Hmmm…looks like I spoke too soon when I compared Obama’s firing of the Inspector General to Bush’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
As it turns out, the President can not fire an Inspector General without 30 days notice, and without submitting the reasons for the firing in writing. Obama did neither of these things, which is a violation of the law.
Obama’s initial reason for the firing was to say that he had lost confidence in the Inspector who was about to bring down Kevin Johnson, who by the strangest coincidence is a friend of Barack Obama’s. The fact that AmeriCorp, one of St. Barry’s trusted “government service” groups was going to be caught up in the scandal probably didn’t help.But saying you’ve lost confidence in someone? Come on…that’s how nice guys do bad things. That’s not the Chicago way.
The new reason is that IG Gerald Walpin is apparently suffering from senile dementia, is not lucid, and may just pull a gun out and start shooting! Okay, I made that last part up. But as for the accusations that the Inspector General may be one step away from being completely non compos mentis, well, that part’s true. And really, really, beyond disgraceful.
Michelle Malkin has a good column up about it.
UPDATE: The Washington Examiner has an article up quoting Norman Eisen, the White House Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, describing the firing of Gerald Walpin as an act of “political courage.” So firing a man who is about to wrap up a corruption case involving your friend, and then smearing the man as being not quite right in the head, is now courageous. I think that one is beyond even Orwell’s imagination.
The Clampdown 