William Daley

President Barack Obama And Women’s Role In His Administration: Greater Than Any President!

Ronald Leave a comment

With the controversy over contraception coverage for women in religiously based employment at the height of the news this week, it became evident that President Obama was influenced by women in his administration toward the stand he took, until he backtracked earlier today. Among those women influencing his earlier stand were Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House aide Valerie Jarrett. Among the men opposed were Vice President Joe Biden and former Chief of Staff William Daley.

Last year, it was women working with Barack Obama, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who convinced him to get involved in Libya”s Civil War, although others such as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon advised against it.

This is an interesting development, as never before have women had such significance in decision making on important domestic and foreign policy issues as under Obama.

Whether in the long run this will be seen as positive for the Obama record in office will be debated and analyzed for decades!

New Chief Of Staff William Daley A Good Choice By President Obama?

Ronald 1 Comment

The appointment of William Daley as Chief of Staff to President Obama is a very controversial selection.

Certainly, Daley has the smarts and the contacts that a Chief of Staff should have.

He is a friend of the business community, and his appointment has been applauded by Republican leaders and the Chambers of Commerce, ironically two groups which worked to overcome the Obama agenda and put the GOP in control of the House of Representatives and state governorships and legislatures.

The brother of outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and the son of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, the new Chief of Staff brings a background as former Secretary of Commerce for President Clinton, and also opposition to the Obama Health Care legislation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headed by his rival, Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University.

It is hard for progressives and liberals to accept and tolerate such an appointment, as it seems to contradict the Obama agenda, and it makes one wonder if Obama is truly becoming another Bill Clinton, moving toward the center, and trying to make friends with those who have bitterly opposed him.

Is such a strategy going to work? It just might, and could help secure Obama a second term in the White House.

But will it lead to more progressive legislation in the next two to six years, or will Obama disappoint those on the left who expected more aggressive pursuit of major progressive goals based on Obama’s 2008 campaign?

Is Obama selling out his supporters to be re-elected, or is this just the reality of American politics, that too much change cannot be accomplished under our system of government?

Do we have to be happy for what has been gained, and be satisfied, or should we be skeptics and be concerned about the direction of the Obama Presidency?

The feelings of the author are confusion and concern, as so much more needs to be pursued, but the re-election campaign gets in the way of such goals.

Of course, if Obama fails to win re-election, then none of the goals of the progressives will be attainable, so it leaves progressives in a “no man’s land”! What alternatives do progressives have but hope for the best from Obama? Probably none, sad to say! 🙁