Leon Panetta Pick Faces Tough Skeptics In Congress

Leon Panetta, Obama’s unexperienced selection for CIA director, is likely to face obstacles in his path to confirmation. Surprisingly that opposition is headed by Democrats who are displeased with Barry’s choice:

Among the lawmakers who expressed skepticism about the choice was Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the new chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Ms. Feinstein, who would oversee any confirmation hearing for Mr. Panetta, issued a statement that signaled clear disapproval and said she had not been notified about the choice.

“My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time,” she said.

A second top Democrat, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the departing chairman of the Intelligence Committee, shares Ms. Feinstein’s concerns, Democratic Congressional aides said.

Ms. Feinstein’s Republican counterpart on the Intelligence Committee, Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, said he would be “looking hard at Panetta’s intelligence expertise and qualifications.”

The NYT article goes on to detail how Obama aides said he originally wanted someone with plenty of intelligence experience, but when his first pick, John Brennan, fell through he went in another direction. I’d like to hope that Brennan was not the one and only experienced official available for the job. So are we to take away that Obama is easily discouraged and distracted from his goals?

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