I really gotta say I'm not liking Gregg as a pick for Commerce Secretary.

[berni_mccoy]

During the last 8 years, Gregg was really nothing more than a BushBot. I sent many, many letters to him regarding bad policies and decisions by the administration. I sent letters for the JDRF Activist committee to support the Stem Cell research bill. Nearly every time I wrote to him I received the form letter he sent to too many others like me basically saying he's with Bush.

Even recently, he's shown he's a Limbaugh Republican. He voted against SCHIP.

I'm glad he's no longer my Senator. But I'm not to happy he's being replaced by another Republican and I'm especially not happy he's now in the Administration, even if it is Obama's Administration.

This pick by Obama really has me shaking my head and thinking he's trying too hard to reach across the isle. There must be other candidates, even moderate Republicans who think for themselves, that would be a better choice than Gregg.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. It's one of many picks that leave me feeling discouraged, and the whole

"Obama has a plan" doesn't do a thing to cheer me up at times like this.

[Thrill]

2. I'm no longer buying that line.

And I know I used it against people who were complaining about Gates, Kirk, and a few others. Now the Gregg appointment has me disappointed. It makes no sense at all to me.

[nichomachus]

12. The other one I'm not buying is

"Would you rather have McCain?"

That was the same line were got from the Freepers when we complained about the invasion and destruction of Iraq -- Would you rather have Saddam Hussein back in power?

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Off the top of your head can you name any Commerce Secretaries under Bush or Clinton?

Because honestly I couldn't.

[berni_mccoy]

4. Only one I can is Mickey Kantor, and that's because he was pivotal in creating the WTO and NAFTA

under Clinton. And you can see what that's done for America.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. He did those things as US Trade Representative, not Commerce Secretary

Clinton probably made him Commerce Secretary to reward him for what he did as US Trade Rep by giving him a job that has a lot of perks and almost no actual responsibility.

[berni_mccoy]

10. You're naive and/or blind if you believe the Commerce Secretary has no responsibility or power.

[Hippo_Tron]

15. Name some important things that recent Commerce Secretaries have done

[leftstreet]

6. I don't understand this argument

Can you name any of the Wall Street CEOs and bankers who've been fucking up this country for decades?

Are you suggesting that if we can't remember who was pulling the strings for the Predator Class 8 yrs ago, or 20 yrs ago, or 50 yrs ago, it doesn't matter?

:shrug:

[Hippo_Tron]

8. Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Charles Keating

And those are just a few who have worn (or would have worn if not for untimely death) a prison uniform. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by predator class but I can name quite a few people who have been CEOs/Owners of corporations off the top of my head. Dick Cheney, Hank Paulson, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Sam Walton, Michael Eisner, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Sun Myung Moon, Walter Isaacson, Ted Turner.

My point is that Commerce Secretary is a job with a lot of perks and almost zero responsibility. The last Commerce Secretary I could think of was Herbert Hoover and that was back when Commerce and Labor were one department. The Commerce Secretary isn't some position that secretly pulls strings behind the scenes. It's a position that doesn't do anything. That's why the Commerce Secretary is almost never in the news and therefore most people can't even remember anybody who held the position in the last 20 years.

[WinkyDink]

11. Hello? RON BROWN?

[nichomachus]

13. Totally irrelevant question

just because people can't name past cabinet secretaries doesn't mean the person in question had no effect on government policy.

I can't name the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense under Truman -- but they managed to obliterate hundreds of thousands of people with fucking nuclear weapons.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. Henry Stimson and it was Secretary of War back then

Not that everybody should know that fact but my point is that there are a lot of history and government junkies on DU and the only name that seems to be in everybody's memory as far as Commerce Secretaries go is Ron Brown and that's probably had little to do with the fact that he was Commerce Secretary but more to do with the fact that he was a former DNC Chair and died in a plain crash.

The Commerce Department is responsible for collecting data and has minor influence in terms of "economic development". Economic policy, though, is really determined by the White House and by the Treasury Department.

[Life Long Dem]

7. Sounds familiar.

So instead of BushBot we now have ObamaBot.

[Vinca]

9. I'm elated he'll no longer be my senator, but I'm not happy about

how he's going away.

[Maven]

14. "trying too hard"

Exactly. At a certain point you're letting the gesture itself to outweigh the consequences.

[democracy1st]

17. thanks berni great post it doesn't make sense