So, this morning I found out that Kal Penn, an actor who has been a regular on House, M.D. for awhile, will be transitioning to the White House. According to sources of unsubstantiated credibility, Penn will serve in the Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs to help reach out to Asian Americans. Looking at his education, he appears to have an undergraduate degree in sociology and film, and he's dabbled in some online graduate classes at Stanford.
Let's be fair about things. If this were a Republican administration, my left-leaning brethren would be appalled at such blatant cronyism. How does someone with such a pitifully irrelevant resume suddenly find himself with a position in the highest government office in the country? Was there really no other qualified candidate? I have an ENTIRE GRADUATE DEGREE. My phone never rang. Let's bring in the army of PhDs graduating this year and last in relevant fields who would like to apply for a job in the White House. NONE of them could beat out a random actor?
Putting unqualified people into public office because it's fun to show off for your friends is not change in which I can believe.
Well, at least he is not from Chicago. However, considering his other appointments, I would hardly describe his style of hiring a staff as cronyism--even David Brooks was pretty excited about his cabinet hiring decisions.
ReplyDeleteI will say that hiring someone with no real credentials for no other obvious reason than they backed you during your campaign seems like cronyism.
ReplyDeleteI will also say that I have a lower tolerance for these things that 99.7% of the population. This is evidenced by the friendly, smiling interviews Kal Penn has had on several networks.
Why does the majority get to make all the decisions? Wait...