Hillary Clinton should fire Mark Penn.
Earlier today, Geekesque presented a damning indictment of her political strategist:
Clinton's Mark Penn lobbying on behalf of corrupt Pakistani pols
by Geekesque
Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 08:28:50 AM PST
Mark Penn is Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and pollster. He is responsible for crafting her message.
Everyone knows about Penn's connections to union busting and Blackwater.
Well, now we can add to this impressive resume meddling in Pakistani elections on behalf of a thoroughly corrupt figure.
Update 1: H/T to karenc who pointed out that Mark Penn worked for Joe Lieberman in 2004:
Penn’s effectiveness and unswerving loyalty earned him the abiding trust of both Clintons. But among his fellow operatives, his control-freakishness and paucity of social skills have kept him from being the most popular kid in class. (In the Clinton White House, the rumpled Penn was derided behind his back as "Schlumpy" or "Schlumbo.") More to the point, before this year, there was doubt in many quarters as to how his narrow-gauge, slice-and-dice, ultracautious approach would fare on the treacherous ideological terrain of a Democratic primary. The only such contest on his résumé was Joe Lieberman 2004. QED.
Mark Penn represents everything that's wrong with our political system.
He's an insider's insider, and doesn't get a pass just because he works for Democrats.
There's no excuse. Yes, I know this is the way the system works. Yes, I know Republicans on K Street have lobbied to overthrow the government in Iraq.
That's the point. This is the way the system works.
That's why the system must go.
That's why Mark Penn must go.
This is actually a tremendous opportunity for Hillary Clinton. With a single act, she can demonstrate that she gets it. She can demonstrate that she understands how important it is to deliver real change. She can send a message to every lobbyist in Washington, DC that's time to put principle above politics.
This can be Hillary's Sister Souljah moment.
Or this can be the symbol of her campaign: a stubborn, short-sighted attachment to the culture of influence that is eroding the public's faith in government.
If Hillary doesn't take care of cleaning up her own mess, I hope John Edwards and Barack Obama step up to the plate and call her on it.
They should stand together, and call for Hillary to fire Mark Penn. Edwards has already laid the groundwork, saying Mark Penn is Hillary's Karl Rove, and Obama has been effective in dismissing Penn's idiotic decision to play the victim card.
***
What's at stake?
For us, the stakes are profound: in the aftermath of the Bush regime, we must restore not just the world's faith in America, but America's faith in itself. If Hillary has people like Mark Penn define our foreign and domestic priorities, the damage done by the current regime will become permanent.
For Mark Penn, the stakes are simple and crass. It's all about money. As he said in an internal blog at his company (emphasis added):
Workin With Hillary, I have found the mixing of corporate and political work to be stimulating, enormously helpful in attracting talent, and helpful in cross- pollinating new ideas and skills. And I have found it good for business.
Mark Penn's admission that working for Hillary is good for the bottom-line is hardly suprising, but it is damning.
***
Mark Penn is just one example of a system gone haywire.
Since George W. Bush became president -- in particular, since 9/11 and our invasion of Iraq -- the culture of corruption in Washington, DC has gotten completely out of control.
Earlier today, I discovered the most absurd proof of this: there is a lobby for lobbyists, and since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, they are spending more than ever.
Check out these numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics:
From 2001 to 2006, the amount of money spent by the lobbyist lobby more than tripled, increasing from $1.8 million to $6.0 million.
In the year after 9/11, there was a 75% increase in pro-lobbying lobbying. In the year we invaded Iraq, there was another 56% increase in pro-lobbying lobbying.
In all, nearly $30 million has been spent by the pro-lobbying lobby since 9/11. The only reason that seems like a small figure is because we've become numb to the staggering levels of corruption under the Bush regime.
In 2001, lobbyists earned $1.63 billion from their ability to influence the federal government; last year, they earned $2.59 billion, a 59% increase.
Contributions from lobbyists to political campaigns have spiked along with their wealth.
In the 2000 presidential election year, lobbyists donated $16.2 million and by the 2004 election, they donated $27.6 million (a 70% increase from 2000).
In the 2002 mid-terms, lobbyists donated $17.1 million (a 70% increase from 1998), and in the 2006 mid-terms, they donated $23.3 million (a 36% increase from 2002).
***
Why are lobbyists spending more than ever?
The reason for all this lobbying by lobbyists couldn't be more plain: they like money, and since 9/11 and Iraq, there's been more federal money up for grabs than ever before -- in the form of federal contracts.
Under the Bush regime, the value of these federal contracts has exploded, growing from $203.1 billion in 2000 to $412.1 billion in 2006.
Luckily for the lobbyists, most of these contracts have had limited or no competition. According to Henry Waxman's most recent report on the Bush regime's contracting practices, federal contracts worth $1.1 trillion are plagued by problems of waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Bush regime now spends $0.40 of every single discretionary dollar in the federal budget on contracts. The Department of Defense alone spends $300 billion on contracts each year.
For lobbyists and their clients, that's manna from heavens.
No wonder they are lobbying on behalf of their right to lobby.
They are lobbying for the right to earn their increasingly fat paychecks.
And they are lobbying for the right to screw everybody else.
Hillary Clinton can take a step in the right direction by firing Mark Penn.
If she doesn't, she won't win my vote. What about yours?