March 26, 2011

Who is Thomas E. Donilon?

Thomas E. Donilon is a Washington attorney. From 1993 to 1996 he was Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs--that is, he was the PR guy--under the Clinton administration.

From 1999-2005 he was Executive Vice President for Law and Policy at Fannie Mae, the corrupt and mismanaged federally-chartered mortgage finance company, where he served as a lobbyist.

After that he returned to a Washington law firm, where he advised companies on political and regulatory issues.

Oh, his brother is an advisor to Vice-President Biden. And Donilon's wife is Chief of Staff for Biden's wife.

In light of Donilon's vast military and foreign-intelligence experience (yes, that's sarcasm), it was only natural that Obama would appoint Donilon to the post of Deputy National Security Advisor.

Last October Obozo promoted Donilon to the top slot.

To give you an idea of the qualifications usually sought for the position of National Security Advisor, Donilon's predecessor in that post was a retired 4-star general in the Marine Corps, had served as Commandant of the Corps, commanded the United States European Command and was Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

But hey, why would a president want his National Security Advisor to have military experience, or overseas experience? Far more important to Obama and the Democrats is choosing as National Security Advisor a guy whose brother is a close advisor to that deep thinker Joe Biden, and whose wife is Jill Biden's chief of staff.

Oh, and there's Donilon's experience at Fannie Mae. I mean, what better qualifications could there be, if you're a Democrat?

In Bob Woodward's book "Obama’s Wars," Woodward writes that when General Jones learned Obama was going to appoint Donilon to the top slot, Jones is reported to have felt Donilon’s lack of overseas experience was a major liability.

Woodward also quotes General Jones as saying to Donilon, "You frequently pop off with absolute declarations about places you’ve never been, leaders you’ve never met, or colleagues you work with."

Okay, so maybe Donilon had almost zero foreign policy or military or intel experience to recommend him for the post...but *man*, he's so well-connected! And that vast experience at Fannie Mae would really translate well into national security applications.

In fact DC insiders are now reportedly whispering that the Obama administration's laser-focused Libyan policy was crafted by Donilon, who can now be conveniently thrown under the bus if public opposition to the non-war "kinetic action" gets too high.

Ah, that Obama--he's absolutely brilliant!

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