Is there anyone in the Obama administration that is not a Marxist?

Hot Button
More scrutiny
President Obama's nominee to oversee bioterrorism defense at the Department of Homeland Security has been nagged since the early 1990s about her membership with a reading group that once described itself as Marxist.
Dr. Tara O'Toole, whose confirmation as undersecretary of science and technology is pending, came under fire from conservatives in 1993 when she revealed she belonged to a study group called the Northeast Feminist Scholars, originally known as the Marxist-Feminist Group 1.
In light of the resignation by Mr. Obama's "green jobs" adviser Van Jones after his signature of a 9/11 "truther" petition, statements about communism, and other questionable ties to various organizations went public, a number of Mr. Obama's advisers and nominees are coming under more scrutiny.
Dr. O'Toole can expect to be one of them. During her confirmation hearing to become assistant secretary of energy during the Clinton administration, Republicans blasted her affiliation with Marxist-Feminist Group 1. Then-Sen. Malcolm Wallop, Wyoming Republican, said President Clinton had nominated someone "from America's radical left fringe" at the time. She was eventually confirmed, but not before the FBI conducted a full investigation.
Her membership came up again this year, during her confirmation hearing for her position in the Obama administration.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine asked Dr. O'Toole about the group, saying, "You had a controversy in your previous confirmation, that just for the record, because it's likely to come up at some point again, I would just like to give you the opportunity to respond to," the senator said. "At that time, questions were raised regarding your involvement in an academic group that had once been called the 'Marxist Feminist Group 1.' Could you explain- since that obviously is a very loaded title for the group, could you explain your involvement with this group?"
Dr. O'Toole said too much fuss was made about it. She said it was a "a group of academics, again, many of whom were economists. And they met three times a year for a weekend, and we discussed topics such as aging parents, math phobia among women, books that we read, international events and so forth. It did not do any political advocacy. It was not Marxist in any way, shape or form. But that had ... been the title back in the '60s and '70s. And during my last nomination in 1993, when that came to light, some of the senators became concerned."
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, who oversaw the hearing, thanked her for the explanation and joked, "We haven't had a mention of Karl Marx here on this committee for quite a long time."
"Just trying to keep things interesting," Miss Collins said.
He's back
President Obama's friend who was purportedly smeared for his pointed statements about Sept. 11 and disparaging remarks about Republicans has returned to the media spotlight with some equally offensive commentary on health care.
No, not Van Jones. It's the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The controversial pastor was caught by TMZ reporters who tracked him down in a Washington-area airport to ask him about health care.
"I think the racists in the right wing are upset because poor people are about to be helped," he said.
Call to confirm
Rep. Jack Kingston wants all of President Obama's so-called czars who did not go through the Senate confirmation process to submit to some vetting from Congress.
Questions about the White House's vetting process increased when it was revealed Van Jones never had to fill out a customary questionnaire required for other appointees.
But the Georgia Republican has been worried about this problem since July when he introduced the legislation to require all top-level White House advisers to be confirmed by the Senate.
Some of Mr. Obama's handpicked advisers, such as "science czar" John Holdren, were confirmed by the Senate, but many others like Mr. Jones were not.
"While the Constitution may be inconvenient to the administration, Article II, Section 2 clearly requires the 'advice and consent of the Senate,' " Mr. Kingston said. "Why won't the president use transparency and have these people come before the Senate and undergo the constitutionally-mandated process? In 300 years, czarist Russia had just 18 czars. It's taken just seven months for President Obama to nearly double that number."