(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
According to The New York Times, “A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive – some say invasive – application ever.”
Seven pages of deeply probing questions including “63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well”. Ouch.
Well I have no adult children and my spouse, at least since we have been together, has not lived a wild life. I’m really boring. Trust me on that one. What she did before we became a couple is none of my business, or so I’ve been told, but I can see why Obama would want to know. Heck, I’m curious too. I know she lived in Europe for a year. Before Europe she was a Reagan conservative, but she returned to America as a leftist. They got to her.
The questions Obama’s team is asking seem quite thorough.
Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says. Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun. They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.
As teenager and young adult I got a couple speeding tickets… this was back in the day when the speed limit was still 55 miles per hour. I probably got a ticket while listening to Sammy Hagar too, if that is important. I’ve also totaled not one, but two of my parent’s cars when I was a teenager. I’m happy to report that I’ve grown to like bicycling… even in the snow and rain. But, doing so gives me the right to complain about it.
And okay, I’m willing to guess that some of the essays that I’ve written might embarrass Obama. Honestly I’ve been embarrassed by some of them… but I think I’ve only deleted one essay about the second presidential debate that truly missed the mark. Some of my early posts weren’t well written or argued and some of what I feel has been my best work has been pretty much ignored. Also, I sometimes get “they’re”, “there” and “their” mixed up too when I’m writing in a hurry.
The application also asks applicants to “please list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet.”
Wow. I doubt I would be able to remember all my Internet pseudonyms. I’ve been online since about 1990 and that predates the World Wide Web.
But with some of the application questions, I’m clean. I’ve never worked for “Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.”
I’ve never directly hired undocumented workers. Although, occasionally I’ll get some yard work done, like dethatching, and I do not know the immigration status of the people the lawn services company sends.
But, I’ve never had a nanny, cook, gardener, chauffeurs, servants, or domestic staff unless you can count my parents when I was a teenager. They often complained that they were tired of being my servants. The good news is they were born American citizens and I moved out of my parent’s basement years ago… before I even started blogging.
Most information must cover at least the past decade, including the names of anyone applicants lived with; a chronological list of activities for which applicants were paid; real estate and loans over $10,000, and their terms, for applicants and spouses; net worth statements submitted for loans, and organization memberships – in particular, memberships in groups that have discriminated on the basis of race, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
Okay, I’ve been really bad at investing and real estate. I’ve lost a lot of money in both. My religious affiliation is the same as Joe Biden’s, so hopefully that won’t embarrass Obama too much.
I’m not much of a joiner, so I’m not a member of many groups. Although, I did register as a member of the Democratic Party so I could vote for Obama in the primary. The Democrats are often pretty embarrassing. I do not have a large social circle and generally keep to myself and my family. So, I guess I’m discriminating against everyone. I should really inflict share myself on with others more often.
Just in case the previous 62 questions do not ferret out any potential controversy, the 63rd is all-encompassing: “Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the president-elect.”
I guess, I find this last question the most disturbing. I take the 5th. I won’t be applying nor working for the Obama administration.
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Hopefully I won’t be fired in this bad economy.
I’d hate to think he hired you away from us.
Have I told you about our benefits package?
I could use the work. What’s the limit on felony convictions? 😀
Embarrassing information about family members. Embarrassing things about myself.
Nobody want to read War and Peace again.
See I actually inhaled.And I would again if it was legal but I need my job. I have lived in sin, been unemployed, and my hair looks really really silly when I first get up.
Guess I will keep my night job and hope they don’t fire me.
You wanted creme brulee but you’re getting skim milk instead.
Creme brulee is daring, outspoken, opinionated, and bless it’s pointy little head, has a complicated history. Creme brulee has pecadillos. And skim milk is thin, and bland, and boring, and above all else predictable. And most of all not embarrassing. And it doesn’t blog or hasn’t expressed opinions about starting general strikes, or legalizing dope, or starting boycotts, or demonstrations, and it hasn’t expressed itself about a panoply of injustices, large and small, and ranted, yes ranted and screamed about unjust and stupid policy. It hasn’t said you should push a creme pie in somebody’s fat face, either metaphorically or actually. It hasn’t done those things or thought about them. Or gone bust. Or lost tons of money. Or owed tons of money. Or been publicly accused of being irresponsible. It hasn’t had messy divorces and affairs. It has a spouse that is also skim milk lite. And the spouse hasn’t done anything particularly dramatic and opinionated. And both of them haven’t made a scene. No. No scenes. No recriminations. No embarrassments. No regrets. No collisions with expectations. No. Skim milk is always responsible.
The creme brulee people are not always responsible. Sometimes we take out a blow torch and we burn our heads and set our hair on fire. We think this is good. It makes us crunchy, and you can crack us with the back of a spoon. Evidently, though, this is not universally seen as good, having lived life fully and in all of its messy chaos and confusion. If it were, we’d probably be asking different questions.
Questions like, “Tell us in your own words why you think you could be a ripsh*t asset for the new administration. Tell us how your being unconventional has served you and could serve the country. Tell us your most creative ideas and how you have carried them out. Tell us your passions and how you have lived them.”
Golly do I dislike skim milk. Maybe I’m lactose intolerant.
I have trouble remembering my real name let alone fake ones.
and I’d make a Damn good Secretary of Education too! I even have a a Master’s Degree plus 60 hours in Teaching Reading and History and have even taught actual students in Public Schools, unlike a certain Mrs. Spelling. In fact, I think I could bring some “revolutionary” ideas into play since I took a class taught by a certain Wm. Ayers. But, alas, I am Retired and I’ve lost “the Calling”.
such as “Caribou Barbie” would take some explaining, wouldn’t it?
I won’t quit my day job.
…that a randomly selected (..right..) sample of people currently working, some for years already, in “sensitive” govt. positions had to get a security clearance. BTW, the definition of “sensitive” position was extremely vague & up to (mis)interpretation. The clearance required completing an 11 page questionaire, where the “selectee” had to list their addresses & neighbors for the past 15 years, all previous jobs; info about all immediate family members, brothers, sisters, parents, financial and medical information…
Then, some of the “selectees” had a further process of being interviewed by a member of their agency’s Inspector General. Oh, and the IG also actually called those neighbors & asked ??’s about the employee. This was allowed to continue until they got around to the Justice Department, where the employees–and their union–were a little more informed on their rights and willing to go to court to put a stop to this insane intrusiveness.
who will qualify to work for him? The equivalent to the Christian bogus law school that staffed the DOJ? The bloggers who where not Obamatrons need not apply. Seems strange as I look at the line up of crooks who are leaving and coming. I guess bi partisan doesn’t extend to the liberal lefties just the ‘center right’ what ever the hell that is.
You ask me he needs some bloggers who had the sense not to get bamboozled. What kind of fools will qualify? One Pissed off Liberal, the handle alone would freak them. I remember when Obama used to post at dkos as a freshman Senator. He sure got a piece of my mind. One diary was about the need to accept faith based people’s values and the other was extolling the virtues of corporations. I guess the ‘purists’ are out of luck.
those questions go into minutia that I couldn’t possibly remember. Obviously they are looking for people who won’t make trouble.
That pretty much eliminates all of us here.
…I’m sure. I usually hedge on the question Male/Female? And that’s usually enough for disqualification from most jobs.