered by any procurement officer when making contract decisions — so why would the Obama administration want to require businesses to disclose those contributions to procurement officers when applying for government contracts? Unless Obama is trying to bring the Chicago “pay-to-play” culture to Washington, his order makes no sense. Or perhaps the president who believes in “punishing enemies” wants to know who is backing independent groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Crossroads GPS that have been so effective in opposing his agenda in Washington. And since Congress refused to go along with his Disclose Act, the only way he can compile such a list of his political adversaries is by forcing their donors who apply for federal contracts to provide the information. In other words, this effort isn’t about improving the integrity of federal contracting; it’s about Nixonian political intimidation. But with one crucial difference: Even Richard Nixon didn’t create his enemies list by executive order.
So many similarities with the worst of the worst presidents.
Richard Milhous Obama?
By Marc A. Thiessen, Published: May 23
In a television interview last October, President Obama accidentally let slip a key element of his political philosophy: “We’re gonna punish our enemies, and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.”
Obama later apologized — not for the underlying sentiment, mind you, but for his word choice. “I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of enemies,” the president declared.
...
The proposed executive order is so bad that even some senior Democrats on Capitol Hill are refusing to go along. Last week the second-ranking House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer, broke ranks with the administration, declaring “The issue on contracting ought to be on the merits of the contractors’ bid and capabilities. I think there are some serious questions as to what implications there are if somehow we consider political implications in the context of awarding contracts.” Meanwhile Sens., Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate subcommittee responsible for contracting oversight, joined Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) in writing a bipartisan letter warning that the proposed order “risks injecting politics into the contracting process” and urging President Obama to reconsider. “The requirement that businesses disclose political expenditures as part of the offer process creates the appearance that this type of information could become a factor in the award of federal contracts,” the senators wrote.
Political contributions should never be considered by any procurement officer when making contract decisions — so why would the Obama administration want to require businesses to disclose those contributions to procurement officers when applying for government contracts? Unless Obama is trying to bring the Chicago “pay-to-play” culture to Washington, his order makes no sense. Or perhaps the president who believes in “punishing enemies” wants to know who is backing independent groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Crossroads GPS that have been so effective in opposing his agenda in Washington. And since Congress refused to go along with his Disclose Act, the only way he can compile such a list of his political adversaries is by forcing their donors who apply for federal contracts to provide the information. In other words, this effort isn’t about improving the integrity of federal contracting; it’s about Nixonian political intimidation. But with one crucial difference: Even Richard Nixon didn’t create his enemies list by executive order.
So many similarities with the worst of the worst presidents.