Commerce secretary pick #3 has skeletons in his closet

President Obama is said to be positioning former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary, his third choice after the withdrawal of Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH).

But there's trouble brewing with Gary Locke, stemming from his brother-in-law in 2002:

LET'S SAY YOU'RE Gov. Gary Locke's brother-in-law. You bunk at the governor's mansion. You commute to your nearby job as an executive of a private technology firm.

During your two years with the firm, the governor signs a bill giving your company a tax break, personally intervenes in a dispute involving your company, shows up for a party there, and signs a federal loan application for your company, whose founders—your bosses—pay at least two visits to the mansion.

At the same time, your company rakes in millions in state aid, lands a fat state technology contract, and is allowed to use government credit authority to float new loans (an authority illegally granted, as a state auditor's report will reveal this week).

Are you getting gubernatorial favors that average citizens don't get?

Come on, President Obama. You can do better than this?!

Lean, mean, talented Obama?

President Obama demands passage of the stimulus package. Now he's on the offensive, pointing fingers at Republicans for the "same old distractions." The leftosphere (the left-leaning blogosphere) is falling in love with Obama all over again because of his partisanship:

I will note that compared with the solid but lacking passion speech that the President gave earlier in the day at the Department of Energy, this speech truly demonstrated the enormous talents of the President. This was the Obama that spoke from the heart, not the cool, calm, collected one we often see and hear. This speech had cadence, it had fire in the belly, it had soul. He spoke to me as an American and as a Democrat. This is the real deal. This is how politics is played. To win by getting things accomplished.

Oh, please: the "enormous talents" of the President?! Since January 20, I haven't really seen much talent from the President except his ability to deliver speeches (but we'd already known that since the campaign).

Does he have a talent for party leadership? Not from what we've seen with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, marching to the beat of her own tune in the House, completely ignoring Obama's message of bipartisanship.

Does he have a talent for reaching across the aisle? Certainly, but the failure of his negotiation skills was exposed when the House Republican members stood united to oppose the stimulus package.

Does he have a talent for picking good cabinet nominees? Look at what happened to Bill Richardson, Timothy Geithner, Tom Daschle, Hilda Solis, and possibly more candidates.

The honeymoon is definitely over.

Strike two: Daschle out

Strike one: Bill Richardson withdrew from Commerce Secratary candidacy.

Strike two: Tom Daschle today withdraws from Health and Human Services Secretary over a $100,000 tax "mistake."

So far President Obama's cabinet nominees and their approval have seen many bumps in the process...

Commerce secretary seat now open

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced his withdrawal to be Obama's commerce secretary citing a federal investigation of how some of his political donors won a major state contract.

So there's the Blagojevich mess, and now this embarrassment. It's not even that close to Inauguration Day yet!