Just Say No to. . .

Jamie Gorelick. While I think we conservatives owe Barack Obama the courtesy of letting him pick his own team (a courtesy that our portside friends didn't always extend to George W. Bush), it's really a good idea to keep this particular person out of any position of power. Why? Well, let the New York Times explain her "baggage."

Carries as baggage: Her work at Fannie Mae, which had to be bailed out by the government in September as part of a $200 billion deal. Ms. Gorelick left the company just as it was coming under attack for huge accounting failures. She has also drawn criticism for her role at the Justice Department, in which she allegedly created an intelligence “wall” that hindered counterterrorism agents in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks. Conservatives called for her removal from the Sept. 11 commission, but her fellow members rallied around her and said critics were distorting her record. The criticism grew so heated that the F.B.I. investigated a death threat against her family, and President Bush had to intervene personally to stop the Justice Department from releasing sealed reports involving her. Some conservative bloggers have already begun trying to derail Ms. Gorelick’s possible nomination as attorney general, pointing to her experiences at both Fannie Mae and the Sept. 11 commission.

Emphasis mine. Count me as one of those bloggers. The "distored" evidence in re Sept. 11 is pretty clear -- she did write the directives that hindered intelligence agencies and the FBI from working together. Where the rubber met the road, that caused a big problem. The FBI had nailed Zacarias Moussaoui prior to 9/11, but that information never made it anywhere. The "wall" was the reason. I understand what Gorelick's concerns were about giving the spooks too much power; indeed, those are concerns that I share. Still, it was absurd that Gorelick was on the 9-11 commission when she should have been testifying in front of it instead. And moreover, her role in the Fannie Mae alone should disqualify her.

Bottom line: there is a veritable constellation of Democratic operatives that Barack Obama can choose from. It would be far better if he steered clear of this one.