So. The President can’t manage his time well enough to fill 17 of the top 18 positions in the Treasury Department, but will get paid half a million dollars to write a children’s book. Well, not exactly write it, per se:
The project calls for an abridged version of his book “Dreams From My Father” for middle-school-aged children, according to the disclosure.
A White House aide said that the deal had been in the works for weeks and that the publisher will abridge the book. The aide, speaking on a condition of anonymity, said the publisher will get half of the money while Mr. Obama will sign off on the final version.
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Obama will get a quarter million to give his (presidential) seal of approval to a book he didn’t write, to sell to schoolchildren whose curriculums are set, in part, by the Department of Education he runs.
Well, it’s hard to deny that Obama seems a bit unseemly, or that Crown Publishing looks like it’s currying favor, or that schoolchildren everywhere won’t be subtly “encouraged” to buy the book. “Library card check,” anyone?
This stinks.
Haven’t previous Presidents put all of their business dealings into a blind trust while in office?
This is so pathetically Third World I think I am about to (oops, just did) throw up.
Wow, such paranoia, where you from, New York? I heard he’s getting paid for putting his name to it (that’s capitalism at work). Didn’t hear a thing about DoE coercing children into buying it, that’s a bit of a stretch.
Mike –
Since the teachers unions and the Democratic party are intertwined to the point of being indistinguishable, the idea of teachers “subtly encouraging” their charges to buy the book isn’t at all farfetched.
The coercion thing is something you made up, not me.
Such a straw man, where you from, Oz?
Didnt the guy who until just recently held the Office of President, just sign with Crown Publishers?
Didnt the guy who until just recently held the Office of President, just sign with Crown Publishers?
Perhaps but former presidents getting book deals is nothing new (e.g. Bill Clinton’s millions in advances) or ethically questionable. I remember the howls of outrage when Newt signed a book deal while he was Speaker of the House, something that wasn’t uncommon or questionable when Democrats ran the place.
Writing the book “down” is a good idea if future generations are to fully appreciate the Won, since they’ll all read at a third-grade level after he’s finished with our education system.
Simple solution. Impose a 90% tax on royalties received over and above his contractually obligated Presidential salary as it represents an unconscionable and unreasonable bonus in a time of economic crisis.
There’s a serious error in this post. The US Department of Education does not set, not even “in part” local school curricula. They neither recommend nor endorse curriculum, let alone books children may read as part of the curriculum. Education is a state responsibility (although the Feds do kick in about 9% of ed spending), and many states leave curriculum decisions to local school districts.