The Assassination of Greg Craig

[Beacool]

by Steve Clemons
November 17, 2009

The White House counsel was done in by a scurrilous leaks campaign. So much for the Obama team's pledge to be transparent, forthright and accountable for their actions.

Gregory Craig, White House counsel to President Obama and national security advisor to Obama during the presidential campaign, resigned his post this past Friday. But when rumors broke Thursday of his imminent departure, Craig had not written his farewell note and may not have planned to leave–yet.

Since the summer, word had been leaking that Greg Craig’s days were numbered and that Obama campaign legal counsel Bob Bauer would be moving in to take Craig’s spot. But the situation seemed similar to the leaks about National Security Advisor Jim Jones’ supposedly tenuous hold on his job—which were either untrue, or turned around by Jones’ performance. The leaks about Craig also seemed unfounded—especially in light of direct statements from the White House that the statements were untrue and that he was not departing.

Some observers are now calling this incident the Obama team’s first assassination by leak.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-16/the-assassination-of-greg-craig/?cid=bs:archive1

R.I.P., Craig.

:eyes:

[dionysus]

1. now Bea, don't you think assassination is a very overloaded term

:hi:

[Beacool]

I know, but that's their headline.

I never change them.

As for Craig, I think the guy learned a lesson of what happens to people who fall from favor. It seems that this administration is no different from the previous ones in that respect. Not that I feel any sympathy for Craig. He went to Yale with the Clintons and was their friend. When he chose to back Obama, he used his knowledge of private things he learned through years of friendship with them against Hillary. You don't do that to people, it's not right. Back anyone you want, but do not betray a previous friendship that way. So now the guy knows what it feels like to be thrown under the bus for all his efforts. Good, screw him!!

x(


Hugs for you.......

:hug:

[valleywine]

12. Washington is indeed a bloodsport.

[Beacool]

18. Truman's remarks, whether apocryphal or not, were correct.

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

:-(

[Ian David]

2. More like a lynching. n/t

[Orsino]

6. But "some observers" say this! Series! Some! n/t

[geek tragedy]

3. Craig has a great heart but he's not an effective administrator.

Dawn Johnsen is still languishing in committee, as are a ton of judicial appointments. There's also been no coordination or communication between the DOJ and the WH.

He was right to push on Guantanamo, but it's his ineffectiveness, not his ineffectiveness, that lead to his departure.

That said, the death by leaking is ugly, but it happens in every administration. Bunch gossipy freaks, them DC lifers are.

[Beacool]

4. Why didn't Obama just confront him?

Instead of letting him die by 1,000 cuts. He could have been handled the way it's handled in the corporate world. If the person is high up in the food chain, he's told that his services are no longer required but he's given a certain amount of time to find another spot so as not to lose face.

:-)

[geek tragedy]

5. The leaking was shitty and unethical.

But, unfortunately, it's standard practice in DC and virtually impossible to stop.

[vaberella]

13. Actually this is what Gates's said about leaks...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/politics/13gates.html

Then he made a threat: “And frankly if I found out with high confidence anybody who was leaking in the Department of Defense, who that was, that would probably be a career ender.”

Of course the above is in relation to the DoD, but I'm sure this is going to be extended elsewhere.

Some people are acting like this is an intentional leak and the way we're seeing it played out is exactly what transpired. If Craig did support Obama during the Primaries,doesn't one think that Obama would have given him the courtesy of letting him know what was going down and that Bauer would be replacing him?! I think so. However, other's want to think the worse.

Anyway I think WH will be nipping these leaks in the bud because I'm sure a slew of them are full of misinformation. Because things are staring to turn into the game "telephone".

[firedupdem]

7. Weren't you celebrating this as "karma" because he didn't

support Hillary? Are you "concerned" for him now?

[vaberella]

10. Of course s/he was!!! Now if it might hurt O's Admin, it's even better.

S/he has no sides but simply devotion to all things HRC and anything anti-Obama.

[JTFrog]

11. Sure, two birds, one OP.

Two times the bitter, two times the fun.

:shrug:

[CakeGrrl]

14. If it looks bad on the Obama Administration, she posts it lickety-split

It's axiomatic and usually follows too much positive stuff about the President. Maybe her attempt at "fair and balanced", you know.

Keep an eye out for a glowing post about one of the Clintons so she can fawn about the best president in HER lifetime.

A time machine really would be a win-win.

:rofl:

[Lord Helmet]

8. And to think just four days ago you were kicking his corpse and calling it Karma.

Today it's fake outrage from you.

LINK


Beacool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Fri Nov-13-09 03:27 PM
Response to Original message

3. Karma...........

Craig was one of the lawyers defending then-President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. He became an early and active supporter of Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries, angering backers of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. That is one of the reasons why allies of Craig are frustrated he is being replaced so early in the administration.

What goes around, comes around.......

:rofl:

[Beacool]

15. I don't feel sorry for him.

He threw under the bus people who had been friends of many years and in turn HE was thrown under the bus too for all his efforts. I wonder what he thinks now of this administration which was supposed to be sooooo different from all the ones that preceded it.

Yep, what goes around comes around......

:shrug:

[Lord Helmet]

17. and I don't feel sorry for you ---

Where the Clintons are involved, you view politics as if you were in the third grade.

Grow up.

[Beacool]

19. Honey, I'm all grown up.

;-)

[vaberella]

9. Is everything the Obama Admin's fault. Did you forget what Robert Gates said?!

There are apparently people working within the White House or Pentagon or wherever leaking information. Gates' himself even said that if any of these people are found they will be fired. You think this information would be intentionally leaked by the WH? Give me a break.

[Beacool]

16. I'm not blaming Obama personally for the leaks.

But Rahm, Axelrod or one of the other political hacks were eager little beavers leaking like the Titanic to get this guy discredited and out of his job. How about doing the decent thing and confronting the man? That way he could have looked for another job and not be embarrassed.

As for Gates, if he ever finds out who was leaking I hope that he does fire him/them.

;)

[vaberella]

20. How do you know this?!

Where did you hear that Axelrod and Rahm were discrediting him? Can you provide me with quotes from each of the two men you listed where the were discrediting Craig--since they were eager, there should be a few of them out there.

[Dr Robert]

21. bitterness is a dish best not served at all

[HamdenRice]

22. I had dinner with the guy about 23 years ago, and he was very impressive

I was a junior, junior staffer to a somewhat ad hoc group of foundation executives, university types and business leaders who were trying to jump start negotiations between the ANC and South African government.

They had a weekend retreat in Maryland, and as a useful gofer I was invited along.

I don't remember how, but at the dinner of the first night, I got seated at a table with Craig, who was at the time Ted Kennedy's national security advisor, and Mac Maharaj, a then obscure ANC bureaucrat in Lusaka who would later play a pivotal role in building the ANC's military capacity in SA in the early 90s and then working closely with the outgoing government during the transition, and I believe John Samuel, at the time a good South African friend, an innovative educator, and now the CEO of Oprah's academy in SA.

Anyhooo, Craig was very impressive and made the point over and over that there were political leaders in the US who did not agree with Reagan's approach of supporting the SA apartheid govt, and that the Democrats' policies on SA were completely different from the Repugs.

Too bad he's leaving. I always thought from that dinner that he was a really, really progressive guy for a national security type.