[Updates x2] Sen. Judd Gregg Withdraws from Obama’s Boneheaded Appointment to Head Commerce

VIDEO UPDATE & COMMENT: No, Senator Gregg. You would NOT have been allowed to be yourself. You just had an up-close encounter with the Daily Kossack / Nancy Pelosi / Harry Reid world of far-left politics where NO individual thought is ever permissible and only group-think is EVER allowed. God forbid you have your own thoughts.

The inner White House oversight of the caucus is indeed worriseom. I realize that it’s never partisan-free. But one can strive to have congressional districts decided, best as possible, along true population lines, not what Rahm Emanuel or even Judd Gregg might want for political reasons. (The first UPDATE is at the end of the story.)

Original: At least Senator Judd Gregg came to the realization that this was an idiotic arrangement — how he could fit in with the Obama administration — he who had voted in 1995 to eliminate the Commerce Dept., who had ties to Jack Abramoff, who opposed progressive measures on the census, who the Obama administration took the census away from and put directly under White House control … that he knew that he PERHAPS (?!) was NOT a good fit for the Obama administration?!?!?!

How does Obama come up with these ideas anyway? And WHO checks out these “ideas” thoroughly before they’re announced? (Did no one at the White House realize — before they appointed Gregg — that the census was coming up, and that a conservative Republican would have had control as Secretary of Commerce, since that department has traditionally handled the 10-year census? What else was the White House going to take away from Gregg to render him incapable of having sufficient influence?) And which knuckleheads are allowing him to make these decisions that he comes to regret — and which aren’t sufficiently researched and vetted?

How can Obama appoint a Commerce secretary who was so conflicted by Obama’s stimulus package that he had to “abstain” from voting? That surely didn’t bode well for their future relationships in administration matters.

The Washington Post, through Chris Cilizza’s blog The Fix, reports that Gregg cited “irreconciliable conflicts” — and do note the problems that Cilizza lists that this withdrawal creates for Obama:

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his name from consideration as President Obama’s commerce secretary, a major blow to an administration seeking to put a series of Cabinet problems behind it.

“It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the census there are irresolvable conflicts for me,” Gregg said in a statement to be released by his office. “Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns.”

Gregg abstained from the Senate vote on the stimulus package, which passed the chamber 61 to 37. He had not previously offered any public comment on the White House’s plan to have the Census director report to White House officials. Many Republicans, however, had voiced serious concerns about the potential politicization of the department given that move.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) praised Gregg’s decision as “principled” and added: “It’s great to have him back.”

Just days ago, Gregg stood side-by-side with the president to accept the nomination as commerce secretary and declared that partisanship should not get in the way of repairing the country’s
problems.

“This is not a time for partisanship. This is not a time when we should stand in our ideological corners and shout at each other,” Gregg said on Feb. 3. “This is a time to govern and govern well. And therefore, when the President asked me to join his administration and participate in trying to address the issues of this time, I believed it was my obligation to say yes, and I look forward to it with enthusiasm.”

At that event, Obama noted that “Clearly, Judd and I don’t agree on every issue — most notably who should have won the election. But we agree on the urgent need to get American businesses and families back on their feet.”

But even as Gregg and Obama were shaking hands, Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were blasting the stimulus package then making its way through the House of Representatives. In a statement, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said that day that “let no one be mistaken that this bill is the result of bipartisan negotiations. While Republicans were courteously consulted at the member and staff level, we were never at the negotiating table.”

Gregg is the second of Obama’s nominees as commerce secretary to withdraw. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.) stepped aside earlier this year after allegations of a pay to play scandal involving him came to light.

The decision has any number of wide-reaching political consequences.

First, it creates another opening in Obama’s Cabinet, which saw former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle (S.D.) step aside last week after questions were raised about his failure to pay taxes on a car and driver service.

Second, it slows the momentum that the Obama administration was hoping to build for its economic stimulus plan, which is expected to clear Congress tomorrow. Obama and his team had worked diligently to put the “vetting problems” stories regarding his Cabinet picks to bed but now will watch them dredged back up for the next 24 hours — at a minimum — and perhaps far longer.

Third, Gregg’s return to the Senate means that Republicans have one less open seat to defend next fall. ….

Read all.

UPDATE: Oh boy! I bet the Obama White House is hysterical! Why couldn’t have Gregg dropped this bomb on late Friday afternoon?!?!?! But on Thursday? The day BEFORE the House votes on the stimulus package??? OUCH.

(Which has me wondering … is this meant to throw cold water on the House vote, what with both the Blue Dog Democrats and far-left liberal House members unhappy with the stimulus package? Maybe not. Just a thought. … But the Republicans surely are eager to create some turmoil right before this bill gets the final vote to be enacted and signed by Obama into law. )