Marc Ambinder says it might not be the vetting per se but that they don't want the burden of being vetted. If that's case, it's good they drop out because they're not right for the position, an in-the-kitchen heat-on-high kind of job:
What's going on? The official word from the administration is that these potential nominees had "vetting problems." That obscures, I believe, what's really happening. A vetting problem implies some deep secret or shame, like having a second family in Nebraska. But the reality is that, in a lot of cases, the potential nominee decides that the requirements foisted upon them by the vetting process is just too much to bear. Remember, a lot of these nominees are upper middle class folks, and they've seen their retirement accounts dwindle. AtlanticH. Rodgin Cohen is the latest dropper:
Salon: George Stephanopoulos is reporting that H. Rodgin Cohen, a prominent banking industry lawyer, has "withdrawn from consideration" for the post of Deputy Treasury Secretary.
Even now, blog posts are being written bemoaning this latest catastrophe for Tim Geithner's Treasury department. Numerous press reports have informed us of the difficulties Treasury has encountered staffing up. Most blame the Obama administration's strict conflict-of-interest rules, or overblown worries about tax and/or nanny problems that Republicans might seize upon to block confirmation. It may be true that the Treasury Department's staffing issues are no worse or no better than those faced by previous administrations, but no one cares about that. We're facing the worst economic crisis in seventy years. Geithner needs help. Now. Read the rest (Salon thinks Cohen was a dud anyway).
