Obama's Cabinet Does The Hokey Pokey

Obama's Cabinet Does The Hokey Pokey
By Lurita Doan
9/26/2011

Forget about Dancing with the Stars. If Americans want to see some really fancy footwork, just watch the senior members of the Obama Administration as they do the hokey pokey. The President is, perhaps, the greatest dancer of all as he constantly talks about his policy goals, waves it all about, only to take it all back as he turns himself around.

In May 2009, Secretary Chu put his hands all over the Solyndra loan which he said would be a model for what the government creation of "green" jobs. Chu attended the ground breaking with President Obama and cited Solyndra's example in his speeches. Yet, now, with Solyndra's mind-boggling profligacy, squandering $523 million in taxpayer money in less than two years and filing for bankruptcy protection, both Chu and Obama are eager to take their hands off as they shake them all about, blaming anyone other than themselves for the poor loan decision and the complete lack of oversight into the expenditure of the funds

And, it seems Cabinet Secretary Steven Chu has cravenly decided to utilize a time-tested delaying tactic of sendinga lower-ranking staffer, Jonathan Silver, the DoE loan guarantee officer to testify as he turns himself around.

Both the White House and the Department of Energy officials are being disingenuous and possibly duplicitous in their adamant denials of wrongdoing. For those who understand the process of approving, and scheduling presidential appearances, there can be no doubt that the White House was closely involved in the Solyndra deal-making.

Each week, executive branch agencies send a report to the White House informing the president (in absentia) of current and upcoming agency actions of note. Each week, executive branch agencies also notify the White House of potential activities at which they are requesting the president's attendance, usually an agency event that highlights some aspect of the president's management agenda, and usually providing the White House with several months' advance notice.

Presidential visits are highly coveted events, highly desired by cabinet heads, because the president's visit raises the profile of the agency and provides much coveted photo-ops for agency employees.

There is usually a good deal of back and forth discussions between Executive agency staffers, the Executive Agency White Housel Liaison and White House staffers regarding the type of event, the timing of the event and the substance of the event to ensure it warrants an appearance by the president.

All the facts in the president's speech are reviewed (for example, the details verifying a loan mentioned in the speech) and signed off on by as many as 15 agency officials and even folks from OMB before the event is entered formally as a part of the president's calendar. So, the likelihood that neither the White House, nor the leaders of DoE, were in any way knowledgeable or involved in the Solyndra loan deal is highly unlikely.

Sadly, Solyndra is but a recent example of Obama's Cabinet officials' skill with doing the hokey pokey. The Justice Department’ s disastrous Operation Fast & Furious reveals a similar scenario—an ill conceived, poorly executed idea that was hastily put into operation. And yet, after providing some 1200 assault weapons to Mexican cartels, which are now showing up in crimes and murders of American citizens, Americans once again see the Obama Administration shaking their hands and turning themselves about as they run for cover.

Then, there is the case of the SEC. What does it mean when Americans see Obama’s executive appointees at the SEC all hiring lawyers to represent themselves as evidence of gross conflicts of interest starts to pile up?
Of course, no one is quite as skilled at the hokey pokey as President Obama. A year ago, Obama promised support for Palestinian statehood, no doubt hoping he could take it back before anyone caught wise that he was just posturing. But predictably, the Palestinians did not fully understand Obama was just doing part of his dance, and we now face a diplomatic crisis that is costing American prestige.

President Obama has saved his best dance moves for the economic crisis. Obama tells us he is all about jobs, jobs, jobs, but then turns himself about trying to explain why his Administration has prevented Boeing from expanding operations in South Carolina, costing thousands of jobs in the process. Obama urges quick Senate approval of a set of Free Trade Agreements which everyone agrees would be beneficial, but, Obama never quite tells Americans that he will not approve any of the agreements unless the Congress approves yet another bailout of Unions.

Other favorite Obama hokey pokey moves include his claim that the stimulus would create millions of jobs and shrink unemployment to 8%. So too, was the claim that Obamacare would allow everyone to keep the healthcare insurance they currently have. Those claims were quickly pulled back and the Administration worked hard at obscuring the facts as they, once again, turned themselves about.

Perhaps, my personal favorite hokey pokey move, is watching Obama talk about the need for “a balanced plan” that calls for “shared sacrifice” and a need for millionaires and billionaires to “pay their fair share". This move calls for lots unusually skillful gyrations as Obama tells us that his bash-the-rich strategy is not really a craven example of class warfare. Obama also maintains that massive deficits requiring $100 billion dollar a month in loans can all be sustained indefinitely, so there really is no need to cut the expansive entitlement spending. In fact, Obama tells us entitlements can, and should, be expanded.

President Obama puts his Left hand in, then takes his Left hand out; he does the hokey pokey and he twists himself around, and that’s what it's all about!
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To read another article by Larita Doan, click here.