James Billington, 09-2013, 13th Librarian of Congress
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An article in today's Washington Post takes aim at the reasons he waited so long to leave his post.
"Library insiders said Billington, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, was reluctant to depart while a Democratic president was in office. His concern is reasonable. President Obama's administration has a bumpy record when it comes to culture writ large. Obama allowed the top leadership positions at the major endowments, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, to sit unfilled for unconscionably long periods. An early top staff appointment to the NEA, Yosi Sergant, attempted to politicize the agency's agenda. In 2013, the president elevated Bruce Cole, a divisive and obstructionist figure who led the NEH during the George W. Bush administration, to the commission overseeing the Eisenhower Memorial, greatly complicating its completion. And one of his last acts -- still under consideration -- may be his most irresponsible: the destruction of historic public parkland in Chicago to build a presidential library. This indifference to the public realm, this unwillingness to grasp the levers of culture as one of the essential tools of office, suggests that Obama is no Jack Kennedy. He isn't even George W. Bush."
If you wonder why we have so much trouble getting anything done while Barack Obama continues to obstruct sound government, then this article is a must-read explanation.
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