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Election Central Morning Roundup
TPM Election Central —
... The Obama transition team has told roughly 90 Bush political appointees in the Pentagon that they will not be staying on after Obama is sworn in, a demonstration of how Obama will be changing the lineup at Defense even while simultaneously keeping Robert Gates. However, only about 90 political appointees were sacked out of roughly 250 total, after Gates sought to keep his team in place. ...
Top Pentagon Official: Obama Team Still "The Opposition"
TPMMuckraker —
The Hill reports today:
Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama's transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day.
It's worth pointing out that another roughly 160 political appointees were kept on. But here at TPMmuckraker, we were more interested in what came next.
The paper reported that, in response to the Obama team's move, Jim O'Beirne, the special assistant to the secretary of defense for White House liaisons, sent ...
Obama dismisses Bush Pentagon appointees
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News —
... the soon-to-be displaced employees that the decisions were based on "policy change in the Obama administration" and not based on performance. However, he said, if employees "harbor residual doubts" then they can "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you." "In that regard, you may take justifiable satisfaction that you were among the first to be chosen," O'Beirne wrote. Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-dismisses-bus... Anybody else appalled at the blatant ...
hello, you must be going
skippy the bush kangaroo —
sure, barack "to the future" obama will keep robert "the surge is working" gates on as sec. of defense, but about 90 other people appointed by awol will not be so lucky. the hill: ...
Loyal Bushie O'Beirne Protests Obama Changes at the Pentagon
Crooks and Liars —
... 10 days ago, the Obama transition team notified about 90 of the Pentagon's 250 Bush political appointees that their services would no longer be needed after Inauguration Day. But despite DoD spokesman Geoff Morrell's declaration that holdover Republican Defense Secretary Robert Gates was "absolutely satisfied" with way the transition was being handled, one loyal Bushie at the Pentagon was anything but. Jim O'Beirne - ...
Obama Tells Bush Appointees At Pentagon To Clean Out Their Desks
Oliver Willis —
New boss.
Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama’s transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day.
Scott Gration, a senior official on Obama’s transition team, called and emailed several of President Bush’s Pentagon appointees about 10 days ago to inform them they were being dismissed.
I’m still not wild about Gates staying on, but at least he seems competent and he was not from the Rumsfeld/Cheney world of incompetence + ...
O'Beirne still causing trouble at the Pentagon
Political Animal —
... skills and/or postwar rebuilding experience were rejected if O'Beirne found their partisan loyalties suspect. The result was a series of unqualified GOP activists in key government posts, screwing up reconstruction efforts. More than five years later, O'Beirne is still in the Pentagon, and is still causing trouble. Two weeks ago, Barack Obama's transition team informed 90 Bush appointees at the Pentagon that they would be replaced after the inauguration. O'Beirne then proceeded to contact those appointees directly , accusing the Obama aides of -- get this -- playing politics ...
Obama Considers Reduction Of Pentagon, NASA Barriers
Open Left - Front Page —
... Second, this is potentially a disturbing increase of military authority over the space program. The proposal would scrap NASA rocket program, and put the new launch vehicle under military leadership. Further, given that Obama is currently keeping 160 of Bush's 250 political appointees in place at the Pentagon, so it wouldn't be just increasing the Pentagon's power over the space program, but increasing Bush appointees authority over the space program. Given that the militarization of space is a stated goal of neo-conservatives, and was called for in ...
A Fine Whine
Blah3 Feed —
... of the original players in the disaster called the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Yes, it was his office that made appointments not on expertise or knowledge of the Mideast, but by asking candidates questions such as: " Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade." And as if you couldn't see this coming: O'Beirne made it clear in the email that in some ...
