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"Crisis" At Commerce At an End? Reports that Obama Chooses Locke

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 07:11:46 PM EST
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I know we have all been sweating the vacancy at Commerce, but Political Wire has the reassuring news:

President Obama has chosen former Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) as his nominee to be Commerce secretary.

We can all breathe now. BTW, Judd who?

Speaking for me only

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    "Crisis" At Commerce At an End? Reports that Obama Chooses Locke | 23 comments (23 topical)

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    Locke's record does not (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by weltec2 on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:17:23 PM EST
    look much like the record of a Democrat:

    Democrats criticized Locke for embracing the Republican Party's no-new-taxes approach to dealing with Washington's budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil. Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed, pro-school initiatives while cutting state education funding. That same state budget, though, had record-high allocations for construction projects.
    It's part of Obama's (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by weltec2 on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:31:51 PM EST
    post-partisan change we can believe in. [mordant chuckle]

    Gary Locke was chosen (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by Spamlet on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:47:25 PM EST
    to deliver the Democrats' response to Bush's 2003 SOTU address (the one featuring the notorious sixteen words). As I recall, Locke brought to this task all the dynamism and charisma of dry toast.

    The Locke Speech (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by cal1942 on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 09:26:06 PM EST
    made me fall on the floor wondering if anyone even bothered to examine it in advance.

    He said that the highest 1% income bracket averaged $375,000 per year.  At that time the average of the top 1% was closer to $1 million per year.

    There was obvious confusion with the top tax rate that started on incomes above $375,000.

    I thought it was a pretty dumb mistake because it seriously watered down his message.

    His selection to make that speech was an early sign that Democrats planned to roll over for Bush.

    Beyond that it appears to an outsider that this guy, as governor, was a DINO, a nightmare for Democrats.

    I'm glad he never went any farther in Democratic politics. Not surprised that Obama picked this bland nothing.  Fits right in with policy initiatives we've seen to date.

    Parent

    Even worse (none / 0) (#14)
    by Spamlet on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 11:44:57 PM EST
    He said that the highest 1% income bracket averaged $375,000 per year. At that time the average of the top 1% was closer to $1 million per year.

    Locke actually referred to "the top 1%--that's people who earn over $300,000 a year."

    "Bland nothing" is right.

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    Thanks Spamlet (none / 0) (#25)
    by cal1942 on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 11:42:01 AM EST
    the exact words escaped me.

    Normally I wouldn't rememeber who gave the opposition speech but this one stuck because it was so terribly lame.

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    When Locke was first elected, Clinton (none / 0) (#1)
    by Inspector Gadget on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 07:36:23 PM EST
    took a liking to him. I recall him being showcased at some big event, though I don't remember which one...probably a governor's conference. Rather than living up to the up and coming, he kind of disappeared post Governorship.

    I didn't care for him at all as governor, but he did do a very good job of running King County as the Executive in charge prior to that.

    I'm sure he will do just fine in this position.

    Assuming he is up to date (none / 0) (#2)
    by BernieO on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:10:46 PM EST
    on his taxes.

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    First Asian-American governor (none / 0) (#3)
    by scribe on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:12:37 PM EST
    and has a lot of experience dealing with China, mostly as regards Boeing, as I understand it.

    Why would he have done any (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Inspector Gadget on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 08:16:00 PM EST
    negotiating for Boeing? He's the one who wouldn't negotiate with Boeing here in WA and watched HQ move to Chicago because of it...Boeing...born and raised in Seattle gone to Chicago because of Gary Locke.


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    Boeing HQ moved, then Locke groveled (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by shoephone on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 10:10:27 PM EST
    and orchestrated the biggest corporate tax break in this state's history. $3.2 billion. Totally unjustified. Other states that wanted 787 assembly weren't offering anywhere near that amount. Mostly between $100-200 million. But for Locke, the $3.2 billion wasn't enough a$$-kissing. He crafted a secret deal w? Boeing -- yes, SECRET DEAL, not even known to state legislators until after the fact -- for $45 million more. Some of the non-monetary goodies in the secret deal were:

    -The state (Locke) agreed to withhold and blackout information from the public record.

    -Future legisatures are prevented from revoking or changing any aspect of the tax break deal.

    I don't need to tell you about Boeing's current problems getting the 787 put together. Disaster after disaster on this project. And the parts aren't even being manufactured here. All manufacturing was outsourced to other states and other countries (like Italy and China).

    Gary Locke = corporate lackey.

    The more thnigs change...

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    Yeh, a lot of my WA relatives (none / 0) (#10)
    by Cream City on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 09:51:05 PM EST
    talked about him, I remember now -- what the Boeing debacle did to daily life there.  You're reminding me now that they wanted Locke's blood. . . .

    Parent
    Ought to add, they were bigtime Dems (none / 0) (#11)
    by Cream City on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 09:52:47 PM EST
    then, my relatives -- never strayed from the one true faith of the party.  Wonder if that's still so, interesting that we didn't hear much from them, as we usually do during a campaign.  Hmmmmmm.

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    Big ego (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Inspector Gadget on Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 10:03:07 PM EST
    I think his decision to not run for a third term was based in the knowledge he would lose and that was a blow he couldn't deal with.

    I never liked him as governor, though I've seen comments from some who thought he was terrific. Mine is a Boeing family, so he really lost all of us with that HQ move. Not sure what made him think Boeing was kidding about leaving the area if he continued to ignore them.

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    Gary will do just fine at commerce (none / 0) (#15)
    by denise k on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 12:11:29 AM EST
    He was never a particularly astute politician, but he is a good bureaucrat and administrator and that is all you need at Commerce.  He won't set policy, he will implement it and he is very good at that.  And it does not hurt that he is a first generation Chinese American.  

    Obama could do much worse and he could not do much better than Locke.  

    Obama now has 3 Asian Americans (none / 0) (#17)
    by tigercourse on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 01:44:03 AM EST
    in his cabinet and 3 women in his cabinet. The number of Asian Americans is far larger then their percentage in the total population and the number of women is far smaller.

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    China (5.00 / 0) (#22)
    by denise k on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 09:48:13 AM EST
    The point I was making was not that he is an Asian American.  The point was that he is Chinese in a position that requires dealing with Commerce.  China is a commercial powerhouse.  

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    Due Diligence Required (none / 0) (#16)
    by TheLastInspector on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 01:36:17 AM EST
    There are some important national security and anti-corporate corruption reasons Locke should be looked at carefully before being given this critical post:

    http://eastmans.web.aplus.net/pblog/index.php

    His families' close China heritage and his supporting the management of the corporation currently most akin to Enron while he was Governor of Washington state is problematic-most notably for our national security.

    China is an extremely fickle trading partner to the U.S. who plans militarily against us behind the scenes and has spies in place in this country.

    We need a Commerce secretary who is not blinded by his perhaps overly benign and personally skewed view of the true intentions and plans of the Chinese government.

    You really think so? (none / 0) (#24)
    by Lacey on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 10:34:47 AM EST
    I don't know much about Locke, but to suggest that his being of Chinese descent is somehow  a national security danger when dealing with the Chinese is an absurd assumption. You know, he's an American first.  

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    Locke doesn't have a "nanny" problem... (none / 0) (#18)
    by EL seattle on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 01:44:05 AM EST
    ... or any other tax scandal to worry about (as far as I know).

    There ware signs of a possible vampire problem when he was governor, but I think that they effectively covered up that scandal with an elaborate ruse.

    Fantastic! (none / 0) (#23)
    by DFLer on Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 09:58:56 AM EST
    Giant mold spores and rabid bats. Much easier to get my head around than the plethora of econ diaries that I am diligently plowing my way through, in an effort to understand it all.

    Of the two, I favor the giant mold spore as most intriguing. I'm imagining the mold colony, had it been left alone, evolving a rudimentary AI and recombining its cellular structure into bio-processors; and as it spreads through the ducting, eventually takes over the government.

    Cool.

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    Locke's a good guy and a good fit (none / 0) (#26)
    by RonK Seattle on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 05:44:53 PM EST
    Like any less-than-perfect Democrat his failings are exaggerated - surprisingly so in comments above.

    If there's any potential for confirmation trouble,  it may be with Obama's anti-lobbyist standards. See Locke's China work complicates bid.  (Politico reporter Ken Vogel is a sharp cookie, and had the political beat for Tacoma News Tribune in Locke's day, if memory serves.)

    As I said above. (none / 0) (#28)
    by RonK Seattle on Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 07:23:34 PM EST


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    "Crisis" At Commerce At an End? Reports that Obama Chooses Locke | 23 comments (23 topical)

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