Politico reports that President-elect Barack Obama is considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the post of Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. A prior report suggested RFK was an early candidate for Secretary of the Interior. Tapping RFK Jr. for either post would be a profound mistake, and would almost certainly provoke a bitter confirmation fight.
RFK Jr. became something of a spokesperson for the environmental movement with his celebrity name and strident attacks on the Bush Administration's environmental policies. While some of the criticism was warranted, RFK's assaults were factually challenged, and only got worse over time. In 2002 he charged factory farms were a greater threat to the nation than Osama bin Laden, and in 2004 said of the media, "They should all drink poison Kool-Aid and restore integrity to their profession." He's also embraced unscientific allegations of a vaccine-autism link and charges the GOP stole the 2004 election.
President-elect Obama is certainly entitled to a cabinet that will support his policy agenda. When it comes to EPA and Interior, Obama can do much better than RFK Jr.
UPDATE: RFK Jr. also makes Tim Noah's preliminary list of "key appointments Obama should resist."
SECOND UPDATE: RFK Jr.'s a Chavista too.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Is RFK Jr. Just "Too Controversial"?
- A Kennedy in the Cabinet?
The guy is not real stable.
On the other hand, Obama's buddy dedicated a book to the guy who killed his dad. Maybe he's owed one.
He's going to bring every left-wing radical nut-job he can. Ogiltree at Justice, etc etc. And the Dems in the Senate will push them through.
We're screwed.
"Factory farms are more dangerous for our lifestyle and democracy than Osama bin Laden and global terrorism"
Still doesn't make sense...neither are a threat to the democracy and neither have any great effect on our lifestyle. So it may not mean that he thinks factory farming it will kill more people than bin Laden, but point taken that he may not be the best choice.
fwiw, here's more:
“A few years ago I gave a speech a group of 1,200 farmers in Clear Lake, Iowa, and I said that I am more frightened of these large multinationals than I am of Osama bin Laden. I got a standing ovation from all the farmers in the room, but I got six months of abuse from the farm bureau.” Kennedy recalled. “I stand by what I said. It’s the same thing that Teddy Roosevelt said, that our country was too strong and too committed to ever be destroyed by a foreign enemy, but our democratic institutions would be subverted by what he called “malefactors of great wealth,” who would destroy them from within.
Much more likely: Caroline Kennedy as UN Ambassador.
Obama wouldn't dare bring 2 Kennedys into his inner (well, not really "inner;" this isn't Treasury and AG after all) circle.
(Presidents' baby brothers don't count. Especially if LBJ thought they were "little bastards" or "shit eating little runts". Naming no names, of course.)
Thus in truth I hope he gives Robert a job. The high profile leaving in a year would finish the guy for good.
So RFK Jr. would be in charge of writing the regulations?
Oh, this does not sound good.
And it seems most of the criticisms are based on his name more than his person.
The problem with our oil demand is that it is completely reliant on foreign supply. So even if we aren't near exhaustion of oil our dependence on foreign oil is causing to engage in a really reckless foreign policy.
Deval Patrick has been suggested for the Supreme Court. Ed Whelan looked at Patrick's left-wing record of pushing racial quotas, which drew criticism from even from liberal judges and liberal Senators like Carol Moseley Braun, in National Review's The Corner.
Patrick, who has also been suggested as a potential attorney general, has claimed that speech opposing halfway houses for substance abusers (defined as disabled by the Fair Housing Act) is as unprotected as using “baseball bats” to deny them access to housing.
The ABA Journal predicts that Charles Ogletree will be in charge of civil rights at the Justice Department, despite his controversial remarks blaming America for 9/11 and calling America a racist country. (The National Journal describes Ogletree as a member of Obama's "inner circle." Rush Limbaugh and others describe him as Obama's top adviser on racial issues).
Obama aides have suggested Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Secretary of Interior. But legal commentator Walter Olson calls him “America’s most irresponsible public figure” for scaring parents into not getting their children vaccinated for diseases, and labeling those who disagree with him as traitors.
Let’s hope better-qualified people actually end up getting these jobs.
(McCain had his own truly stupid advisers, like Martin Feldstein, whose proposal to buy up all the bad loans in America was described by one commentator as “the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,” and cost McCain the support of the editor of the Arlington Sun-Gazette, one of the few moderate or conservative papers in the Washington, D.C. area. But McCain’s advisers are now moot).
Why? For all the reasons describing RFK, Jr. as a truly horrible pick -- and several more I could add, having learned them while litigating against the NRDC -- I'd recommend that the Republicans NOT conduct a bitter confirmation fight. Just make sure that in the confirmation hearings that RFK, Jr. is questioned thoroughly in a way so that he hangs his ideas on Obama's "Change we can believe in" slogan, and then say "In the interests of bi-partisan cooperation, although we are concerned about RFK, Jr.'s qualifications and ideas, he's the sort of person that Pres. Obama chooses and we will respect Pres. Obama's choice." Then, let RFK, Jr. go off and be the huge disaster his past indicates he will be. This way Republicans can't be accused of sullying the blessed memory of the martyrs JFK and RFK or picking on Teddy's nephew when Teddy is terminally ill. Instead, make Obama responsible for RFK, Jr., and his failures.
I know that all administrations ignore scientific findings that they find inconvenient. Yes, Clinton did it too. But the Bush administration has had political appointees rewriting the scientific findings of some of its agencies.
(I have also been told by folks at the EPA that the Bush administration is much worse about political interference than past administrations. This is anecdotal and relies on a small sample size).
For this reason it is important that the heads of those agencies that deal with scientific issues be people who have respect for the scientific evidence, even when it disagrees with their beliefs. Kennedy continues to believe that vaccines cause autism. This is not consistent with the findings of the scientific community. In my mind this belief in "gut feelings" over peer reviewed science make him a less than ideal candidate for EPA head. Why can't we appoint a scientist to head technical agencies as opposed to a lawyer (no offense to lawyers, but how many physicists are in contention to be attorney general?)
OK. Wow. Even I can't claim that.