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| Home Front: Politix |
| Obama picks Leon Panetta to head CIA |
| 2009-01-05 |
| More "Change". Sandy Berger unavailable? WASHINGTON -- Two Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA. Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world. Oh, perfect... Complements the boss, he does ... An Obama transition official and another Democrat disclosed his nomination on a condition of anonymity since it was not yet public. Psssst...hey Scoops? Wanna story? Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California. He served on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that released a report at the end of 2006 with dozens of recommendations for the reversing course in the Iraq war. Which one was his ? "Cut" or "run"? Just what you want at CIA, someone who was wrong on the surge and won't admit it ... Panetta currently directs with his wife Sylvia the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, based at California State University, Monterey Bay a university he helped establish on the site of the former U.S. Army base, Fort Ord. The Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy (and Automotive Repair). Well, it's located at an old army base, so he must be qualified, right? |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #13 Obama had a hard time with this one. The people with experience know too much. |
| Posted by: mhw 2009-01-05 23:15 |
| #12 Panetta's job will be to protect Obama from the CIA, so that they won't be able to undermine him like they did Bush. |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-01-05 22:44 |
| #11 Leon's highest compliment in the Clinton Admin was that he wasn't as much of an asshole as the rest. This nomination is a joke, and tells you how seriously Obambi takes the WOT |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-05 22:21 |
| #10 The CIA has been getting results in Pakistan, much to their local minders' frustration. As I recall, they are the ones controlling the UAVs on the Pakistan side of the Durand line. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-01-05 21:56 |
| #9 except that Colombo would actually get results. |
| Posted by: Cheash Bluetooth aka Broadhead6 2009-01-05 20:30 |
| #8 Humm...... didn't he step dwon from the Chief-of_Staff job/ |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-05 20:04 |
| #7 Does it even matter anymore who heads the CIA? It seems to have been largely disfunctional for some time. Unless they are using the Colombo Peter Falk) model of operation. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-01-05 19:41 |
| #6 The pattern of Obama picks is not inexperience, but lengthy service sans accomplishment. It makes sense that a guy whose most notable acheivement is the number of times he voted "present" would pick someone like Panetta. Leadership? Anyone? Anyone? |
| Posted by: Tiny Wheater9210 2009-01-05 19:34 |
| #5 Darn. I was hoping for Mary Mapes or Ariana Huffington for the job. Rats... |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2009-01-05 19:12 |
| #4 Lets wait and see. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-05 18:30 |
| #3 At the CIA this will be seen as a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-05 17:56 |
| #2 Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world Anyone notice a pattern? |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-01-05 17:53 |
| #1 His Wik bio says "he joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. There he received the Army Commendation Medal, and was discharged in 1966 as a Captain." Appears to be a very brief career as an Army officer, but at least he served. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-05 17:33 |