Look, Reich is a Cuban-American!!!
Mr. Dodd knows that Mr. Reich would be confirmed if he got to the Senate floor, which is why he wants to block even a hearing. He and Latin America aide Janice O'Connell bear a grudge against the Cuban-American going back to their days on opposite sides of the battle over Central America. But rather than face that difference squarely, Mr. Dodd's strategy has been to smear Mr. Reich's reputation, accusing him in a letter to this paper of, among other things, being soft on terrorism. U.S. officials say the public record refutes those charges, which may be why Mr. Dodd doesn't want Mr. Reich to get his chance to make his case in the Senate.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:n9z4FDKGgskJ:www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp%3Fsection%3Dpapers%26code%3D01-F_86+Janice+O%27Connell+Chris+dodd&hl=en
Thanks. I had just chalked the obstructionism up to partisanship.