But What About Principle?

I'm sooooo tired of Political Correctness (PC) and agenda-driven behavior on truly important matters! Why are there so few people in Congress who function from a core foundation of principle ... ie, who know, do and encourage doing what's right regardless of party/politics? The top two issues in our country right now are the war on terror and our troubled economy. (In that order by the way!) Isn't it completely rational that appointments to leadership positions in those areas should be based on competence to do the job, not on some agenda? Two recent examples:

Primary qualification for next CIA chief: must not have supported or appear to have supported Bush administration policies in the war on terror. Since the CIA had to be totally transformed to fight the war on terror after what the Clinton administration did to it, that disqualifies all the people who are now most experienced about terrorism and how to fight it effectively. So, is it any surprise that the only person left standing for this appointment (because experienced people won't take such an important job where surveillance and other tools they know they need cannot be used) is a bureaucrat who never worked in the agency much less in the field of intelligence operations? Can any independent-minded rational person think that Mr. Panneta is an appropriate choice for, arguably, one of the most important positions of leadership in our federal government right now? One argument I've heard supporting this choice is that an inexperienced George Bush took it over without much criticism. That argument is completely irrational and irrelevant because there was no war on terror then. The war on terror changed everything about the CIA and related/supporting agencies. This is one of the scariest appointments of any I've observed in my life including supreme court justices. Too many people don't truly understand the danger from this new stateless and completely ruthless enemy. Appointing Mr. Panneta to lead this agency and its fight against this new enemy represents a kind of warped Bush-vindictiveness and PC gone nuts. Terrorism is, by far, the gravest danger to our country and we should have only the most experienced people leading the fight that we can find. Expect lots of other experinced people to leave the CIA and related agencies who saw purpose in devoting their labor to a cause (elimination of the terrorist threat), not an agenda. Don't principles matter any more?

Excusing Tim Geithner's $34,000 tax avoidance with dismissive comments like "it's a common mistake". A huge percentage of Americans don't even make that much money and we're expected to just say its okay? No way! It's not okay! And we're expected to believe he's the most qualified person in the country to lead the Treasury, which is responsible for collecting taxes, when he doesn't understand that everyone must pay social security and other taxes? I might buy the argument that's it's a common mistake if it weren't made regarding the guy who's about to be in charge of the agency responsible for executing tax policy and collecting those taxes. It is true that he has strong credentials for this job which make me inclined to give him a chance. However, I think we should at least be hearing from our country's leadership that what he did is fundamentally wrong and irresponsible. Forgive it ... okay. Just excuse or dismiss it ... no way. Don't principles matter any more?