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It’s back to the drawing board for President Biden. He has to find a new nominee to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees more than 1,000 U.S. banks., after his first choice, Saule Omarova, withdrew her name from Senate consideration for the post. She stepped back after facing some understandably tough questions about her Russian background during her Senate Confirmation hearing.
A number of Republican senators, notably Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), expressed concerns about Omarova’s education and writing as a legal scholar, some of which raised huge red flags. Omarova was educated in the former Soviet Union, which prompted Sen. Kennedy to ask where her loyalties lie.
No it’s not sensationalism that such a nominee has invited the sarcasm, but given that her college degree from Moscow State University gratis of a Lenin Scholarship, and that her doctoral thesis is entitled “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in the Capital,” how she views the world is a legitimate Senate confirmation hearing question.
Omarova is someone who has been nominated by President Biden to oversee our nation’s banking system – and she is on record that she wants to “end banking as we know it” and transfer vast parts of it to government control.
Biden can complain that the tough questions Omarova faced were “personal attacks,” but the fact is her record speaks for itself. That’s why even some Democrats were uneasy with her possibly holding a position of authority over U.S. banks.
Her failed nomination speaks to the worries many Americans have over the vision the Biden White House has for America. His Build Back Better act, an irresponsibly expensive welfare expansion bill that is being held up by reasonable Senate voices like Joe Manchin, is the latest sign the president wants to insert the government further into our lives and take greater control.
So, yes, expect the nominees this President selects to be asked tough questions. It’s the least we can do to protect the America we know and love.
