[guest post by JVW]
Dana earlier today contrasted the vigor with which the Obama Justice Department has prosecuted junior officers who mishandled classified information with their equanimity and apparent lethargy in investigating the mishandling of information by former Secretary of State Hillary! Rodham Clinton, the once and future inevitable President of the United States. Dana also pointed out that Bill Clinton had a golf date with President Obama this past weekend, and wondered if these issues were on the discussion agenda between the two.
In another interesting coincidence, the New York Times reported yesterday that Obama is ramping up the effort to launch his Presidential Library, which will now include a charitable foundation with, in the Times’ words, “a worldwide reach.” The President recently convened a meeting with assorted billionaires, intellectuals, and pretty Hollywood activists to map out his strategy. From the Times:
Supporters have urged Mr. Obama to avoid the mistake made by Bill Clinton, whose associates raised just enough money to build his library in Little Rock, Ark., forcing Mr. Clinton to pursue high-dollar donors for years to come. Including construction costs, Mr. Obama’s associates set a goal of raising at least $800 million — enough money, they say, to avoid never-ending fund-raising. One top adviser said that $800 million was a floor rather than a ceiling.
It’s an interesting contrast between President Obama and his party’s most immediate predecessor, and perhaps the only time we were ever hear a lamentation that the Clinton Foundation failed to raise enough money. A cynic might wonder if the conversation during the golf outing might have revolved around President #44 asking President #42 how to go about living a life of extravagance and wealth while charging most of it back to the foundation, but let’s put that aside for a moment. Another delicious nugget buried in the Times story is this:
At a dinner this year at Spruce, a restaurant in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, Mr. Obama urged technology executives to focus their philanthropic efforts on helping government become more efficient, giving some the impression that the topic would most likely be a theme of his agenda after leaving office.
Because one thing we all think of when contemplating the Obama Presidency is his unending focus on making government more efficient.
Naturally, with the Times being the Times, no attention at all is paid to the potential conflicts of interest in having a sitting President trying to raise close to $1 billion while still occupying the Oval Office, especially a President who has shown a willingness to rule via Executive Order without regard to any Constitutional boundaries. One might think that the Times would recall what happened when well-heeled donors like Denise Rich wrote checks to the Clinton Foundation while simultaneously seeking a pardon for her ex-husband, but, as Hillary! would certainly tell us, that is old news. Speaking of Hillary!, I wonder what she and the other Democrat candidates think about having Obama shake down rich liberals right as they are hoping to raise campaign money from the very same folks and promising if elected to raise their taxes to boot.
– JVW
