Friday, October 31st, 2008
If leadership is based on experience then why has the combined experience of both parties lead us to the bottom of the barrel? Why have we lost over 4000 soldiers? Why have we not found Osama? Why is ground zero a puss filled scab instead of a tower of power? Why is New Orleans not new? Why are we stuck in two wars at once? Why is our economic system broken? Why is the American dream a nightmare?
The current administration has taken 8 years to experiment. We need a government that cares about our future!
Below are the current candidates and picks for Obama’s new administration. Let’s see if their experience matches the success, or failure of their possible tenures in the White House.
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RAHM EMANUEL
“Rahm Israel Emanuel (born November 29, 1959) is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Illinois’s 5th congressional district.”
“Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2006 elections. After the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he was elected as the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus. He is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn. On November 6, 2008, Emanuel accepted an offer from President-elect Barack Obama to become the White House Chief of Staff in Obama’s administration, which begins on January 20, 2009.”
“Emanuel is an influential member of the New Democrat Coalition, and a prominent proponent of economic liberalization. He is noted for his combative style and his political fundraising abilities.”
‘Rahm Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois. His first name, Rahm (רם), means “high” or “lofty” in Hebrew, while his last name, Emanuel (עמנואל), means “God is with us.” According to Emanuel’s father, his son is the namesake of Rahamim, a Lehi group combatant who was killed. Rahm’s surname was adopted by his family in 1933, after Rahm’s paternal uncle, Emanuel Auerbach, was killed in a skirmish with Arabs in Jerusalem.”
“Emanuel’s father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, is a pediatrician who was born in Jerusalem and was a member of the Irgun, a militant Zionist group which operated from 1931 to 1948 during the British Mandate of Palestine. His mother, Martha Smulevitz, worked as an X-ray technician and was the daughter of a local union organizer. She became a civil rights activist; she was also once the owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll club. The two met in Chicago in the 1950s. Emanuel’s older brother, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, is an oncologist and bioethicist, and his brother Ari Emanuel is a talent agent in Los Angeles who inspired Jeremy Piven’s character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage. Emanuel himself is the inspiration for the character Josh Lyman on The West Wing. Emanuel also has a younger adopted sister named Shoshanna, 14 years his junior.’
‘When his family lived in Chicago, he attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, a Jewish day school. After his family moved to Wilmette, he attended public school: Romona School, Wilmette Junior High School, and New Trier West High School. He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel. At some point during his high school years, while working at an Arby’s restaurant, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger. He sought medical attention only after suffering severe infection as a result of the wound, resulting in the partial amputation of the finger.”
“He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981, and went on to receive a master’s degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still an undergraduate, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.”
“Emanuel’s wife, Amy Rule, converted to Judaism shortly before their wedding. They are members of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel, a Modern Orthodox congregation in Chicago. They have three children, son Zachariah and daughters Ilana and Leah.”
“Emanuel is a close friend of fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod, chief strategist for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Axelrod signed the ketuba, a Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel’s wedding, an honor that goes to a family friend or distant relative.”
“Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation is quoted as saying: “It’s a very involved Jewish family”; “Amy was one of the teachers for a class for children during the High Holidays two years ago.” Emanuel has said of his Judaism: “I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me.” Emanuel’s family lives on the North Side of Chicago, in the North Center neighborhood.”
Career As Political Staffer
“Clinton’s most serious primary rival, Paul Tsongas (the New Hampshire Democratic primary winner in 1992), later withdrew, citing a lack of campaign funds. Richard Mintz, a Washington public relations consultant who worked with Emanuel on the campaign, spoke about the soundness of the idea: ‘It was that [extra] million dollars that really allowed the campaign to withstand the storm we had to ride out in New Hampshire [over Clinton's relationship with Gennifer Flowers and the controversy over his draft status during the Vietnam War ].‘ Emanuel’s knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million.”
“Following the campaign, Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.”
“One of his proudest moments during the Clinton administration “was an event that touched his political sensibilities and his personal ties to Israel: the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony after the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (”PLO”). Emanuel directed the details of the ceremony, down to the choreography of the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.”
“Emanuel is said to have ‘mailed a rotten fish to a former coworker after the two parted ways.’ On the night after the 1996 election, ‘Emanuel was so angry at the president’s enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting ‘Dead! … Dead! … Dead!’ and plunging the knife into the table after every name.‘ His ‘take-no-prisoners attitude’ earned him the nickname ‘Rahm-bo’. People who worked with Emanuel at that time “insist the once hard-charging staffer has mellowed out.”
Career In Finance
“After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the Clinton administration. He then became an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002. In 1999, he became a managing director at the firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures. At Wasserstein Perella, he worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC Communications.”
“Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (”Freddie Mac”) by then President Bill Clinton in 2000. His position paid him $31,060 in 2000 and $231,655 in 2001. During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) later accused the board of having “failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention.” Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 when he ran for congress.”
Congressional Career
Election in 2002
“After working in investment banking, in 2002 Emanuel pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th District of Illinois previously held by Rod Blagojevich, who chose not to run for re-election, but instead successfully ran for Governor of Illinois”
“His strongest opponent of the seven other candidates in the 2002 Democratic primary — the real contest in this heavily Democratic district — was former Illinois State Representative Nancy Kaszak, who had unsuccessfully opposed Blagojevich in the 1996 primary. The most controversial moment of the primary election came when Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, a political action committee endorsing Kaszak, called Emanuel a ‘millionaire carpetbagger who knows nothing’ about ‘our heritage’. Moskal also charged that Emanuel had dual citizenship with Israel and had served in the Israeli Army. Emanuel’s father was an Israeli immigrant and Rahm had dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, but relinquished his Israeli citizenship when he turned 18. He did not serve in the Israeli army, but was a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces for a short time during the 1991 Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel’s northern bases.”
“Emanuel brought together a coalition of Chicago clergy to denounce the incident. He recalled, ‘One of the proudest moments of my life was seeing people of my district from all backgrounds demonstrate our common values by coming together in response to this obvious attempt to divide them.” Moskal’s comments were denounced as anti-Semitic by many, including Kaszak. Emanuel won the primary and easily defeated Republican candidate Mark Augusti in the general election. Emanuel supported the October 2002 joint Congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq War, differentiating himself from all nine other Democratic members of the Illinois Congressional delegation (Sen. Richard Durbin, Reps. Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Bill Lipinski, Luis Gutiérrez, Danny K. Davis, Jan Schakowsky, Jerry Costello and Lane Evans) elected in 2002. In his first term, Rahm Emanuel was a founding member and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Serbian Caucus.”
“In 2006 Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reported he had a newsroom confrontation with Emanuel over Kass’s continued speculation Emanuel only won his 2002 election because convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak sent in his employees to work for Emanuel. He also speculated that Mayor Richard Daley’s ‘underlings’ who were sentenced to federal prison for organizing ‘patronage armies’ also helped Emanuel.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman
“The position of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman (DCCC) was assumed by Emanuel after the death of the previous chair, Bob Matsui. Emanuel led the Democratic Party’s effort to capture the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections. After Emanuel’s election as chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Chris Van Hollen became committee chair for the 110th Congress, and thus for the 2008 elections.”
“While he was chairman of the DCCC, Emanuel was known to have had disagreements over Democratic election strategy with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Dean favored a “50 state strategy”, building support for the Democratic Party over the long term, while Emanuel believed a more tactical approach, focusing attention on key districts, was necessary to ensure victory.”
“Ultimately the Democratic Party enjoyed considerable success in the 2006 elections, gaining 30 seats in the House. Emanuel has received considerable praise for his stewardship of the DCCC during this election cycle, even from Illinois Republican Rep. Ray LaHood who said “He legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today. He recruited the right candidates, found the money and funded them, and provided issues for them. Rahm did what no one else could do in seven cycles.”
“Emanuel still is close to Bill Clinton, and talked strategy with him at least once a month as chairman of the DCCC. He declared in April 2006 that he would support Hillary Rodham Clinton should she pursue the presidency in 2008. However, Emanuel’s loyalties came into conflict when his home-state senator Barack Obama expressed interest in the race; asked in January 2007 about his stance on the Democratic presidential nomination, he said: ‘I’m hiding under the desk. I’m very far under the desk, and I’m bringing my paper and my phone.’”
2008 Contributions
“Open Secrets reports that Rahm Emanuel ‘was the top House recipient in the 2008 election cycle of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry.’”
House leadership
“After his role in helping the Democrats to win the 2006 elections, Emanuel was believed to be a leading candidate for the position of Majority Whip. Nancy Pelosi, who became the next Speaker of the House, persuaded him not to challenge Jim Clyburn, but instead to succeed Clyburn in the role of Democratic Caucus Chairman. In return, Pelosi agreed to assign the caucus chair more responsibilities, including ‘aspects of strategy and messaging, incumbent retention, policy development and rapid-response communications’. Caucus vice-chair John Larson remained in this role instead of running for the chairman position.”
“After U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that he did not fall within the bounds of orders set for the executive branch, Emanuel called for cutting off the $4.8 million the Executive Branch provides for the Vice President’s office.”
Committee assignments
Political views
“During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel “indicated his support of President Bush’s position on Iraq, but said he believed the president needed to better articulate his position to the American people”. One of the major goals he spoke of during the race was “to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans.”
“Emanuel has maintained a 100 percent pro-choice voting record and is generally liberal on social issues. He has aligned himself with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Leadership Council.”
“Emanuel frustrated Chicago peace activists who lobbied his office to reverse course on the Iraq war. In the 2006 congressional primaries, Emanuel, then head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, made national headlines for engineering a run by Tammy Duckworth - an Iraq war veteran with no political experience - against grassroots candidate Christine Cegelis in Illinois’ 6th District. Expedited withdrawal from Iraq was a central point of Cegelis’s campaign; Duckworth opposed a withdrawal timetable.”
“‘According to The Nation, Emanuel is “seen as a strong Israel partisan.’ In June 2007, Emanuel condemned an outbreak of Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip and criticized Arab countries for not applying the same kind of pressure on the Palestinians as they have on Israel. At a 2003 pro-Israel rally in Chicago, Emanuel told the marchers Israel was ready for peace but would not get there until Palestinians ‘turn away from the path of terror.’”
“In his book, Emanuel advocated a three-month compulsory universal service program for Americans between the ages of 18 and 25.”
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JANET NAPOLITANO
“Janet Napolitano (born November 29, 1957) is the current governor of the U.S. state of Arizona, and a member of the Democratic Party, originally elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. She is Arizona’s third female governor, and the first woman to win re-election. In November 2005, Time magazine named her one of the five best governors in the U.S. She served as the Chair of the National Governors Association in 2006-2007. In February 2006, Napolitano was named by The White House Project as one of “8 in ‘08″, a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run and/or be elected president in 2008. On November 5th, 2008, Napolitano was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project. She is widely considered as a potential member of Obama’s cabinet, likely as either Attorney General or Homeland Security Secretary.”
Early Life
‘Napolitano was born in New York City to Jane Marie Winer and Leonard Michael Napolitano, who was the Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. She has two siblings, younger brother, Leonard Michael Jr. and Nancy Angela Haunstein. She has partial Italian heritage on her father’s side and was raised a Methodist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque in 1975 and was voted Most Likely to Succeed. She graduated from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, where she won a Truman Scholarship, and then received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Virginia School of Law. Napolitano is a member of the Democratic Party. Her early professional career was as an attorney at Phoenix law firm Lewis and Roca and as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.’
Political Career
“In 1991, while a partner with the private Phoenix law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, Napolitano served as attorney for Anita Hill. Anita Hill testified in the U.S. Senate that then U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had addressed her inappropriately ten years earlier when she was his subordinate at the federal EEOC.”
“In 1993, Napolitano was appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States attorney for the District of Arizona. As U.S. attorney, she was involved in the investigation of Michael Fortier of Kingman, Arizona, in connection to the Oklahoma City bombing. She ran for and won the position of state attorney general in 1998. Her tenure focused on consumer protection issues and improving general law enforcement.”
“She won the gubernatorial election of 2002 with 46 percent of the vote, succeeding Republican Jane Dee Hull and defeating her Republican opponent, former congressman Matt Salmon, who received 45 percent of the vote. Napolitano was the first female US governor to succeed another. Some initially considered Napolitano to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 U.S. presidential election but Sen. John Edwards was selected instead.”
“In November 2006, Napolitano won the gubernatorial election of 2006, defeating the Republican challenger, Len Munsil, by a nearly 2-1 ratio. In January 2006, she won the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service.”
“She is currently a member of the Democratic Governors Association Executive Committee. Furthermore, she has also served previously as Chair of the Western Governors Association, and the National Governors Association. She served as NGA Chair from 2006 to 2007, and was the first female governor and first governor of Arizona ever to serve in that position.”
“On January 11, 2008, Napolitano endorsed Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President.”
“Napolitano is barred from seeking a third term in office in 2010 due to term limits. While the Governor has not announced her intentions regarding her political future, political insiders consider Napolitano a likely candidate for the Senate, particularly if incumbent John McCain chooses to retire. She has also been mentioned as a potential candidate for the position of Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security in Barack Obama’s cabinet.”
Administration Policies
“Napolitano advocates education and immigration reform. As a Democratic governor, Napolitano sought funding for the public education system, health care programs, teachers pay, state government workers pay, and prison employees pay. She signed legislation that offered voluntary full day kindergarten throughout Arizona. Napolitano opened the nation’s first state counter-terrorism center, signed legislation for a prescription drug card for seniors and signed into law property and income tax cuts, which were proposed by the Republican legislature.”
“Every budget Napolitano has signed has been balanced. However, the projected 2008 budget has a deficit of $1 billion.”
“Napolitano received a low grade from the libertarian Cato Institute for fiscal spending, citing the fact that her budgets annually increased spending by an average of 6% over the previous year’s total. Napolitano’s position on budget issues has been to defend education spending as “investing in what matters”, citing the benefits of academic achievement and economic growth. Faced with a conservative Republican majority in both houses of the Arizona Legislature, she issued her 115th veto on June 6, 2006, breaking the record previously held by former Governor Bruce Babbitt. By the end of June 2006 her veto total had grown to 127 vetoes.”
“Time Magazine named Napolitano one of the five best governors in the nation. In a Washington Post op-ed, she explained her belief that the topic of illegal immigration was urgent and needed to be solved through comprehensive federal reform. In another op-ed in the Arizona Republic Napolitano was critical of sections of the federal proposal debated at that time, saying that, “As a border state governor and a former attorney general and United States attorney, I can already spot issues that make key provisions of the compromise impracticable and ineffective.” She was the first governor to call for the US National Guard to be placed at the U.S.-Mexico border at federal expense and succeed. In July 2007, she signed state legislation designed to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Previously, when Arizona’s voters passed Proposition 200, which would not allow illegal immigrants to collect welfare benefits, Napolitano opposed the measure.”
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PAUL VOLCKER
Paul Adolph Volcker (born September 5, 1927 in Cape May, New Jersey), is an American economist. He is best known as Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan (from August 1979 to August 1987). He is today an economic advisor to Democratic president elect Barack Obama.
Education
Volcker grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he graduated from Teaneck High School, and his father was the township’s first Municipal manager.[1] Volcker’s undergraduate education was at Princeton University; he graduated in 1949. He earned his M.A. in political economy from Harvard University in 1951 and then attended the London School of Economics from 1951 to 1952 as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellow.
He has received honorary degrees from several educational institutions including: University of Notre Dame, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, New York University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Bryant College, Adelphi University, Lamar University, Bates College (1989), Fairfield University (1994), Northwestern University (2004), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2005), Brown University (2006), and Georgetown University (2007).
Career
“In 1952 he joined the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a full-time economist. He left that position in 1957 to become a financial economist with the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1962 he joined the U.S. Treasury Department as director of financial analysis, and in 1963 he became deputy under-secretary for monetary affairs. He returned to Chase Manhattan Bank as vice president and director of planning in 1965.”
“From 1969 to 1974 Mr. Volcker served as under-secretary of the Treasury for international monetary affairs. He played an important role in the decisions surrounding the U.S. decision to suspend gold convertibility in 1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In general he acted as a moderating influence on policy, advocating the pursuit of an international solution to monetary problems. After leaving the U.S. Treasury, he became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979, leaving to take up the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve in August 1979.”
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
“Paul Volcker, a Democrat, was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. Volcker’s Fed is widely credited with ending the United States’ stagflation crisis of the 1970s by limiting the growth of the money supply, abandoning the previous policy of targeting interest rates. Inflation, which peaked at 13.5% in 1981, was successfully lowered to 3.2% by 1983.”
“However, the change in policy contributed to the significant recession the U.S. economy experienced in the early 1980s, which included the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression, and Volcker’s Fed also elicited the strongest political attacks and most wide-spread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve (unlike any protests experienced since 1922), due to the effects of the high interest rates on the construction and farming sectors, culminating in indebted farmers driving their tractors onto C Street NW and blockading the Eccles Building.”
Post-Fed
“In 1975 he had become a senior fellow in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. After leaving the Federal Reserve in 1987, he became chairman of the prominent New York investment banking firm, J. Rothschild, Wolfensohn & Co., a corporate advisory and investment firm in New York, run by James D. Wolfensohn, who was later to become president of the World Bank.”
“In April 2004, the United Nations assigned Volcker to research possible corruption in the Iraqi Oil for Food program. In the report summarising its research, Volcker criticized Kojo Annan, son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA, Kojo’s employer, for trying to conceal their relationship. He concluded in his March 2005 report that “there is no evidence that the selection of Cotecna in 1998 was subject to improper influence of the Secretary General in the bidding or selection process”.[5] However, while Volcker did not implicate the Secretary General in the selection process, he did cast serious doubt on Kofi Annan, whose “management performance…fell short of the standards that the United Nations Organization should strive to maintain.” Volcker was a director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America between 2000 and 2004, prior to his being appointed to the Independent Inquiry by Kofi Annan.”
“As of October 2006, he is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty, and is a member of the Trilateral Commission. He has had a long association with the Rockefeller family, not only with his positions at Chase Bank and the Trilateral Commission, but also through membership of the Trust Committee of Rockefeller Group, Inc. (RGI), which he joined in 1987. That entity managed, at one time, the Rockefeller Center on behalf of the numerous members of the Rockefeller clan. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International House in Manhattan, NY. He was a founding member of the Trilateral Commission.”
“In January 2008, he endorsed Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama for PresideNT.”
“On April 8, 2008, he was the featured speaker at “The Economic Club of New York” and spoke about the issues and causes of the 2008 US recession, and critiqued the 2008 US financial system and the 2008 Federal Reserve policies.”
“He is today an economic advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.”
“He is reportedly one of three or four top candidates that President-elect Obama is considering for the Secretary of the Treasury position as of November 6, 2008.”
Personal life
“Volcker married Barbara Bahnson, the daughter of a physician, on September 11, 1954. She died on June 14, 1998, having suffered from lifelong diabetes, as well as rheumatoid arthritis. They had two children, Janice, a nurse and a Georgetown University graduate, and James, a research assistant and a New York University graduate who was born with cerebral palsy, as well as four grandchildren.”
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RICHARD DANZIG
Richard Jeffrey Danzig (born September 8, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the 71st Secretary of the Navy under President Bill Clinton. He is currently an advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.
Education
Danzig was born in New York City, attended the Bronx High School of Science, received a B.A. degree from Reed College, a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and Bachelor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Upon his graduation from law school, Danzig served as a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Byron White.
Professorship
Between 1972 and 1977, Danzig taught contract law at Stanford and Harvard Universities. He also was awarded a Prize Fellowship of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. From 1977 to 1981, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, first as a Deputy Assistant Secretary and then as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics. In 1981, he was awarded the Defense Distinguished Public Service Award.
Danzig gives his keynote speech at the Red Herring annual innovation conference, in Carlsbad, California on October 30, 2000.
Washington D.C. Years
“From 1981 to 1993, Danzig was a Washington, D.C. partner of the national law firm of Latham & Watkins. He served as Deputy Chair of the firm’s International Practice Group, and also as Director of its Japan Group. He was also a Director of the National Semiconductor Corporation, a Trustee of Reed College, and interim Director of Litigation and then Vice Chairman of the International Human Rights Law Group. During this time, Mr. Danzig was co-author, with the distinguished policy analyst Peter Szanton, of the book, National Service: What Would It Mean?’
“A decade before, Szanton had been head of the New York office of the Rand Corporation when Danzig came to that office as a brilliant law student. The book which Danzig and Szanton co-authored helped shape America’s current civilian National Service system.”
“Danzig was sworn in as the 71st Secretary of the Navy on November 16, 1998. He served as Under Secretary of the Navy between November 1993 and May 1997. In the period between these two jobs, he and his wife, Andrea, lived in Asia and Europe while Danzig served as a Traveling Fellow of the Center for International Political Economy and as an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.”
“He is currently a defense policy advisor to Barack Obama.”
