Day: January 5, 2009

The appointment of Leon Panetta as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is to be applauded, as Panetta comes to that sensitive position with an impressive resume.

Not only did Panetta have a significant career in the US House as a California Representative, but also he served Bill Clinton for a few years as Chief of Staff, and also was a member of the Iraq Study Group which assessed the Iraq war controversy.

It is true that he has not worked directly in the intelligence field, but he is a very capable man with excellent judgment, and a person such as Panetta is just what the CIA needs after much controversy over use of torture, and the general image that the agency has been involved in illegal, abusive use of its power, something investigated before by the Church Committee in the mid 1970s. 

We need a strong, effective CIA, but also a CIA that lives within legal limits that can be monitored by Congress, and Panetta will be able to restore the moral basis of this very important agency.  It also bodes well for a return to lawfulness by the executive branch in the continuing War on Terror.

It was disappointing news to hear that Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, President Elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn because of a grand jury investigation dating back to events in 2004 in that state.  There is no claim at this time that Richardson has done anything wrong, but he felt that the whole issue would delay his confirmation hearings and complicate the beginning of the Obama Administration. 

Obama has indicated that he hopes to employ Richardson later on when this grand jury investigation hopefully ends on a positive vein.  Richardson has a tremendous background in government, having served in the US House, as United Nations Ambassador and Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton, as well as being governor of his home state since 2003.  He also, of course, was a competitor in the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination battle.

Now Obama must work quickly to find an equivalent person of great talents and experience to fill that crucial position as head of the Commerce Department, an extremely important agency at all times, but particularly at a time of great economic turmoil  as we are now experiencing.

The state canvassing board and state court of Minnesota have ruled that Al Franken, the former comedian on Saturday Night Live and radio talk show host, has won the Senate seat over Senator Norm Coleman by a total of 225 votes statewide.

It is quite clear that Coleman will not prevail in a court suit, and meanwhile the state of Minnesota will suffer with only one senator, at a crucial time where every vote is needed for the Democratic administration of Barack Obama that begins in fifteen days. 

This may not be pleasing to the Republican party, but one cannot contend that the vote recount has been unfair.  Remember that Coleman was ahead right after the election, but a careful, tedious consideration of the close vote and of contested ballots has led to the changing of the result.  How can Coleman claim corruption, when there is no evidence of it? 

It is time for Norm Coleman to do the right thing and gracefully concede defeat and offer his assistance to Al Franken in doing what is best for Minnesotans!

After much reflection, I now believe that there is no just cause to deny Roland Burris, the choice of Governor Rod Blagojevich for Barack Obama’s Senate seat, to be denied that right.

My original thought was that Blagojevich should not be allowed to make that Senate appointment, but when one looks at the present situation, we must face the facts:  Blagojevich has been accused of corruption by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, but there has been delay in bringing an indictment, and to deny the fifth largest state in population one of its two senators, is unjust.  Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and he has not been indicted or convicted and not even yet impeached by the Illinois legislature.  That body failed to take the opportunity to change the state law and allow for an election for the remaining two years of the term, and meanwhile the state deserves proper representation.

Burris is not personally tainted by the Blagojevich controversy, and should not be victimized by simple accusations against the governor.  If the people of Illinois through the ballot box do not want Burris as the Democratic nominee in 2010 or to be the winner of a full six year term, that is their privilege, but one cannot contend that Burris is not qualified.  There are no specific qualifications to be a US Senator by appointment or election other than age and citizenship, and Burris is certainly not without credentials.  He was the first African American candidate to win statewide, a total of four times, as State Controller and State Attorney General.  He may not be a household name to the nation at large, but that does not matter.

It is time for Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, the top two Democratic leaders in the Senate, to stop preventing the lawful seating of Roland Burris as the next senator from Illinois, for at least the next two years!  We need that extra vote in the Senate for the Democratic administration of Barack Obama beginning in fifteen days!