CREEPING CARTERISM:

Feinstein not thrilled with Obama’s CIA pick (Dena Bunis, 1/05/09, OC Register)

Sometimes less is more and that’s certainly the case when reading Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s terse and clearly not pleased reaction to word that President-elect Barack Obama wants Leon Panetta to head the CIA.

““I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” Feinstein said in a statement. Oops. Feinstein isn’t just any senator when it comes to this post. The California Democrat will this year become the first woman to chair the Intelligence Committee, which among other things would need to confirm Panetta. Might have been politic to check with her on this. No?

“My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time,” is the other sentence of Feinstein’s terse statement. Doesn’t take much to read between those lines.

It was always said that Jimmy Carter's awful relations with Hill Democrats were a function of his outsider status and his open contempt for them. What's the UR's excuse going to be?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 5, 2009 9:23 PM