Posted on 02/03/2009 1:17:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
The White House said Tuesday afternoon that President Obama has "confidence in the process" of vetting senior administration and Cabinet officials despite the withdrawal of two high-profile nominees earlier in the day.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs came under fire during his daily briefing for declining to answer questions about whether there was a breakdown in the vetting process after Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, nominated to be Obama's first chief performance officer, withdrew amid troubles over taxes.
In response to questions about the two nominees' vetting, Gibbs would only say: "The president has confidence in the process."
"The president is quite confident in the people that serve in this White House and serve in this administration, that we've put a standard of ethics and accountability that's unseen and unmatched by any previous administration in our country's history," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said the White House did not send any signals to Daschle to withdraw, and Obama learned of his decision when the former Senate majority leader reached the president by phone in his private study off the Oval Office.
Gibbs said the president is not distracted by the two nominees' decisions, and the administration is "not losing sight of what's important on the president's agenda to get moving forward."
"I think they both recognized that you can't set an example of responsibility but accept a different standard in who serves," Gibbs said. "They both decided and recognized that their nominations would distract from the important goals and the critical agenda that the president put forward."
Despite that, Gibbs said Daschle's withdrawal both from HHS and in the White House Office of Health Reform will not retard Obama's efforts to reform the nation's healthcare system.
"I don't think the effort slows down for healthcare reform, and I think Sen. Daschle and others would admit that the effort is far bigger than any one individual," Gibbs said.
With what appears to complete confidence in a process that resulted in two nominees withdrawing over tax issues, and in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's confirmation being delayed by the same issues, the White House is proceeding with its search to fill the spots abandoned Tuesday.
Gibbs said, "Obviously, the administration is looking for replacements as we speak."
“What do you expect us to do? Put commoners, those not of the Ruling Class, in cabinet positions?”
Obama dodged his own vetting process. We still do not know where his physical birth occurred.
So if that is any indication, there is NO vetting process for senior cabinet nominees. Its all Chicago Cronyism gone national.
The vetting process is OK, it’s the candidate pool that’s corrupt.
Even though it fails most of the time, it's really great.
It has been working a lot better than the original idea of drawing the names of convicted felons from a hat.
What vetting process? The one the media put him through? /s
That and the fact that there are 59 Dem senators and several RINO's to vote for whatever miscreant he throws out there.
Which means Daschle, Killefer, and Richardson must be really up to their eyeballs in slime if they all take a hike and Geithner just blames TurboTax and gets a pass.
“The president is quite confident in the people that serve in this White House and serve in this administration, that we’ve put a standard of ethics and accountability that’s unseen and unmatched by any previous administration in our country’s history,” Gibbs said.
I don’t have any confidence in the process either, and the above statement was unbelievable. That’s a pretty big statement to make.
No, it means that he doesn’t give a ‘Rats red ass what problems the people he picks have. He is the Obamessiah!
The thing that has Obama off balance is that this is actually being reported in the media. During the campaign, these kinds of things were covered up.
I think the attitude concerning the White House “vetting” process is ... well...Obama got in ‘what’s the big deal?’
He’s a con man. Confidence is all he’s got and all he’ll ever have.
Gibbs is even worse than McClellan is. And I never thought that would be possible.
Whatta hoot! This is the same MSM that continually, and loudly, excoriated John McCain over his supposed 'problems' with vetting Sarah Palin. The big difference here is that nothing that was EVER reported about Sarah involved her having broken any laws.
The MSM is still covering for That One, and are losing credibility with the public even more every single day.
What “vetting process?” Looks to me like 0 is just choosing from the “Criminals in Office” list.
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