It's hard to know what the deal is at the Treasury Department in the search for top aides to Secretary Geithner. But another one is down the tubes.
Word leaked out on Friday that for the second time in the last two weeks, a choice for Geithner's top deputy has decided to withdraw from consideration.
This time it was New York lawyer H. Rodgin Cohen who pulled the plug. It wasn't immediately known why, but you can probably take a few guesses and come close.
Something in the vetting process. Maybe problems paying taxes? Maybe problems paying nanny taxes? Something along those lines would not be a shocker.
Whatever the reason, it is almost immaterial. Why do I say that?
Because the bottom line is that the Obama Administration is having a rough time of late getting its people into sub-Cabinet level positions.
One more liberal columnist the other day was grinding his teeth about all the false starts on Treasury Department officials, saying maybe it's time to suspend such worries and get the best people into the jobs as quickly as possible to deal with the economic troubles plaguing the world.
On one level, I can understand that.
But this is politics, so that doesn't work.
I guess no one learned about the Nanny Tax problem back from the Clinton years, when it brought down several nominees, including two for U.S. Attorney General.
I guarantee you that sometime we'll have a Supreme Court nominee again, and the question will come up about whether that person ever did a Ginsburg. And I'm not talking about the current Justice Ginsburg.
Remember that one?
But onto the current vetting "crisis" for the lack of a better term in the Obama Administration.
What the heck is going on over there? Are they just snakebit? Isn't there anyone with a clean record to fill these positions?
One was one thing. Two withdrawals was another. Three made it a theme and now we've had a bunch.
It just makes ya wonder.
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