Ain’t that tough enough?

Podesta & Clinton

John Podesta was the fourth Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton; he also headed the Obama transition team. Today he is George Soros’ point man at the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress. In a recent interview at the Clinton Global Imitative Conference, Podesta explains that it is the high standards and tough vetting process that makes it so difficult to get the best NGO and business executives to work for the federal government.

Podesta said,  “We are denying the government some really spectacular talent”  (See Video interview here)

Consider a small list of the spectacular talent Podesta helped recruit.  Are these the best the private and the public sector have to offer?

• Bill Richardson (corruption scandal)

• Tom Daschle (taxes, ethics)

• Nancy Killefer (taxes)

• Annette Nazareth (allegations of incompetence)

• Caroline Atkinson (taxes)

• H. Rodgin Cohen (conflicts of interest)

• Frank Brosens (“personal” reasons)

• Scott Polakoff (allegations of fraud)

• Jon Cannon (ties to embezzlement scam)

• Charles Freeman (foreign government cronyism)

I see nothing.

The recent revelation regarding School Safety Pedophile Protecting Czar Kevin Jennings suggests that little or no standards exist and the vetting process consist of a simple wink and node from Sergeant Schultz.

Why didn’t the vetting process work in these cases? What other low life’s would the White House appoint if only they could get passed these so called high standards that keep getting in the way?

Podesta once said of the Van Jones resignation:

“Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am confident he will continue that work. Unfortunately, his critics on the right could find no common ground with him.

“Clearly, Van was the subject of a right-wing smear campaign shrouded in hypocrisy.” (Think Progress Sept. 6, 2009)

Pick me John!

Podesta believes Van Jones is one of the “spectacular talents”.  However, Van Jones was forced to resign when he failed the vetting process of the American people.

Michelle Malkin, author of the number one best seller, Culture of Corruption, says this about the “toughly vetted” Obama Team:

“Obama’s team — the “best of the Washington insiders,” as David Brooks called it — is a dysfunctional and dangerous conglomerate of business-as-usual cronies. They play basketball with the president now instead of poker, but they are every bit as disreputable and demanding as their 1940s counterparts.

“The administration is teeming with long-lasting favor-seekers in government, business, and the lucrative bridge in between. The corruption stretches from wealthy power brokers Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, to pay-to-play-tainted Michelle Obama and Joe Biden, to ethically challenged, bailout-bungling money men Larry Summers and Tim Geithner at Treasury, crime-coddling corporate lawyer Eric Holder at DOJ, to the crooked Service Employees International Union, the shakedown artists at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and the ever-expanding swamp of Washington lobbyists.” (Today July 29, 2009)

It is not the process for appointing, but rather the pool of applicants that has given us the most corrupt and inept team of government officials in decades, if not ever.

The Obama czars make Congress look good.