Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Hillary Clinton Confirmed

By a vote of 94-2, the Senate has confirmed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
Good.
As I have written, I think this appointment is extrordinarily ill-advised, and that Mrs. Clinton is in general a poor fit for this position. But that's water under the bridge now: Obama is President and a know-nothing on foreign affairs. But the choice, and the responsibilty, is his. Too much is going on in the world to have the State Department left rudderless (of all departments, this is the one least to be trusted on its own) while the Senate shilly-shallies over an appointment that was going to be confirmed anyway.
Similarly, I hope the Senate moves immediately to confirm Mr. Timothy Geithner over at the Treasury Department. I don't see why this man doesn't think he has to pay taxes, but he and his lawyers can square matters with the IRS and their lawyers on Mr. Geithner's own time. The banks are crumbling, the President is in dire need of professional advice on this subject too and Mr. Geithner, (the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank) fills this bill.
Senator Roberts of Kansas has told Mr. Geithner that he will be confirmed. This is obvious, so why fool around?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess "keep your enemies closer" is one way to play it. I'm glad Cornyn made a stand, even if only symbolic.

A would-be Madame President in the state house, a tax dodger at the IRS and an energy secretary Nobel Laureate neutered by a climate czar to come.

El Jefe Maximo said...

This is all quite true Reality...but they were going to be confirmed, one way or another.

I would like to see a stand, but at a point, and over a subject, where the stand was more than symbolic.

I like Senator Cornyn. Today he said that he had been "reassured" in a private conversation and would support Senator Clinton's confirmation. Evidently he was, because his was not one of the two votes against confirmation.