The President, Commerce and the US Census
Tampa, FL - Here's a quick poll through a show of hands. All of you that would want to see President George W. Bush directly in charge of the 2010 US Census raise your hands…
Uh-huh…
Ok, all of you that want to see the President Barack H. Obama directly in charge of the 2010 US census raise your hands.
Here's a heads up for those of you that raised a hand for one or both Presidents. Neither should be in charge of it. In fact, that particular branch of the commerce department should be hands off for all elected officials. Elected officials cannot help but have a conflict of interest when it comes to the final official numbers.
President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to "restore science to its rightful place" in government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think it would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary, as is customary. "There's only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement," a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. "And it's called politics, not science."
The decision was made last week after California Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Hispanic groups complained to the White House that Judd Gregg, the Republican senator from New Hampshire slated to head Commerce, couldn't be trusted to conduct a complete Census. The National Association of Latino Officials said it had "serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 Census produces the most accurate possible count."
The Wall Street Journal: Why Obama Wants Control of the Census
Here is another flash for a whole bunch of people that see the US Census Bureau as just another political football.
The people of the US Census Bureau have been doing their job and doing it well since the bureau was founded. Those people are counting a population that is in constant flux. Think of it as trying to heard and count cats on the open range. The fact that some people living in a dumpster and a few illegal immigrants didn't get their noses counted is simply a part of the margin of error that comes with a process that cannot be made perfect without nailing everyone in place and demanding two forms of ID while the count takes place. I don't hear anyone screaming over the illegal immigrants that did get counted.
It is funny that we did not hear any outrage over the people the census takers missed because they travel the country with crews that harvest wheat, run carnivals, drill and assemble oil wells, set up rodeos or simply live in motor-homes using where ever they park that night as their address. But most of those people tend to vote conservative so we wouldn't hear all that much complaining, would we?
The bottom line is that we need the White House (any White House not just this one) meddling around in the count like we need a hole in the head.
Census takers do not need their work tarnished by The President, his minions, Acorn, Jessie Jackson, California Rep. Barbara Lee who is chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Al Franken, The American Civil Liberties Union, Al Sharpton, The Southern Law Center, The National Association of Latino Officials or any of the pathetically misinformed Hollywood Elite that see themselves as some kind of world changing activists.
I would also like to point out that the The National Association of Latino Officials and California Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) gave us an egregious display of pathetic pandering and mud slinging when they complained to the President that former Commerce Department Secretary appointee Sen. Judd Gregg could not be trusted to conduct a proper count.
It is truly a shame none of those people can be dragged before the public, placed under oath and then pressed to name reasons and facts behind their slanderous claims. I would buy a ticket to watch that one.
If President Obama takes over direct oversight of the US Census there will be questions and law suits lasting until 2020. That is like having a contestant's father on the board of judges for a beauty contest.
If the President and his staff have any grasp of reality left between them, the White House will drop this plan as a really bad idea. If for no other reason then for appearances sake alone they will walk away from this one.
In the closing weeks of last year's election campaign, we wrote that Democrats had in mind the most sweeping expansion of government in decades. Liberals clucked, but it turns out even we've been outbid. With yesterday's fiscal 2010 budget proposal, President Obama is attempting not merely to expand the role of the federal government but to put it in such a dominant position that its power can never be rolled back.
- The Wall Street Journal: The Obama Revolution - Paid for by the people.