Playing Politics

Remember that incident Democrats, including Sen. Obama, tried to blow up into “Attorney-gate” under President Bush? They didn’t like the fact that he replaced nine U.S. attorneys midstream, claiming it smacked of politics. Never mind that these attorneys served at the pleasure of the president and at least one of them had spent a number of years threatening to quit.

Now just five months into his term, President Obama seems to be playing politics with a government watchdog who blew the whistle on two of the president’s supporters who misspent AmeriCorp funds. For his trouble, Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service and a Bush hold-over, was abruptly fired last week by Obama.

When the president’s action was questioned by senators, including a few in his own party, the character assassination began. Walpin’s, that is. The White House released a letter from a senior counsel to the president that justified the firing based, in part, on what it called Walpin’s “confused, disoriented” behavior at a board meeting a few weeks ago when he allegedly was unable to respond to questions, according to the New York Times.

(If that’s grounds for dismissal, the president has a lot of people to fire. Have you seen the video of the congressional hearing in which Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., questions Elizabeth Coleman, the Federal Reserve inspector general? She comes across as somewhat confused and unable to respond to the questions she’s asked.)

A president has the right to appoint whom he wants to various positions -- and get rid of whom he wants. But unlike Obama, Bush didn't stoop to character assassination, even though it meant he put his own reputation out there to be hung.