Her "much-touted" arms seem a bit small in comparison.
Posted on 06/15/2009 8:22:34 AM PDT by lewisglad
Washington took note when first lady Michelle Obama suddenly sacked her chief of staff in favor of her old boss from Chicago at the beginning of June.
It was widely seen as a sign that the first lady wanted to start pumping up policy as well as her biceps.
The new chief of staff, Susan Sher, had helped Obama move from an unsatisfying job as a corporate lawyer grinding out billable hours to a lush, $317,000-a-year community relations job at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Sher, Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett and the first lady are close friends. They were all lawyers with political clout in Chicago Democratic politics, and they all learned how to make public service pay — for themselves. Obama is the youngest of the group and the only one with a husband, but they have long been close allies.
The woman booted from the East Wing in order to get the troika back together was Jackie Norris, an Iowa politico who hit the trail for Barack Obama in 2007. Norris’ husband, John, was a longtime aide to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and came east when Vilsack became secretary of agriculture.
In what seemed like compensation for being bounced out of the inner circle, Jackie Norris was made the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees government-run programs like AmeriCorps. A few days after that, John Norris was tapped for a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has oversight of America’s energy businesses from power plant to plug.
But there may be more to the Jackie Norris move than getting her out of the way and then providing sinecures for her and her husband.
The first lady has long nurtured a deep interest in AmeriCorps and the other programs Norris is now overseeing.
And the president made clear he shares his wife’s passion last week when he summarily fired the Corporation for National and Community Service’s inspector general, Gerald Walpin.
Walpin had a high-profile showdown with Kevin Johnson, a former NBA basketball star who was elected mayor of Sacramento, Calif., last year.
Walpin said Johnson’s charity for “at risk” kids was a slipshod operation that had soaked up more than $800,000 in federal money to no discernible benefit beyond helping Johnson do political favors and keep his car clean.
But Johnson is still mayor, and Walpin’s report and public statements about it came to little effect — beyond making sure Johnson was ineligible to ever again receive federal grant money.
But Walpin’s more recent work had much bigger potential. He said there was $75 million in federal funds unaccounted for at the City University of New York. The money was from the teaching fellows program, which provides scholarship money for qualified AmeriCorps volunteers and is the largest expense in the whole organization.
Walpin was just getting warmed up when he was given an hour to quit or be fired Wednesday. He had already started turning up the heat on CUNY, which he said might be double dipping on grant money by taking AmeriCorps cash for kids who already had free rides.
One could easily see the probe expanding to other schools and jeopardizing the goal of making government-run public service a precondition for free higher education.
As Michelle Obama and her reunited team of Chicago friends look to expand the first lady’s portfolio, government-run public service is the top area of interest. Her specific agenda for AmeriCorps is unclear, but during the 2008 election the Obama campaign’s plan for “universal voluntary public service” was her favorite.
The idea was to put any American ages 18 to 30 who signed up into a civilian corps to work at state-approved charities and government offices. A boot camp and weekly meetings would help keep up participants’ zeal.
Conservatives disliked the Orwellian name and the implications of having so many young adults being trained as community organizers, and the concept went back in the closet with its ersatz presidential seal.
But why startle people with a creepy-sounding plan when you can just keep dumping money on AmeriCorps to eventually reach the same end?
And having some hard-nosed, headline-seeking, Republican-appointed inspector general running around wouldn’t make that any easier.
As Michelle Obama exerts her will more and more on her husband’s administration, expect the showdown with Walpin to be the first of many inside the bureaucracy.
The plot thickens........
I thought this was going to be about those much-touted arms again...
Obama Fired IG Who Investigated Friend.
The firing apparently stems from Walpin’s investigation of a non-profit group, St. HOPE Academy, run by Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, California (and a big Obama supporter).
Pay attention and remember this, it’s the foundation
for what will be our future.( We’ll want to remember who to
thank.)
“universal voluntary public service” was her favorite”
I sure hope her designer does not design the uniforms for Americorps or what we will have to wear in the Fema camps.
.....lush, $317,000-a-year community relations job...
####
Lush, racist, no-talent-required figurehead position fueled by in-bred Chicago corruption?
Why yes.
A job in the traditional sense that requires actual work, production and accountability?
Not even close.
Shades of Clinton?
Her "much-touted" arms seem a bit small in comparison.
It's the First Lady's job to... uh.... she's supposed to... well......
I feel sorry for the dog...needs to be able and romp and play with other dogs..not a 250# gorilla.
Man that is one big, uh, ... Oh never mind!
I’ve seen better looking legs holding up an elephant.
I don’t understand the MSM propping her up as some hot babe? She looks pretty bad to me.
And the most interesting part? Her job was created just for her and they haven’t placed anyone else in that so-called job since she left.
Is it me or does anyone else note a bit of embarrassment on Bo’s face? ;-)
“It’s the First Lady’s job to... uh.... she’s supposed to... well...... “
...walk the dog and appear to plant a veggie garden.
Apparently Blago tried to get Patty a job like Barry got for Michelle-Omarosa (phony job for big bucks).
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