Kerik

The President has nominated Bernard B. Kerik to be Secretary of Homeland Security.

Kerik, 49, was named today to replace Ridge, the first secretary of the department created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Kerik was the New York police commissioner at the time of the attack on the city's World Trade Center.

Kerik "has the background and the passion that are needed to protect our citizens," Bush said in an announcement ceremony at the White House this morning. He pointed to Kerik's work after the Sept. 11 attacks and said "the resolve [Kerik] felt that morning will guide him every day on this job."

White House officials described Kerik, who campaigned aggressively for Bush's reelection, as a proven crisis manager who can straighten out the lines of authority in the infant department and work to prevent a catastrophic attack or cope with its aftermath. Other Republicans said Kerik would provide a telegenic presence, and one presidential adviser pointed out that Kerik "brings 9/11 symbolism into the Cabinet."

As if we needed more 9/11 symbolism from this administration.

Kerik was NYC police commissioner for just over a year, and actually left just two months after 9/11, to "spend more time with his family". After the invasion, he went to Iraq, to head training for the Iraqi police, and came back early, presumably not because he was doing such a good job. (The Iraqi police are still grossly undertrained and undersupplied, which leads to repeated stories like this one, where police stations are overrun, policemen killed, and prisoners released.) But best of all, he has absolutely no experience with Washington bureaucracies, and his job would be to administer a huge department cobbled together from multiple previously independent bureaucracies, fight with Congress to increase budgets and staffing, and hold his own with other Cabinet officials.

So, what part of his resume suggests he is qualified to be given this job? I believe that would be "campaigned aggressively for Bush's reelection."

Update: The folks at the Washington Monthly have a more detailed way of making this same point.

Another Update: A columnist at New York Newsday suggests Mr. Kerik left quite a few messes behind him, and there are those in New York just itching to answer the background check questions.

Still More Update: The Korea Times has a story about the child Kerik fathered in Korea when stationed there. No, I'm not making this up. (Talk about threats to marriage...)