Judd Gregg: “I made a mistake”

On Thursday afternoon the baseball hit the batter as yet another Department Secretary took flight from the Obama administration. Soon-to-be Secretary of Commerce Judd Gregg, Republican Senator from New Hampshire, withdrew his name from consideration for the Cabinet position 10 days after having been nominated. This is President Obama’s second Commerce Secretary to go down in flames, following New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s withdrawal.

In a statement before the press conference, Gregg cited “irreconcilable differences” with the Obama administration in the Economic Recovery Plan and Census handling as the primary reasons for his withdrawal. At his press conference, however, Senator Gregg stated that the position was simply a “bridge too far” for him, and that the Census issue was only “a slight catalyzing issue; it was not a major issue”. Gregg would not elaborate further on the Census issue, and dodged any questions which would shed more light on it.

The Obama Administration has expressed downright confusion as this withdrawal, claiming that they were approached by Gregg, but the Senator himself has a completely different story. He said, “One of the nice things about this business is that everyone has a different recollection of what happened.” Gregg claimed that the Obama administration approached him for the position, and that he “made a mistake” by accepting the position hastily. He continued that holding a Cabinet position would interfere with how he really wants to approach issues. Gregg said that his confidence in President Obama’s Administration caused him to accept the position “without thinking through the implications” of his decision. (01:20)

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service