Obama slime move, White House counsel poised to give up post to "Obama's personal attorney." No dirt here.
Kenyan Obama
300071.html
TOKYO -- White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig is expected to announce
his departure as early as Friday, people familiar with the situation
said, ending an embattled tenure in which he struggled to lead the
closure of the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Craig will be replaced by Bob Bauer, a prominent Democratic lawyer who
is Obama's personal attorney.
The departure comes after months of dissatisfaction over Craig's
management of Guantanamo policy and other matters and less than a month
after officials said Craig was no longer guiding the effort to close the
prison. His departure represents the highest-level White House shake-up
to date.
White House officials declined to confirm the expected announcement but
have said for many weeks that they thought Craig would leave and be
succeeded by Bauer. The timing appears likely to coincide with
announcements related to Guantanamo, in particular a pending decision by
the Justice Department over the legal fate of some key detainees and
whether Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will be transferred to federal court for
prosecution.
Craig did not return a phone call placed to his house Thursday night.
Anita B. Dunn, the outgoing White House communications director and the
wife of Bauer, declined comment.
Two sources close to the people involved said the announcement was
expected Friday, as President Obama begins his week-long tour of Asia.
Craig, a respected lawyer whose storied career includes representing
President Bill Clinton during his Senate impeachment trial, became one
of the earliest Clinton allies to support the Obama campaign during the
2008 race. At the height of the campaign, he penned a memo sharply
criticizing then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's foreign policy
credentials, a reflection of how passionately he cared about
international relations.
It was not clear Thursday what Craig would do next. Earlier, White House
officials said they expected him to receive a judicial appointment or
diplomatic posting.
Craig had once hoped for a post in the Obama administration conducting
foreign policy. But when that job did not materialize, and Obama asked
Craig to serve as counsel, he felt he could not refuse, people close to
him said.
He intended to use the perch to smooth some initiatives he cared most
about, including reversing the Bush-era detainee policies. Indeed, he
took the job of closing the prison facility so seriously that when
Bermuda agreed to take several detainees from Guantanamo, Craig
personally flew with them to the island.
But just a few months in office left Craig disenchanted with the
political process and some senior White House officials frustrated with
the operations of the counsel's office. Some critics pointed to mistakes
along the way, including the administration's failure to anticipate
congressional opposition to closing the detention facility.
White House officials have conceded they will not make the January
closure deadline that Craig helped Obama settle on and are at a loss as
to where to house a number of hard cases who cannot be transferred to
foreign countries or tried in U.S. or military courts.
And there were other problems in his path. The vetting of nominees, a
job typically overseen by the counsel's office, did not go well at
first. Craig never quite penetrated the president's inner circle of
advisers, despite his close personal relationship with Obama -- and his
high-profile role in the Guantanamo struggle made him an easy target,
according to defenders of his who said he should not have been held
responsible for the politics of such a thorny issue.
His allies also note that he oversaw the successful confirmation of
Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and praised him for trying to keep
Obama in synch with some of the ideologically liberal ideas he promoted
in the campaign.
Geno4321
"Kenyan Obama" <kenya...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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