The Census Will Be Under Rahm’s Control
By SusanUnPC on February 7, 2009 at 12:26 AM in Census, Judd Gregg, Obama Administration, Obama's Cabinet, Rahm Emanuel
LisaB, earlier today, asked a lot of sharp questions about the Obama administration’s move of the census out of the Department of Commerce and into the White House.
Now, why would Rahm Emanuel want the Census under his control in the White House? Huh? Why might that be? “The census is used to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts,” the New York Times editorial board wrote in order to REMIND PRESIDENT OBAMA that he might not want a REPUBLICAN in charge of drawing “electoral districts.” Good god almighty. So now Obama’s administration has decided that they’ll do the census themselves. Here is the Fox panel on the census, and we’ll talk about it a bit more below:
Thanks to Truthtelling007
for building our NoQuarter video channel at YouTube.
P.S. You get extra credit for counting the number of times that Robert Gibbs says “Uh.”
I’m still shaking my head that the New York Times editorial board — like a stern schoolmaster — had to remind the President WHERE the Census is done, and who is in charge. It was after that editorial that the Obama administration woke up (!), and moved the Census operation to the White House.
Below is the editorial. It’s sad, isn’t it. And it’s also sad that NONE of Obama’s aides — not one of them — knew this before they all got the “genius” idea of nominating Judd Gregg to be Secretary of Commerce, a plan that is wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start.
(1) He’s a Republican. A conservative Republican. He does not SHARE the values and platform of the Democratic party.
(2) He voted in 1995 to kill the Department of Commerce.
(3) He is a conservative Republican who does not share the values of the Democratic party and its membership.
(4) There are hints of associations with Jack Abramoff.
(5) He’s the Democratic base’s worst nightmare.
(6) OF WHAT POSSIBLE USE IS HE? Can anyone tell me?
Now, the editorial:
There’s been a lot of speculation about what President Obama was thinking when he decided to nominate Senator Judd Gregg, a prominent Republican, as secretary of commerce. Is he looking for the dissenting voice that will sharpen his views? Or, as The Wall Street Journal put it, is he trying to psych out Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, by availing himself of Mr. Gregg’s advice on how to pick off Republican votes in the Senate?
Time will tell. An easier question to answer is what Mr. Obama wasn’t thinking about when he chose Mr. Gregg. It seems safe to say that the 2010 census was not weighing on the president’s mind, though it should have been.
The Census Bureau is a major agency within the Commerce Department, and the decennial census — the next one is in 2010 — is a mammoth undertaking. After years of mismanagement and underfinancing by the Bush administration, the bureau is so ill prepared to conduct next year’s count that Congressional investigators have warned that it is at high risk of failure unless corrective action is taken immediately.
Mr. Gregg was never a friend of the census. As chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the Commerce Department’s budget, he frequently tried to cut the bureau’s financing. In 1999, he opposed emergency funds for the 2000 census requested by President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled House.
The census is used to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts. Given all that, one would think that the White House would be paying more attention. It isn’t. A director of the census, who must be confirmed by the Senate, has yet to be named.
In his confirmation hearing, Mr. Gregg must explain what he would do to get the 2010 census back on track. Before that, Mr. Obama must choose a competent director and pledge his administration’s full support to spend whatever is necessary to salvage the count.
This is pathetic. This is White House 101 stuff. How did ALL of Obama’s aides and advisers MISS THIS?
(Release: November 13)
on sale for only $16.95.
has a spatula.)
8% Off at $11.95, with a rare five-star ranking by 294 customers: 
And check out these: 
("This crazy redhead is on to something. Her pink Rambler story alone is worth the price of the book," writes 
- “Richard Sale’s reportage on Washington, the CIA, the American armed forces, and foreign intrigue has created a perfect background for this account of the steady growth of President Clinton as a master of the game of nations.”--W. Patrick Lang, former head of Middle East Operations, DIA
"Anne C. Heller's stunning biography of Ayn Rand" uses a "plethora of newly unearthed research and fresh insight."
Maybe because BO likes to have kids on his staff.
Maybe they didn’t. They need an excuse to get the census in Emanuel hands. Meet the excuse, Judd Gregg. All they had to do was scarifice the dept of commerce post.
I can see Emanuel looking for his “that was easy” easy button. DUH!
Only 2 weeks into office and Obama has turned the US government to resemble the government of Nigeria. Holy shit!
OisaFraud
No, you are wrong!! NOT Nigeria..please! Bobo is tyring to turn it into KENYA
I’m still trying to get past the pay for play scheme of Democratic NH Governor John Lynch agreeing to appoint a Republican to replace Gregg in the Senate.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) has already spoken about a bill to amend the Constitution regarding special elections…let the people decide!
Not sure this was a mistake.
This Republican congress not only lacks balls they DON’T have the political skill, i.e. bullshit and slickness to deal with these Chicago thugs. You’ve got idiots like Collins voting for a spending bill that will ELIMINATE the 2 party system, there is a reason most of the spending bill doesn’t kick in until 2010 and then you have Gregg providing political cover for Obama. This country is FU@KED. Bend over a take it like the idiots you are for electing this shoe salesman!
Now, why would Rahm Emanuel want the Census under his control in the White House? Huh? Why might that be? “The census is used to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts,” the New York Times editorial board wrote in order to REMIND PRESIDENT OBAMA that he might not want a REPUBLICAN in charge of drawing “electoral districts.”
Um, perhaps I should first remind the New York Times editorial board that NO ONE draws “electoral districts”. There’s no such thing as an “electoral district”. What are drawn are CONGRESSIONAL districts. Electoral votes are based on a state’s total Congressional delegation (members of the House and Senate). The second point that I take exception to is that the Congressional districts are drawn by the INDIVIDUAL STATE LEGISLATURES. NO ONE at the Federal level is involved, beyond the Judicial Branch (and even that level of participation generally happens only in extreme cases–except in many Southern states where the Courts may be asked to confirm that redistricting has not unfairly affected minority groups).
Whichever party has a legislative majority in each state following both the 2010 Census AND 2010 State Legislative elections will be the one to decide (for each state) how the Congressional districts are divided, and believe me, there is virtually ZERO chance that anyone’s district will ever be substantially changed–unless, of course, a state loses Congressional representation and a district is “lost” and even then, the trend is to keep a balance of power as close to the current level as possible.
As to the possible effect on the “electoral” results, the Electoral College follows the will of the majority of the voters. If the GOP candidate wins the majority of the state’s votes, that candidate will win the state’s electoral votes, regardless of how the state is represented in Congress. For instance, currently Florida’s legislature is controlled by the GOP in both houses, yet the state’s Electoral Votes went to the Democrats last year while the Alabama legislature is controlled by the Democrats but the state’s Electoral Votes went to the GOP.
You are exactly correct, JozefAL. I was going to point that out as well. But you did an outstanding job.
But the big question still is why. Why move the census from Commerce to the White House. ???? And it is still about drawing Congressional districts and numbers -raw numbers to be exact.
I think a partial answer can be found in something Juan Williams mentioned in the video. He said that “Latino officials were concerned…” with the census. He did not elaborate. In that lightening round concept there is no time to delve in depth.
However, many Latino leaders have been concerned from at least the last Census that Latinos were being under counted. If that is true, then Latinos are not receiving proportional representation in our government.
Now as we all know there are all sorts of emotionally charged issues around this topic, not least of which are undocumenteds being counted.
Obama won big time with Latinos. He may feel he owes them something. And he probably wants to keep that base and in fact INCREASE it!!!! Don’t know for sure, but it is an avenue worth pursuing. Especially if ACORN is hired to do any of the census counting or record keeping.
Aside from why, this whole episode is again showing the Obama camp to be exactly what many of us here at NQ knew it world be – amateur night in Dixieland. I just didn’t think it would be THIS bad!
Is this legal? Just move a government function from one place to another without the approval of Congress?
Damn good question.
If he did it by “executive order,” for political reasons, he’s no better than George Bush was.
Isn’t he a Constitutional lawyer?
Not even the most liberal folks I know can believe hat Rambo Rahm is running anything at all.
This seems like another power grab by the Executive branch. Bush had already created an Imperial Presidency and Obama seems all too anxious to run with and expand it.
So..between Acorn and Rahm, who do you think will win the next election? Should I bother to vote? When will we have to wake up in the morning and worship a picture of obama?
[...] NO QUARTER has the story - Now, why would Rahm Emanuel want the Census under his control in the White House? Huh? Why might that be? “The census is used to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts,” the New York Times editorial board wrote in order to REMIND PRESIDENT OBAMA that he might not want a REPUBLICAN in charge of drawing “electoral districts.” Good god almighty. So now Obama’s administration has decided that they’ll do the census themselves. [...]
[...] Or maybe it was just another Obama dumb mistake. Whatever the reason, there will not even be a pretense or a chance of objectivity or accuracy in another government function. The political objectives of Obama, learned from Saul Alinsky, are all that’s important. Story: The Census Will Be Under Rahm’s Control [...]
[...] No Quarter wrote about this political development: [...]
Hi Susan,
My posts have been disappearing these past few days. I’ve already sent you an email about this. Thanks.
[...] The Census is used “to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts.” [...]
[...] February 6th, NQ featured two posts on this “backpage” issue: (1) SusanUnPC talked about the census and how Rahm Emanuel’s and the White House’s takeover of the process; and [...]
[...] as I wrote in my previous article on the census mess, this is White House 101 stuff! Are none of these people thinking imaginatively of ways they can [...]