CIA Director Appointee is Obama’s Next Quagmire; Panetta’s Earnings have Lobbysist ties

      Even as the Obama administration is still reeling from a “bad day” yesterday that led to Tom Daschle withdrawing his name from consideration for the Secretary of Health and Human Services position, and Nancy Kellifer withdrawing from her position as the Chief Efficiency Director at the White House, bith having tax issues among other things, the New York Times is reporting that Leon Panetta is Obama’s newest headache.

     In his disclosure forms, Leon Panetta, Obama’s questionable choice as CIA Director, has revealed that he had earned $700,000 in speaking engagements and consulting jobs in 2008, including funds from failed banks, Wachovia, and Merrill Lynch. Additionally, some of his consulting work was with companies who have contracts or provide services to our National Security agency and subagencies. This could be a major conflict of interests, especially in light of the Obama call for “high ethical standards”.

     Before Obama goes any further in his agenda, it appears that he needs to reign the troops in, get the house in order, starting with asking Timothy Geithner to resign….. there should be no double standard….. Geithner is NOT indispensable!

Obama Media Strategy: Interviews with all the Network Anchors

     Yesterday, President Barack Obama arranged to have an afternoon of interviews, one on one, with each of the network anchors, scheduled for this afternoon. The idea was to use his political goodwill to “use” the media to appeal to the American public to build new support for his floundering economic stimulus package.

     Now, in light of the controversies that have engulfed the Obama administration in the last 24 hours regarding Tom Daschle’s tax issues, and Nancy Kellifer’s withdrawal for tax problems as well, the President will still have his interviews, but they will undoubtedly take on a different tone. One can expect that the President will be in defense mode to defend his support for Daschle, as late as last night, and the problems this presents to the “transparent” White House and the ethical standard the Obama team had wanted to avoid.

Daschle Withdraws from Cabinet Consideration

     Tom Daschle, embattled by growing concerns of his tax problems and his ties to the health care industry, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This was announced in a joint statement from the White House, just hours after the Obama administration’s choice for the “efficiency” czar at the White House, Nancy Kellifer withdrew her name. Her statement said, in part, that “in light of the present environment (Geithner and Daschle), she did not want her problem to be a distraction”. It is believed that Ms. Kellifer had “domestic help” tax problems.

    Daschle’s withdrawal was preceded by the announcement that Obama was nominating Republican Judd Gregg (R-NH) to be the Commerce Secretary, a position that had originally been placed in the hands of Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NV) until he withdrew in light of “pay for play” investigation. It is my opinion that Timothy Geithner should resign as a sign of the respect for the “ethical standards” that the Obama administration had promised.