I Didn't Know Until It Was On The News

So, with the title of this post, which government official am I talking about?
A) Mike Brown, FEMA Director
B) George Bush, President
C) Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois.
D) All of the Above.

The answer is "D", all of the above. Brownie supposedly didn't know about the Superdome until it was on the news, though the AP's new tape shows he knew the day before the hurricane it could be a potential disaster.

Bush didn't know until he saw on the news Dubai Ports World was going to take over some terminal operations in the US.

And now, the latest in a series of clueless government officials, I'll whack at the knees of the governor in Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.

In August the Governor made a new appointment to the State of Illinois' Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes, Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad . Now four members of the commission have resigned, because the of her presence.

Sister Claudette, you see is an official in the Nation of Islam movement lead by Louis Farrakhan. The other members hadn't realized, and she hadn't told anyone, that she belonged to Nation of Islam, but when a group of her fellow commissioners were invited by her to a Farrakhan speech they found out.

Now Jewish and gay appointees have abandoned the commission, after Farrakhan made remarks Sunday about "Hollywood Jews" promoting homosexuality and "other filth." Even a person appointed to the commission to replace a resignee has resigned, and Blagojevich has egg all over his face.

This shows how bad the vetting process is at all levels of government. The commission is really a "feel good" type commission, without much power, they release occasional reports on discrimination in the state, and look at efforts to reduce it.

Putting someone from the Nation of Islam on that commission is really the equivalent of putting a member of the Ku Klux Klan on it. All Farrakhan's group has ever done is blame whites, Jews, and gays for every problem in the universe. And Mr. Farrakhan never does it in a subtle way.

And then there is the poor governor, who tells the press that he; like the members of the commission; didn't realize that she worked for Farrakhan until he heard it on the news this week.

I can see his reasoning for picking her, for this position, she's black, female, and Islamic, so probably a good choice in today's environment. It would be interesting to know if he or an aide got a resume from her before he appointed her, or if he even talked to her before putting her on the commission.

So now the governor has an issue, which of his constituent groups does he piss off? The Jewish, gay and black community leaders have all held press conferences to either defend or deride her presence. No matter what he does now, it's going to be the wrong thing.

I've mentioned in a number of posts on this blog that one of the Democratic Party's biggest problems is it's "umbrella" philosophy, trying to cover every group that feels it's underappreciated or victimized (some are, by the way). This shows that sometimes one or more groups may want more room under the umbrella, and now Blago has to decide who gets wet.

Good luck Governor, you've now learned the hard way that actually knowing who you are appointing to a job is probably important, even when it's just to a feel good commission that stocked with people to earn you brownie points.

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