Towards A Scandal-Free Obama Administration

You'll have to fill out this questionnaire. And I thought applying to be a judge was onerous. This looks more like a Chinese Communist Party exercise in "self-criticism."

Check out question 13: "If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an email, text message, or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe." Oh, come on. Is there a man, woman, or child in America who has not sent an electronic communication that might be a possible source of embarrassment?

If you're a lawyer, questions 46 and 47 will bring a chill to your spine. Basically, you have to list every accusation of wrongdoing ever made against you, regardless of merit, and explain what happened. See also question 61. "If someone could attack you unfairly, how would they do it and how bad would it make us look?" People accuse one another of all sorts of wild things, most of which is complete B.S. But you'd have to report all the B.S. you think people might say about you.

Question 59 is creepy, too. I don't own a gun, but damn it, I have a right to if I want to. If I ever do become a judge I'll probably get one -- judges make lots of enemies. But if I were interested in serving in the White House, I wouldn't want my exercise of that right to be held against me.

And it won't work. It's just too damn broad. People who do interesting things with their lives, who acquire the knowledge and political savvy to be legitimately considered for a White House job, are going to have acquired some baggage. So much of it that they can't remember it all. There will be scandals in the Obama Administration, no matter how hard they try to avoid it.

Well, at least they're trying.