19 Comments
As if the first African-American Attorney General – confirmed yesterday! – and the new FCC Chairman weren’t enough, a commenter has tipped Bwog off to Columbia’s latest alumnus to join the Obama administration. New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, CC ’69, has accepted Obama’s nomiation to be Secretary of Commerce. He is the third Republican to join the administration.
The fiscally conservative Gregg’s nomination has been greeted as an indication that Obama wasn’t fooling around about that “bipartisanship” thing. The president has praised Gregg’s negotiation skills, particularly his work as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee during the Wall Street bailout. Unfortunately for the College Dems, however, Gregg did make it clear that he wouldn’t accept the position unless his Senate seat was filled by another GOP member.
Gregg takes over from Obama’s initial choice for commerce secretary, Bill Richardson, who started a trend last month when he withdrew his name from consideration. But Bwog applauds the addition of yet another Columbian, and hopes he can use his new powers to possibly help fix this.
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19 Comments
@guess (That began as a reply to #17)
@guess I think it’s because a Democrat got elected President, and suddenly people realize that he’s not perfect and that yes, even Democratic Presidents make unpopular and imperfect decisions. Anyway, don’t get ahead of yourself #16 on the similarities between Obama and Gregg. Obama just recently said he wants to “address social security”— there is nothing in his record or campaign oratory to suggest any commonality with the Republican mindset on such issues. (That’s not to say that deals may not be reached of necessity at some point down the line). And as for “protectionist” urges, I think his urge is to indulge in them— he campaigned on reneging on free trade agreements and renegotiating Nafta. But again, everything becomes more complicated when somebody is elected to a position of so much responsibility.
@wtf The only good thing that could possibly come out of having yet another Republican in the cabinet is that the NH Gov will appoint a Democrat and we’ll finally have our 60 senate seats.
Beyond that, I’m all for the complete exclusion of the GOP from both Democratically-controlled branches of government. After what they’ve done to our country for the past eight years — not to mention the bigotry they’ve sewn — they deserve nothing better.
@lol Not every Republican is bad. Not every Republican is Bush. If you’re going to blame guys like Judd Gregg and Bob Gates and even Ray LaHood for the last 8 years, then you have an immature and poorly developed understanding of politics and the way government works.
We can have a very fair and very honest debate over particular records. Gregg, for instance, believes many things I disagree with. But he’s intelligent, capable, and also stands for some things that Barack Obama believes in – that we should resist protectionist urges in this time of crisis, that we should reduce some taxes right now, and that in the long term we should address entitlements. It’s easy for people on the right and left to see this pick as a purely strategic one, with Obama trying to pick off another seat by moving Gregg into the Cabinet (he’ll be replaced by a Republican, but Gregg may have been the only Republican who could win that seat, so 2010 looks good for the Dems). I think Obama sees Gregg as being really able and really smart, someone who can help work with Republicans to advance an agenda that, as I said, has many elements that they agree on.
So, no, the strategy is not the only good thing that could come from this. Obama adds a very useful person to his Cabinet. Honestly, ask yourself, would you rather have Bill Richardson at Commerce, or a Republican who has real clout in Congress?
@wait why are people posting reasonably about politics on bwog? i don’t understand.
@did anyone else read his name as “Judge Dredd” and got really excited for a second?
@i've heard theories that obama only appointed him to lessen the republican presence in the senate…
but that seems crazy :)
@Alum It *is* crazy, since Obama, the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, and the leaders of both parties in the Senate all agreed that a Gregg’s seat would go to another Republican.
@you so silly b.w.o.g. oh, the wondrous pull that nostalgia has on the upper-middle class sensibility. really, does it matter that the man is a columbia alum? the extent to which he, as a republican, can sell the democratic stimulus is, i would think, more important.
@I wonder if he didn’t pay his taxes either. It seems like that’s the cool thing to do if you’re an Obama cabinet nominee…
@PLZZ BWOG MOER FREE FOOD POSTS WTF IM STARVING
@seriously who cares…
@who cares? alright, maybe you have to pride in your school. fine. but i think it’s great to see another columbian doing well, even if it means running a department he didn’t think should exist.
btw, if we can’t get eric holder or barack obama, is it too late to consider judd gregg for class day speaker? compared to the options we have, it’s not a bad idea. plus, not only is he in obama’s cabinet, but he’s a beast – former member of the House of Reps, former Gov of NH, Senator, and pretty much a beast in budget/finance issues.
@maybe not Maybe not after the wonderful greeting that John McCain got a few years ago. Columbia students can be so damn disrespectful. Ignore that you don’t like him; is it too much to ask for some respect for a US senator?
@well McCain’s speech was recycled garbage that he used at a few other schools and then parroted at columbia. If he can’t respect us enough to come up with a half-decent, customized speech, he deserves it.
@hmm That’s after the fact. I guarantee you 99% of the mouth breathers who booed McCain didn’t know his speech was recycled. If we, as Columbia students, want to regain our image as a bastion of education we need to learn something about decorum.
@Alum Another sense in which Gregg is a beast: when he was an undergrad, he wore the Lion costume at CU football games.
@he should give the speech in costume
@James Hang in there – there’ll several free food opportunities tomorrow.