The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: TheSarge on December 30, 2008, 08:41:25 PM
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(http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:yPY7mc22TB9zxM:http://www.visitingdc.com/images/pentagon-picture.jpg)
Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama’s transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day.
Scott Gration, a senior official on Obama’s transition team, called and emailed several of President Bush’s Pentagon appointees about 10 days ago to inform them they were being dismissed.
Those calls and emails were followed up by an email from Jim O'Beirne, the special assistant to the secretary of defense for White House liaisons, who expressed exasperation that Gration informed the employees directly instead of letting O'Beirne's office know first.
"With regard to the process, I am unable to provide an explanation," O'Beirne wrote on Tuesday in the email, which was obtained by The Hill. "I played no part in it, and I will not speculate why matters were handled as they were."
A spokesman for the Pentagon said Gates was "absolutely satisfied" with the way the transition was handled.
Gates "is sensitive to the fact that a number of appointees will not be able to stay on after [Jan.] 20th," Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said. He noted Gates did request many appointees stay on and the "Obama team was able to cooperate."
But O'Beirne made it clear in the email that in some cases of dismissal, he thinks the employee's politics played a role in their being let go.
O'Beirne said that Gates had "sought to keep virtually his entire team in place pending the availability of Obama replacements."
Out of roughly 250 political appointees, 90 were dismissed.
"Whatever negotiations occurred in pursuit of that goal, the Gration notifications evidently reflected the results of those efforts," O'Beirne wrote.
Traditionally political appointees resign at the end of a president’s term, leaving the new commander in chief to put his own team in place but with Gates staying in the top Pentagon job there was reason to believe many of his staff would also stay.
The Obama team noted that a majority of the political appointees will remain in place.
"Given that our nation is at war, we have asked several political appointees at the Department of Defense to stay in their jobs past January 20th to help ensure a smooth transition. We are grateful for the cooperation and professionalism of the men and women at the Department of Defense in support of our men and women in uniform," an Obama transition official said.
Bush has repeatedly stated that he wanted to see an orderly transition to ensure that the next president would hit the ground running at a time when the country is fighting two wars and weathering one of the most significant economic crises in modern times.
Until now, that process seemed to be going smoothly as a number of departments have reported efficient and even cordial working relationships between Bush appointees and transition officials. The holiday Pentagon dismissals appear to be the first breakdown.
In the email, O'Beirne tried to assure the soon-to-be displaced employees that the decisions were based on "policy change in the Obama administration" and not based on performance.
However, he said, if employees "harbor residual doubts" then they can "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."
"In that regard, you may take justifiable satisfaction that you were among the first to be chosen," O'Beirne wrote.
Other reasons O'Beirne cited for employees' dismissal were "politics, matter of policy and availability of qualified replacements and the strength of the permanent career and uniformed staffs."
http://www.thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-dismisses-bush-pentagon-appointees-200
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And the Democrats calling for investigations, firings, etc...<crickets>
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Is Hazel O'Leary still alive? The Big 0 needs to find a place for her if she is. Oh heck, she's a Democrat, he can find a seat for her even if she's dead.
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And the Democrats calling for investigations, firings, etc...<crickets>
It's okay, it's not like they're lawyers or anything.
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Okay...
Gates gets to stay for now, but the O is canning 90 folks that work for and most likely support Gates, to be replaced by folks that will probably fight Gate's tooth and nail on every issue.
Anyone see where this is heading?
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Okay...
Gates gets to stay for now, but the O is canning 90 folks that work for and most likely support Gates, to be replaced by folks that will probably fight Gate's tooth and nail on every issue.
Anyone see where this is heading?
yep.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/35845zs.jpg)
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yep.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/35845zs.jpg)
My thought exactly.
If things get FUBAR the DEMS will blame Gates, or he gets pissed at the road blocks and just says **** it and resigns.
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this is just messed up . . . thank heavens that the "old washington politics" are dead and gone with the ascension of the obamessiah.
However, he said, if employees "harbor residual doubts" then they can "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."
"In that regard, you may take justifiable satisfaction that you were among the first to be chosen," O'Beirne wrote.
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My thought exactly.
If things get FUBAR the DEMS will blame Gates, or he gets pissed at the road blocks and just says **** it and resigns.
it was probably a mistake for him, personally, to accept the position. but he has 130,000 troops deployed in iraq to worry about, and probably wasn't prepared to leave their fates in the hands of a bunch of amateurs.
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this is just messed up . . . thank heavens that the "old washington politics" are dead and gone with the ascension of the obamessiah.
With all the Clinton retreads being appointed by the "Choosen One", it is obvious that the change he promised sure is going to happen.
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it was probably a mistake for him, personally, to accept the position. but he has 130,000 troops deployed in iraq to worry about, and probably wasn't prepared to leave their fates in the hands of a bunch of amateurs.
I for one am thankful that he agreed to stay on. My son is one of those 130,000 you mentioned.
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I for one am thankful that he agreed to stay on. My son is one of those 130,000 you mentioned.
I understand. let's hope and pray for the best. and our appreciation to your son for his service.
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I understand. let's hope and pray for the best. and our appreciation to your son for his service.
Ya know... If Bush Sr. would have let us finish the job when I was there 90-91, my son probably wouldn't even be there now. Back then, after our return to the states a lot of us Gulf War vets talked about it and figured we, the US, would have to go back in a about a decade.
We were right.
Sorry for the thread drift.
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I'm surprised it's not more like 200 out of 250 instead of just 90. Not really too surprising, apparently some senior appointee noses are seriously out of joint over the direct notifications, though.
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I'm surprised it's not more like 200 out of 250 instead of just 90. Not really too surprising, apparently some senior appointee noses are seriously out of joint over the direct notifications, though.
it was a pretty huge breach of protocol, but what do you expect when "amateur hour" has been declared in washington DC? that is a very good way of making a lot of enemies very quickly, though.
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it was a pretty huge breach of protocol, but what do you expect when "amateur hour" has been declared in washington DC? that is a very good way of making a lot of enemies very quickly, though.
I don't think they've got all that much to worry about on the enemies, the career civil service people are either so dedicated to their work they will take it in stride or such incredible suck-ups that the guys who are leaving are already dead to them. The military assigned to the Five-sided Funhouse also tend to have pretty cat-like political reflexes and by-and-large there is no 'Yesterday' in their outlook, they will take today's idiotic plan and implement it with all the zeal and enthusiasm they devoted to last week's ill-conceived directives.
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DAT--the more things change, eh?
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I don't think they've got all that much to worry about on the enemies, the career civil service people are either so dedicated to their work they will take it in stride or such incredible suck-ups that the guys who are leaving are already dead to them. The military assigned to the Five-sided Funhouse also tend to have pretty cat-like political reflexes and by-and-large there is no 'Yesterday' in their outlook, they will take today's idiotic plan and implement it with all the zeal and enthusiasm they devoted to last week's ill-conceived directives.
I was thinking more about the washington culture and entrenched bureaucracy generally. I always suspected that it was careerists and clinton holdovers at the CIA that created all of the obvious tension between langley and the bush white house, for example.
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DAT--the more things change, eh?
Oh, Hell yeah. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout.
:banghead:
:evillaugh:
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I was thinking more about the washington culture and entrenched bureaucracy generally. I always suspected that it was careerists and clinton holdovers at the CIA that created all of the obvious tension between langley and the bush white house, for example.
Ding ding ding.
We're in for a bumpy four years. Of course in other news, water is wet.
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I was thinking more about the washington culture and entrenched bureaucracy generally. I always suspected that it was careerists and clinton holdovers at the CIA that created all of the obvious tension between langley and the bush white house, for example.
DING...DING...DING...we have Teh Winnah!!!