New NSA Head Resume: Lobbied to fight off regulators while at Fannie Mae

[Revere]

Another Obama nomineee who is qualified for nothing but his experience in cover-ups.

As a former lobbyist, Obama's choice for national security adviser fought off new regulations - latimes.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before President Barack Obama picked him to be his next national security adviser, Tom Donilon was a lobbyist for mortgage giant Fannie Mae and fought off congressional attempts to impose new regulations.

As Fannie Mae's legal counsel and top strategic thinker in the late 1990s to the middle of this decade, Donilon left his sizable imprint on the company long before its takeover by the government amid the wreckage of the housing market. By that time, Donilon had moved on, well before what critics said was a day of reckoning after years of inadequate regulation and lax oversight.

In early 2008, seven months before disaster struck, Fannie Mae and its smaller cousin, Freddie Mac, held in their portfolios or guaranteed $4.9 trillion in home-mortgage debt. The government took over Freddie Mac the same day. Their rescue has cost taxpayers more than $148 billion so far.

 

[Trajan]

great, someone else who was part of the problem. Obama needs some fresh meat around him.

 

[CaféAuLait]

Fox and the henhouse come to mind. Hope and Change at its finest. Didn't Obama campaign that he would not employ lobbyists?

 

[Toome]

Just a point of clarification, while the National Security Advisor is sometimes referred to as "NSA", it shouldn't be confused with the National Security Agency. Donilon is serving in a White House cabinet position and NOT as the head of the National Security Agency. General Keith Alexander is the DIRNSA.

 

[California Girl]

Fox and the henhouse come to mind. Hope and Change at its finest. Didn't Obama campaign that he would not employ lobbyists?

Interestingly, that was my first thought too. About a year ago, I did a count up of how many lobbyists were in the Obama Administration. I found 43. Also, fascinating to see where those lobbyists were from - the very financial institutions that Democrats howled at for their corporate greed.

New boss.... same as the old boss.