"Obama is nominating Lanhee Chen, Mitt Romney's main economic policy adviser, to Social Security...

[villager]

...advisory board"

Tweet from NY Times reporter Annie Lowrey

https://twitter.com/AnnieLowrey

[Old Navy]

1. Should be rejected.

We're not nominating any more Thugs.

[villager]

2. Funny how in most instances, Obama keeps shoving this "Republicanism lite" down our throats...

n/t

[HooptieWagon]

57. I hear he's so smart...

eleventy-dimensional chess...appointing republicans to his administration is a grand master plan...we couldn't possibly understand...

...or so we're told by the Personality Cult.
:rolleyes:

[tammywammy]

60. Except this position had to go to a republican.

The President gets to nominate three people on the board, no more than two can be of the same party. This was the republican slot, so a republican had to fill it.

[alp227]

3. FILIBUSTER HIM!!!

Oh yeah, CHANGE?

[Bolo Boffin]

4. The president gets three slots on the board. Only two can be of the same political party.

The SSAB is only an advisory board, BTW. It can take no administrative actions on its own.

http://www.ssab.gov/AbouttheBoard/AuthorizingStatute.aspx

[villager]

5. But Romney's advisor? Really? Specifically?

n/t

[joshcryer]

6. who would you suggest?

on phone can't easily look this guy up

[villager]

7. certainly, from an optics standpoint, not Mittens' *main advisor* if I wanted to send a message...

...I was going to protect SS, no matter what.

Then again, perhaps the White House isn't interested in sending that message.

[stevenleser]

8. But what do you know about this person. Maybe he is the most moderate out there on this issue

I haven't researched him yet, but why the kneejerk here?

[villager]

9. Right -- I forgot how liberal these Hoover Institute economic advisers to Romney were!

I mean, yes! Please tell us what the Hoover Institute thinks we should do for Social Security!

Silly ol' kneejerk me, with my aversion to catfood and such.

[xchrom]

10. +1

[stevenleser]

22. OK, so silly bloviating sarcasm aside, who is your Republican choice?

Its not so easy to offer silly bloviating sarcasm if you have to actually come up with a choice, is it?

[westerebus]

33. Rob Woodall - r Georgia

How about him?

[stevenleser]

37. How does he compare to Chen? Is that Villager's Republican choice? nt

[westerebus]

48. No idea who villager would pick.

Woodall is a junior repub. Just pick one from the new batch and cause a fight for the spot they vacate. Politics, it used to happen back in the day.

[joshcryer]

12. or it could be a strategic move

someone the gop wants in exchange for two we want

[villager]

17. Multi-dimensional chess. Right. I forgot.

n/t

[joshcryer]

20. politics

[villager]

21. Indeed. Center-right politics.

n/t

[stevenleser]

25. See my #22 above. nt

[joshcryer]

26. yep

[duffyduff]

29. Yeah, I imagine he's like Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles. n/t

[villager]

30. Of course. Which makes the predictable apologist rush here to defend him the usual D"U" tragicomedy.

n/t

[stevenleser]

38. Still waiting for your 'better' Republican choice for the Republican slot. nt

[Jefferson23]

11. Nice:

Lanhee J. Chen
research fellow

Expertise: Health Policy, Economic Policy, American Politics, Campaigns and Elections, and American Public Policymaking


Lanhee J. Chen is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and teaches in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. His current research focuses on campaigns and elections, health policy, economic policy, and California policy and politics. Chen, a veteran of several high-profile political campaigns, has also served in government, the private sector, and academia.

Before coming to Hoover, Chen was the policy director for the Romney-Ryan presidential campaign, as well as Romney’s chief policy adviser; a senior strategist on the campaign; and the person responsible for developing the campaign’s domestic and foreign policy. He advised Governor Romney on every major public policy challenge facing the United States and worked with a variety of stakeholders, including the congressional leadership, industry and business interests, and policy experts, to shape the campaign’s issues agenda. In 2012, he was named one of POLITICO’s “50 Politicos to Watch.”

Chen also served as the deputy campaign manager and policy director of Steve Poizner’s 2010 California gubernatorial campaign, the domestic policy director of Governor Romney’s first presidential bid in 2008, and a health policy adviser to the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign in 2004.

In the Bush administration Chen was a senior official at the US Department of Health and Human Services. His private-sector experience includes having been an associate attorney with the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he practiced business litigation. Chen was also the Winnie Neubauer Visiting Fellow in Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation and worked as a health policy advocate for a major business group in Washington, DC.

An eight-time winner of Harvard University’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Chen’s scholarship has appeared or been cited in several of the nation’s top political science journals.

He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Partnership for the Future of Medicare, a bipartisan organization dedicated to ensuring the long-term security of the Medicare program.

Chen earned his PhD and AM in political science from Harvard University, his JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, and his AB magna cum laude in government from Harvard College. He is a member of the State Bar of California. A native of Rowland Heights, California, he currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife and son.
Last updated on June 13, 2013

http://www.hoover.org/fellows/139606

[yuiyoshida]

16. He looks familar...

[Jefferson23]

18. The slot opening is to be filled with a Republican and it was actually Mitch McConnells choice.

I don't know him, at all.

[stevenleser]

27. Shhh, villager and others above are getting their hate on. Dont bug them with facts! nt

[villager]

32. Well, the Senate already gets its 2 nominees, the President is supposed to have 3

and yes, there's the advise and consent clause, but you seem to be saying McConnell gets an "extra choice" that way.

Yes, one Presidential choice has to be from a different party. But the defeated Mittens' economic adviser? Really?

[Jefferson23]

44. Don't misunderstand, I am posting the information I found.

If he has to be Republican, why not this man? There are people with his background that
would be moderate?

on edit for clarity.

[grantcart]

13. this type of crap comes up every six months or so

These boards (there are a number of them) are equally divided between the parties and each side gets to nominate who they want for their seat. They tell us who they want for our side to put on (in the case of the President and Reid) and we tell them who we want Boehner to appoint for our seat.

Standard Operating Procedure for decades.

(c)(1) The Board shall be composed of 7 members who shall be appointed as follows:
(A) 3 members shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Not more than 2 of such members shall be from the same political party.
(B) 2 members (each member from a different political party) shall be appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate with the advice of the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Finance.
(C) 2 members (each member from a different political party) shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with the advice of the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
(2) The members shall be chosen on the basis of their integrity, impartiality, and good judgment, and shall be individuals who are, by reason of their education, experience, and attainments, exceptionally qualified to perform the duties of members of the Board.

[villager]

15. Bad nominees? I agree. Comes up way too often. See my post about Mittens and optics.

n/t

[stevenleser]

23. And of course, you will name a better Republican any time now...

[grantcart]

24. We choose ours they choose theirs.

When Bush was President we told him who we wanted.

Why is this too difficult too process?

[villager]

31. So the Republicans tell the President who the third Presidential nominee should be?

Disturbing.

[grantcart]

34. No what is disturbing is how their are so many here that

are so consumed by their bitter hatred for President Obama that they will bite at any little morsel and try and get a full blown panic going.

It took me exactly three seconds to google and get the facts

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/30/obama-to-nominate-former-romney-adviser-chen-to-administration-post/

Obama intends to nominate Lanhee J. Chen -- the policy director on Romney's 2012 presidential campaign who, yes, repeatedly attacked Obama's Social Security plans -- to the Social Security Advisory Board, which advises the president as well as the Congress on Social Security policy.

But that's not quite the full story. The board is independent and its membership is bipartisan. Although the president nominates members, the nominees alternate between the political parties. This vacancy was for a Republican member, a White House aide explained, and Chen was actually the pick of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

This type of story pops up about every 5-6 months.

Outrage

Oh the President is following the same system that has existed for decades.

We nominate our guys they nominate theirs.

This guy filled a Republican slot and they gave us their name.

When we have a slot we give them a name.

Now are you going to 'Man Up' and issue an edit apologizing or are you going to continue yet another hysterical attack against the President.

Your choice.

Really pathetic.

[villager]

35. "the President’s plan is laughable"

A quote from your new beloved nominee, Grantcart.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/30/obama-picks-romney-aide-who-knocked-his-social-security-plan-for-social-security-board/

[stevenleser]

39. We're all still waiting for your 'better' Republican choice for this Republican slot. nt

[villager]

41. Boy, you really got nothin', do you Stevenleser?

But you're free to repost this another half-dozen times in this thread...

[stevenleser]

46. I got the truth, that's enough. nt

[villager]

47. And what is "the truth," O Wise One?

[stevenleser]

49. Grantcart keeps trying to explain it to you with links that back him up. nt

[villager]

50. You mean "explaining" that those who disagree with him are "liars?"

Oh, that.

But again, at least respond to the posts in the thread if you would, good sir, instead of deflecting all over the place...

[stevenleser]

51. You have been fact resistant from the beginning on this and finally he got sick of it.

Pretty understandable.

[villager]

53. Now you're not just deflecting, but you've stopped making sense

[SidDithers]

59. "fact resistant"!! What a great turn of phrase...

you should be on TV, or maybe the radio.



Sid

[SidDithers]

63. Actually, he explained that Chen was picked by Mitch McConnell...

But that's not quite the full story. The board is independent and its membership is bipartisan. Although the president nominates members, the nominees alternate between the political parties. This vacancy was for a Republican member, a White House aide explained, and Chen was actually the pick of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/30/obama-to-nominate-former-romney-adviser-chen-to-administration-post/

Will you be correcting your inaccurate headline in the OP, to reflect the truth?

Sid

[villager]

66. "follows Obama’s decision to appoint former Romney campaign counsel Ben Ginsberg as co-chair of the

... Presidential Commission on Election Administration"

Which is probably not McConnell's doing.

Headline for OP is from NY Times, so you can pick that bone with them.

Neither Time or NY Times blogs mentions McConnell as the culprit, and since the Senate gets two picks already -- from each party -- this would seem to give McConnell GOP two picks total, if the President's 3rd choice is ceded to him.

Would like to hear more from the White House on that.

[SidDithers]

45. Nailed it...

Sid

[joshcryer]

19. indeed

cant allow obama a good day

[Jefferson23]

14. Health Savings Accounts as Antidote to Obamacare

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act have heralded the recent slowdown in health-care spending as evidence that the law is working. Unfortunately for them, Obamacare has nothing to do with the trend.

Economists have argued that the slowdown can be explained, in good measure, by the sluggish economy and consumers bearing greater financial responsibility for their health-care decisions. In fact, President Barack Obama’s signature law is impeding progress on health costs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-02/health-savings-accounts-as-antidote-to-obamacare.html

[dkf]

28. Well he took over Romney's health insurance advisors.

[stillcool]

36. good for him!

[grasswire]

42. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher --- Ken Starr & Theodore Olsen

GDC is a repository of FIXERS.

I'll bet this guy is a member of the Federalist Society, too.

[SidDithers]

43. And another outrage widget hits the shop floor...

**thunk**

Sid

[JoePhilly]

56. The manufactured outrage machine doesn't shut down, even if the

government does.

[Octafish]

52. Mutual Fund expert. Translation: Getting the fox nearer the hen house.

Social Security, home of the 99's last remaining nest egg.

[villager]

54. "Nailed it," to quote from earlier in this thread

[Amonester]

58. that fox is turtleman's pick

nothing *bad* Obama can do about it.

*bad* bipartisan system at work.

[HooptieWagon]

61. Exactly.

Wall St wants to get their filthy hands on SS money, and they got their puppet in the WH to execute the theft.

[tammywammy]

65. The board has no decision making authority.

The president gets to select three people for the board, no more than two can be from the same political party. This was the republican spot, it had to be filled by a republican. The President deferred to McConnell's choice, since he's the top republican in the Senate and the nominee has to be confirmed by the Senate.

The same thing happens when a republican is president and it's the democratic spot.

[JoePhilly]

55. Maybe Obama is going to cut Social Security again.

He's cut it what, about 10 times now already?

[KoKo]

62. WHAT?

Just when he gets back into some kind of "good standing" he pulls this thing?

[tammywammy]

64. He had to nominate a republican.

The President gets to nominate three people to the board, no more than two can be from the same political party. This was the republican spot, so it had to be filled by a republican. He deferred to McConnell's choice. The same thing happens if a republican is president and it's the democratic spot on the board.

The board has no decision making authority.