Reflections From a Murky Pond

According to recent reports from The Politico President-Elect Barack Obama has selected Gregory B. Craig to be his White House Counsel.

As the White House counsel, Craig will be one of the most influential members of Obama’s cabal. He will serve as the president’s lawyer, giving him legal advice and administering pardons and conflict-of-interest issues. Craig would also be the one to handle any legal defense President Obama might need while in he’s in office.

This is not a surprising choice on the part of President-Elect Obama in the wake of a bitterly contested Democratic Primary race. Gregory Craig is known as the “Lawyer of the Left” and is yet another Clinton re-tread being included in Obama’s cabal.

Craig’s Qualifications

The 63 year old Craig is a very well-schooled and experienced lawyer. He is the protege of the the legendary Beltway power brokering attorney, Edward Bennett Williams and is is a partner at the boutique litigation firm Williams founded, Williams & Connolly LLP. One does have to hope though that Craig’s extensive qualifications are not uniquely suited to Obama’s upcoming administration.

Craig represented the would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr., who attempted to murder Republican President Reagan in 1981. Craig was reportedly the architect of Hinckley’s successful defense in which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity even though reports by the federal prosecution found Hinckley legally sane.

In 1998 President Clinton appointed Mr. Craig to be Assistant to the President and Special Counsel in the White House where Mr. Craig served as the head of the President’s team that was assembled to defend against his impeachment by Congress. Mr. Craig was also a member of the President’s trial team in the United States Senate and presented the President’s defense with respect to Count One during that trial.

Craig also represented Former Bolivian Defense Minister Carlos Sánchez-Berzaín in a federal lawsuit of crimes against humanity due to his alleged role in the suppression of labor union riots in 2003 that resulted in the deaths of 67 people. Sánchez-Berzaín stood accused of turning the army lose to butcher protesters in what was described as a brutal massacre of unarmed men, women and children, some of whom were reportedly shot at point-blank range.

Craig was counsel to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan during the Oil-For-Food scandal in which - alongside other grievous examples of corruption  - Annan was alleged to have arranged for his son Kojo to receive payments from the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA, which won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program.

Craig currently represents Pedro Miguel González, president of the Panamanian legislator who is wanted in the United States on the charges of Murder and Attempted Murder. The FBI has creditable evidence proving that Gonzalez, a vocal enemy of America, murdered one U.S. Army soldier and attempted to murder another. These serious accusations and González’s Panamanian government position are a primary reason the U.S. has halted a U.S.-Panama free trade accord.

Yes, Gregory B. Craig - The Lawyer of the Left - has a long and storied history of accomplishments in defending assassins, mass murderers, murderers of US servicemen, and corrupt politicians. Craig also - based on his partnership in Williams & Connolly LLP - has a great deal of experience with punitive and/or opportunistic litigation.

These are all useful qualifications for the personal lawyer of a Head of State.  I’ve been told though that Obama wants to usher in a new brand of American politics, so I must hope that Craig’s qualifications are not suited for his new position. If that’s the case though, then the only remaining remaining reason I can find for Obama selecting Craig as the White House Counsel is that Craig is a yet another Clinton White House veteran for Obama’s roster.

Michelle Obama, wife of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has drawn a lot of flak for various of her comments during the campaign. She’s a hard-hitting woman of no uncertain opinion and this has caused her to be occasionally reviled for her heartfelt but ill-advised rants and declarations. She does speak truth as she sees it though.

If you can’t run your own house, then you can’t run the White House.

– Michelle Obama

I think that is a very wise observation. If a candidate cannot properly manage and nurture that which is close to them, how can anyone expect them to properly manage and nurture the nation?

Sadly, like all truths Michelle’s wisdom is a two-edged sword that twist in the the hands of its wielder.

If Michelle’s husband can not successfully look after his constituents in Chicago how can anyone trust him to be President of the whole nation? If Barack Obama was willing to sacrifice the most vulnerable of his own constituents to the greed and corruption of his campaign supporters and business partners, how can trust him to be President of the whole nation?

Sen. Obama, talk to your wife; she may well be wiser than you.

We in America seem to have a very sad tradition. It is the tradition of falsely claiming to have been attacked for reasons based on Race, Religion, or Politics. We had Tawana Brawley, and then Safia Jilani. Now Ashley Todd makes three. Here are three young women who preyed upon longstanding fears and expectations of wrongdoing in order to either gain attention or to further their particular agendas:

Tawana Brawley claimed that six White law enforcement officers abducted and raped her, scrawled racial insults on her body, and smeared her with feces .

Those claims were declared a hoax by a grand jury.

Muslim student activist, Safia Jilani claimed that she was attacked in the bathroom at the Southwestern suburban college.  The incident was declared a “hate crime” when local police found threatening and Islamaphobic graffiti written on the bathroom’s mirrors and walls.

Local police later announced that an investigation determined the assault never occurred at all. It was a hoax.

Ashley Todd claimed that she was attacked by a Black man who robbed her and then - upon seeing her McCain-Palin bumpersticker - carved a “B” into her face while berating her.

She later admitted that this a hoax.

There have of course been others who have perpetrated such hoaxes. Three three are just ones who have in relatively recent times committed such atrocities and gained national media attention.