Opinion: The forgotten story behind Obama’s appointment of Jim Leach

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Democratic President Obama chose former Congressman Jim Leach of Iowa the other day as the new chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Leach was a veteran Republican representative who previously supported George W. Bush while serving 30 years in the House. Most recently, the 66-year-old has been teaching at Princeton, his alma mater.

The Obama move was widely hailed as another bipartisan broadening measure by the new president. But a closer look, via this C-SPAN video, reveals a bit more to the story.

Republican Leach is to Democrat Obama as longtime Democrat-nominal independent Joe Lieberman is to Republican John McCain.

Leach actually endorsed Obama before the GOP nominated its candidate last year. Leach spoke for eight minutes at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, talking critically about the Republican Party, as Lieberman did the next week about his old party during the GOP gathering in St. Paul.

Leach lavished praise on Obama as a ‘transcending candidate’ with a ‘clarion call for renewal.’ He also praised former Vice President Al Gore, who’d chosen Lieberman as his 2000 running mate.

It’s understandable that few would remember this close political tie between appointer and appointee. Judging by the chattering convention audience’s reaction on the video, not many of them were listening either.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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