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Obama rewards AT&T warrantless surveillance CEO Ed Whitacre with chairmanship of GM

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 7:56pm

[Welcome, Naked Capitalists!]

Thank gawd -- or the 11 dimensional chess player -- that FISA [cough] reform gave the telcos retroactive immunity! Because otherwise Ed Whitacre, 17-year AT&T Chairman and CEO, would be in jail -- since FISA violations were felonies, back when we had the rule of law -- instead of being tapped to run GM! Online WSJ:

The 67-year-old Mr. Whitacre is known as a straight-talking, no-nonsense executive with a track record of cutting big deals and working closely with the U.S. government [in small matters like shredding the Fourth Amendment], skills that could prove critical for GM as it orchestrates a massive restructuring under close scrutiny [BWA-HA-HA-HA!] of the U.S. Treasury.

Indeed. And "working closely with the U.S. government" very profitably. Last I checked, that illegal surveillance made AT&T what? $750 a pop? Not much per unit, but those millions add up!

Of course, Whitacre was real strong on net neutrality, too. Not. So I bet the netroots are up in arms about this one, right? Not.

But let's look on the bright side! He's an old white dude who donates Republican!

UPDATE Oddly, or not, newly minted Democrat Arlen Spector -- the kind of rat who boards a sinking ship -- doesn't mention retroactive immunity at all in his new article on limiting executive power in the New York Review of Books. Editorial standards over there have fallen, haven't they? I can't imagine why.

UPDATE See, kidz, it really is possible for the econoblogs and the poliblogs to crosslink!

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Submitted by gob on

and the standards of individual writers I used to admire tremendously, have suffered horribly since the rise of Barack Obama. I still think with sadness on the once-great Garry Wills's piece comparing Obama's Philadelphia speech on race with Lincoln's Cooper Union speech. Reading that article was a pivotal moment for me; I remember thinking, "and so...?" I lost a lot of respect for Obama and his supporters in the left "intelligentsia" as a result.

ElizabethF's picture
Submitted by ElizabethF on

31 year old in charge of restructuring GM

It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.

31 and taking it down

Sarah's picture
Submitted by Sarah on

and I'd know as a former employee of the University where he was once Chair of the Governing Board.

That would be Texas Tech.

And you know what? He cannot POSSIBLY screw up GM worse than his predecessor did.