Secretary of Commerce pulls out of Obama Administration

[Z]

OBAMA BURNED: GREGG WITHDRAWS AFTER POLICIES TOO MUCH TO STOMACH
Thu Feb 12 2009 16:18:14 ET

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, February 12, 2009

Senator Gregg Statement on His Withdrawal for Consideration of U.S. Commerce Secretary

Sen. Gregg stated, ?I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.

?However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

?Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives.

?I greatly admire President Obama and know our country will benefit from his leadership, but at this time I must withdraw my name from consideration for this position.

?As we move forward, I expect there will be many issues and initiatives where I can and will work to assure the success of the President?s proposals. This will certainly be a goal of mine.

?Kathy and I also want to specifically thank Governor Lynch and Bonnie Newman for their friendship and assistance during this period. In addition we wish to thank all the people, especially in New Hampshire, who have been so kind and generous in their supportive comments.

?As a further matter of clarification, nothing about the vetting process played any role in this decision. I will continue to represent the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate.?

Quoted from DrudgeReport but the story can also be seen on CNN's website.

[Arainach]

Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives.I don't want anyone who thinks like that in the administration anyhow. The point of advisors and cabinet members is to think for themselves and have their own ideas, whether or not those ideas agree with Obama 100% of the time.

[Seegtease]

True. If that were the case, we'd need no cabinet at all, and just let the president do his thing.

[Arainach]

Plus, it's just more proof that right now the Republicans don't want to fix anything, they just want to bitch and try to set Obama (and the country) up to fail. You complain that no one listens to you, you're offered a rather important cabinet post, and you turn it down. Fuck you, Republicans. This country would quite honestly be a far better place without you.

[Z]

I'll admit that I'm a little in the dark on how this stimulus plan is going to aid the economy when the last one, I assume, didn't. That's not even sarcasm but honest curiosity.

From the Democrats, I'm hearing that this stimulus plan will create tons of jobs and keep homeowners out of foreclosure and yet I've seen news sites claim that the average tax payer will only be seeing $400 from their stimulus check (which is hardly enough to save a home from being foreclosed). From the Republicans, I'm hearing that it won't save or create nearly as much jobs as is being promised and that the bill is loaded with pork-barrel spending.

As far as this guy quitting, I think it's a little hypocritical to say you're glad he's not in the administration due to his idea of a one-minded administration and yet you would rather the Democrats had no major idealistic opposition.

[Gareth]

I'm just going to sit back and wait to see what happens before I start judging decisions.
I did vote for this guy for a reason, might as well have some fucking faith in our president, Way to fail at that republifag.

Dont want a newb like that in the white house anyway.

[Arainach]

As far as this guy quitting, I think it's a little hypocritical to say you're glad he's not in the administration due to his idea of a one-minded administration and yet you would rather the Democrats had no major idealistic opposition.I didn't say that at all. I said the country would be better without REPUBLICANS, not without an ideological opposite. If there was a conservative party that actually had the best interests of the nation rather than their own political gain in mind, that would be a net positive. (Actually, the opposite of the Democratic party could be argued to be a true liberal party rather than conservatives, given that in any other nation our Democrats would be called a conservative party, but I digress)

[Z]

Understood. What about this one, though:

I'll admit that I'm a little in the dark on how this stimulus plan is going to aid the economy when the last one, I assume, didn't. That's not even sarcasm but honest curiosity.

Everytime I try to answer it for myself via net search, all I get is talk about how it will or won't pass. I've not heard detailed arguments from either side, just the general consensus that I've stated before (Promises of jobs vs pork-barrel spending)

How Will the Plan Work?

Obama's tax rebates will encourage consumer spending, which will lift Q1 GDP growth when the checks are mailed. The stimuli for businesses will help revitalize the economy, especially helping small businesses. The state aid will help keep them from having to either raise property taxes or cut needed services. The public works construction will retain or add 3 million jobs, and lower transportation costs. All incentives should be removed once the danger is over to reduce the deficit and avoid future inflation.If the economy is shit right now and people have bills to pay, I don't understand why the $400 for single tax-payers is going to go to anything other than that; bills. It's certainly not going to encourage me to go out and buy a bunch of trivial consumer products when I have a looming mortgage due in a month. In essence, that money is just going to go right back to the banks and it's going to go back to them in a very short period of time.

I'll grant it that it will help keep businesses in business for a longer amount of time but I don't know how that alone is going to automatically stimulate the economy. I would assume that all it would accomplish is bringing more of the same, much like the last stimulus. Businesses have bills to pay, too, so, again, I would assume that money would be going right to the banks and not to consumer products.

Apparently the bill is supposed to stretch the spending for 10 years or so but if that money could all be spent in a matter of months each year, most of which will go straight to the bank, I don't understand how the product of the stimulus is thousands of new jobs.

For instance, if I have a business, and the business is going south and I'm getting no new customers and my bills are overdue and I get this nice little stimulus check, then yes, I will be able to pay off my overdue bills but then what? I'm still in the same rut. All I've accomplished is delaying my business' end for a couple more months, if that. And if consumers are in the same situation (where they need to pay off their bills and loans) then I don't know how their stimulus checks are going to aid me in my business endeavors. I likely won't be seeing any of their money if I haven't been seeing it already.

If the idea is that citizens will get this $400 check, pay their bills, and then use $400 to go shopping then I say they've seriously miscalculated the situation. If I get my $400, I'm going to use it for this months mortgage, I'm going to spend the same amount of money on food products and necessities, and then I'm going to use what's left over on next months mortgage. In other words, the sale of consumer products will not be changing much, if at all, which isn't going to help any retail businesses and it certainly isn't going to encourage those business to hire more people that they will have to pay hundreds of dollars to each month.

If the thousands (though the quote says Millions) of new jobs are just limited to public works construction, and a great deal of construction positions are filled by illegal immigrants (most of whom send money back to their families in their home country) then I still don't understand how this is going to help. It would also be nice if the new jobs weren't limited to physical labor so that people with degrees outside of architecture (the majority) as well as older citizens could benefit from it as well. With businesses shutting down, people in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s are going to need work and I don't think they'll be donning hard hats and plumbers' belts any time soon out of nowhere.

Perhaps I'm just missing something. I certainly hope the stimulus does have its desired effect. Right now, though, I'm just not understanding how it would and I'd love to be enlightened.

[Killer_Man_]

Plus, it's just more proof that right now the Republicans don't want to fix anything, they just want to bitch and try to set Obama (and the country) up to fail. You complain that no one listens to you, you're offered a rather important cabinet post, and you turn it down. Fuck you, Republicans. This country would quite honestly be a far better place without you.

I found it even more interesting that they were complaining that they couldn't get their input in but they got it added to the bill but then refused to sign it.