Spitzer's Second Act
I'm with Steve Benen on this one: Eliot Spitzer is too important a player to be sidelined as the current economic crisis unfolds.
At the end of an insightful op-ed on the state of Wall Street the other day, Spitzer wrote:
The argument is simple. When you're really sick, you hire the best doctor you can. You don't care about his/her personal life. Our economy is really sick right now. We need the best people we can find to help resuscitate it and get it back on track. Or to mix metaphors a bit, this is an all hands on deck moment for the country. We need to put trivial issues aside and put the most capable people we have at the helm.
Spitzer is extremely knowledgeable about Wall Street and very good at spotting corruption and figuring out how people are gaming the system. There are a number of major tasks that the Obama administration will face starting in January. For one, it will have to manage and oversee the various economic bailout efforts, which will involve figuring out the most effective way to spend a lot of money and policing that effort to avoid waste and corruption. Another important task will be to create the legal and regulatory framework necessary to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. Spitzer strikes me as someone who is exceptionally well-suited for either task.
Appointing Spitzer to a significant position in the Obama administration would be a high-risk, high-reward move. Obama might well take some initial flak for the decision, but Spitzer would undoubtedly work tirelessly at his new position and would be forever indebted to Obama for giving him an unexpected political second chance.
And in a strange way, such an appointment might actually buttress Obama's claim that he's bringing a new kind of politics to Washington. It would be seen as him putting competence ahead of political considerations, of putting the country's interests ahead of his own short-term political interests. I say give Spitzer a second chance.
At the end of an insightful op-ed on the state of Wall Street the other day, Spitzer wrote:
Although mistakes I made in my private life now prevent me from participating in these issues as I have in the past, I very much hope and expect that President Obama and his new administration will have the strength and wisdom to do again what FDR did.As Steve says:
Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder if Spitzer's personal mistakes really should prevent him from participating in these issues as he has in the past.I'm not sure how realistic SEC Chairman is either, but I generally agree with Steve's take. And I don't think Spitzer is as untouchable as some seem to think he is. Yes, appointing him to any high level position, whether it be in the SEC, Treasury, or some new position related to the various ongoing and proposed bailouts, would carry with it some political risks. But I think it would be fairly easy to justify such an appointment in the current economic climate.
Yes, he hired a call girl, but so did Sen. David Vitter (La.), and he's still a sitting Republican senator in good standing, who apparently plans to seek re-election. Yes, he committed adultery, but so did Newt Gingrich (thinking about running for president), Rudy Giuliani (thinking about running for governor), and John McCain (the most recent Republican presidential nominee).
Do we have to exclude Spitzer from addressing the issues on which he has considerable expertise? Issues that have nothing to do with an unrelated sex scandal?
Ben Smith suggested the other day that Spitzer might be a good replacement from Hillary Clinton, should she become Secretary of State. If that's not a realistic option, how about a role in the Obama administration? Is there a better pick in mind for the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission?
The argument is simple. When you're really sick, you hire the best doctor you can. You don't care about his/her personal life. Our economy is really sick right now. We need the best people we can find to help resuscitate it and get it back on track. Or to mix metaphors a bit, this is an all hands on deck moment for the country. We need to put trivial issues aside and put the most capable people we have at the helm.
Spitzer is extremely knowledgeable about Wall Street and very good at spotting corruption and figuring out how people are gaming the system. There are a number of major tasks that the Obama administration will face starting in January. For one, it will have to manage and oversee the various economic bailout efforts, which will involve figuring out the most effective way to spend a lot of money and policing that effort to avoid waste and corruption. Another important task will be to create the legal and regulatory framework necessary to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. Spitzer strikes me as someone who is exceptionally well-suited for either task.
Appointing Spitzer to a significant position in the Obama administration would be a high-risk, high-reward move. Obama might well take some initial flak for the decision, but Spitzer would undoubtedly work tirelessly at his new position and would be forever indebted to Obama for giving him an unexpected political second chance.
And in a strange way, such an appointment might actually buttress Obama's claim that he's bringing a new kind of politics to Washington. It would be seen as him putting competence ahead of political considerations, of putting the country's interests ahead of his own short-term political interests. I say give Spitzer a second chance.
posted by A.L. at 1:01 PM
15 Comments:
I think you might be underestimating the political backlash. Those who are already prone to worrying that dems are godless sexual deviants would automatically think back to Bill Clinton if obama appointed spitzer. The whole point is that some people don't see spitzer's transgressions as 'trivial' for whatever reason. Obama's support of him would not be seen as 'putting competence ahead of politics', it would be seen as putting competence ahead of virtue, which would enrage those who are right inclined (why there's a double standard, the world will never know). I would think the play here would probably be to bring spitzer in as an advisor w/out actual title, then after a few years promote him.
I'd like to see Spitzer in some high-ranking position in the Justice Department. Attorney General might be too politically risky, but in a position where he can really crack down on white-collar crime would be terrific.
I'm sure the fundies would be all up in arms (but their becoming less relevant), but it would be awfully hard for the institutional Republicans to make too big a stink about it given the "Vitter - Gingrich - Guilani" problems they have.
(I know McCain is the bunch too, but for some reason, he seems to have a get out of jail card on this issue...guess the statute of limitations has passed.)
It is kind of surprising that AL is missing a very obvious point. Spitzer was an attorney general and it was part of his job description to prosecute high profile prostitution rings. If you can blithely get laid with a call girl while pretending to do your job as if nothing happened, it portrays a certain amount of blatant hypocrisy on your part. It is like a saying from my country -- you erect a barbed wire fence to stop curious animals from coming in and grazing your lush green grass field. Imagine what would happen if the fence itself grazes the field? Thats what we are talking about here.
Here's an advantage to appointing Spitz to something: if Repubs criticize him, then the same counter can be brought up about Newt, Ghouli, etc. But I think dilip has the really good thorn in the idea of putting Spitz in any genuine position of authority.
You guys are both crazy.
Spitzer can't be trusted and his political skills are questionable at best. Long before the hooker fiasco he was floundering. He spent more time pursuing personal vendettas than Sarah Palin. There's no upside whatsoever for Obama to bring this guy in from the cold.
And the best doctor metaphor...? Give me a break. There are plenty of smart guys out there to choose from.
This is ridiculous... it hasn't even been a year since the man's indiscretions were revealed. His quick resignation saved us from hearing "the whole story."
The man should spend a little time in the wilderness: Let him run for dog catcher, write a book, and do People Magazine interviews with his wife. Then we can talk.
Blogs rock...I'd warmed to Benen and A.L.'s idea about how Spitzer can be of service to the nation...then I read the comments...its not that Spitzer is beyond the pale, we're all flawed but we can do better.
It isn't just the sex scandal that makes it problematic to appoint Spitzer to a government post of some kind. Remember that even before he was governor, a lot of people - not just Wall Streeters and white-collar criminals - really hated Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. He has made many, many enemies with his almost megalomaniacal personality and sometimes ridiculously politicized prosecutions, and as governor his well-documented bad behavior only grew to encompass abuse of power - remember the scandal with State Troopers following Sheldon Silver around? This is probably part of the reason he was brought down so swiftly when evidence surfaced in FBI back-channels.
His recent editorial was really good, and he really does seem to have a deep understanding of our financial system, but I think he's probably disqualified himself from positions of power, with his sexual scandal being the least reason for it.
After reading Spitzer's piece in the Post, I wrote a diary along these lines at DailyKos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/16/11439/274/219/661858
The idea of recruiting Spitzer was just as unpopular there as it is here. One thing to realize is that being the architect of a new financial regulatory framework does not NEED to be a high-profile washington job. (I don't think he is particularly suited to handling the bailouts.) We're not talking about reviving his political career or giving him anything like the executive authority he enjoyed in his NY jobs. We should have learned from David Addington that you can kick ass in the executive branch without being much seen or heard from at all. If Obama wants to use Spitzer one way or another, he can do so without compromising his image (as if he really needed to worry about that). Put him in charge of a working group, lock them in a DC hotel for 3 weeks (d'oh!), and discretely hand it over to Rahm. It's that easy.
No Way---the image of him dragging his wife to the podium, the hypocrisy of him taking down prostitition rings himself, the cocksureness of not getting caught leaves him so tainted in shit that Obama would be a fool to publicly appoint him.
I don't completely agree that all of his personal problems are truly irrelevant even considering his great skills, first and foremost was ambition. Character does count, which magnifies the differences between an Obama admin and the not so clean stars of the GOP (Rudy, Newt, McLame etc.)
So what E.S. needs to do is what all has beens in the woods that still have a lot of game left in em do and that is to start a consulting firm that the Obama administration can utilize not so publicly. That way he begins his climb back into the light and through time and real viable work product, washes the shit off that he stepped in himself. It was crap the way he got caught through a damn loophole in the Patriot Act, which is a giant topic in and of itself, but he did get caught and like Anonymous above said---he's got to do his time in the woods.
Elliott Spitzer has markedly authoritarian, vindictive traits that make him unsuited to hold too much power. The same traits would also require him to be kept on a short leash, which makes him unsuited for the SEC. But US Attorney for New York, head of the white collar crimes division of the Justice Department (is there such a position?) or some other role where he could clean up Wall Street but be kept on a short leash sounds perfect.
Tage is right on. The political liability is way too heavy. Obama knows that despite a repudiation of the socially conservative wing of the Republican party, once the honeymoon is over, he is still going to be vulnerable to the same bipartisan attacks that have been GOP hallmarks for the past decade. An informal "kitchen cabinet" position is much more preferable, at least during the first half of Obama's term.
I posted an analysis of Spitzer's op-ed the other day.
http://chaosoutoforder.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/elliot-spitzer-may-be-a-pervert-but-the-guy-aint-dumb/
Hope you enjoy.
Spitzer would make a great SEC Chairman. Wall Street is long overdue for a house cleaning. Time to throw out the trash.
I'm sure Eliot Spitzer learned his lesson and will never ever go looking for hookers in all the wrong places again. If anyone can learn from his mistakes I believe Eliot Spitzer can. The guy was Governor of New York for God's sake. He ran the New York Attorney General's office. He takes care of his family's real estate holdings. He's very competent and he's a good man, but he's human. Haven't we all made mistakes? The most talented people make the biggest mistakes.
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