From: michaell@snake15.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Lee)
Subject: Re: THE CLINTON CABINET
Organization: /usr/lib/news/rn/organization
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 17:03:43 GMT

In article <736@blue.cis.pitt.edu> psg+@pitt.edu (Paul S Galvanek) writes:
>In article <1992Dec14.210934.13719@cs.wisc.edu> michaell@snake28.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Lee) writes:
>>
>>First of all, I take insult to being called a "pathetic fool".  So far, I have
>>seen no appointments that have been of people unqualified for the position.
>>Clinton has appointed people with a decent variety of positions - but still
>>able to work with, not against, the Clinton administrations goals.
>
>Oh really "no appointments that have been of people unqualified"?  Let's
>start with Donna Shalala, a women who's entire adult life has been in academia
>and has no experience what-so-ever, with health care issues or insurance and/or
>medical cost control issues.  She, none the less, finds herself appointed the
>task of setting the nations health care policy and overseeing the establishment
>of Bill's promised national health insurance program.  Read USA Today's 
>(yesterday's issue) evaluation on these picks to date and take note of 
>her role in the Clinton campaign "ties to Hillary".  Her friendship with
>Hillary is the only reason anyone can come up with for her appointment.

I won't disagree that Shalala's long friendship with Hilary was a major (if
not THE major) factor in the appointment.  This is, from my impression of
Mrs. Clinton, the department she is most interested in, and it is to her
advantage to have a friend run the department.  With the importance of health
care concerns in this administration, I'm sure both the President-elect and
Mrs. Clinton will be involved with the management.

As far as qualifications, I quote from the Capital Times, 12/11/92:

	Shalala's involvement in social issues goes back two decades.
	Previous work suggest she will push for child care, health
	insurance and other programs to help the working poor stay
	off welfare.
	

Not counting the administration of the sixth (or so) largest University in the
country, she had an appointment in the Carter administration and a panel
in New York on poverty and welfare in 1986.

I mentioned other administrative skills, which where she is headed IS what
is most important, in another post.

>
>The truth is that only Leon Panetta and Carol Browner have any qualifications
>for the jobs they've been appointed to.  Forget Bensten's political leanings
>and tell me what qualifies him to be in control of the nations's money supply,
>his abiltity to spend tax dollars as a career politicians?  I think not.
>
Then why has Bensten's appointment been considered so positively -- even
Rush Limbaugh said it was a decent appointment!  Is Rush now part of some
far left media-conspiracy?   Geez, you're farther out of touch with reality
then I thought!
>>
>>And honest days work?  I'm a student here at UW-Madison, and so I know DHHS
>>designate Donna Shalala's work at a decent perspective.  While far rightists
>>may accuse her as some "High priestess of political correctness",
>
>Oh yeah, that Mort Kondrakey (sp?) is a raging right winger alright.

perhaps.  But our student papers have been able to print whatever they
want -- both conservative and liberal, comments, by no way ultra-PC.  But
then, the whole PC controversy just disgusts me....

>
> she has a
>>number of critics to her far left as well.  She successfully attacked a huge
>>deficit in the athletic department, by some less-then-popular measures, both
>>a targeted $10 that came from tuition and went towards the athletic department,
>>and cutting some programs, but also recruiting two strong coaches to income
>>generating sports, and while they aren't winning teams yet, attendence and
>>enthusiasm is up, and the athletic department deficit is almost removed.  
>
>Well of course, now I see why she's in charge of HEALTH and Human Services!
>All that budget cutting work should come in real handy when it's time to
>set national health care and insurance policy. 

You may have been ironic, but you aren't that far from the truth this once -
everyone know that health care is a major factor dragging down our economy, and
the ability to make hard choices, which she demonstrated (yes, in a very
different area), will be useful there.  

>
>>
>>True, Madison is not a archly-conservative campus, by any means (thankfully),
>>but Shalala has done an excellent job here as Chancellor, and clearly has spent
>>many days working hard at improving our university,
>
>I'm not even going to argue but I will say that if you believe any of this
>is qualification to run a department that sets policy on broad a scope of
>issues as DHHS, you're dreaming.  The entire budget of that joint she ran 
>wouldn't run DHHS two days.  She hasn't been able to resolve the issues of
>ONE hospital in some one horse town and she's going to set policy for the 
>nations hospitals?   She may have done a great at your little school, but
>this is the whole country we're talking about now and like Perot said,
>running a corner shoeshine stand does not mean you can run IBM.  Can you
>say - in over her head.

While I doubt that she will be, we'll have to wait and see.

I'm amazed.  The UW-Madison is a "little school"?   That's so absurd I won't
even answer it.  If this is a little school, how many people go to a big one?

Millions?  Billions?  It's one of the top ten largest, and is an excellent
school -- one of the best in the country.  Maybe you should check it out 
before you make such an idiotic statement.
>
>But that really shouldn't suprise me, since everything I seen to date
>from this new administrations can be summed up with "in over their heads".
>Why, we here in the Clinton team are shocked and stunned by the reaction
>to Bill's intentions to lift the ban on gays in the military.

Considering it wasn't any big secret in the campaign -- I knew about it,
of course it's a surprise.  But then, what does that have to do with anything
anyways? 

Over their heads?  I don't think so.

Michael Lee

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