Will Obama White House Politicians Cook the Census Numbers?
Sampling doesn't work, and we should not politicize the census
So it's dismaying that the Obama White House, in response to political pressure, would consider overseeing the 2010 census. A better approach, endorsed by seven former census directors and embodied in a bill sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, would be to set the Census Bureau apart as an independent agency. That would preserve, protect, and defend the census that the Framers of the Constitution took pains to establish.
- Read more by Michael Barone.
- Read more about the census.
- Read more about the Obama administration.
Reader Comments
Census directly under the white house
President Obama said he had three domestic priorities; Economy, Energy and Education. Then he adds a fourth, health care.
It seems that moving the census from commerce to the white house serves none of the above four priorities. These are in addition to his overwhelming problems in international affairs such as the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Russia, China, Cuba, etc.
It seems moveing management of the census just dissipates the focus of the white house team. It already resulted in some embarrassment since Judd Gregg pulled his nomination for the secretary position. The census is a lower level task that definitely needs to be delegated to a cabinet member and not at the higher level of the desk of the chief of staff
Did President Obama not discuss this change prior to offering the position to Gregg?
My recommendation is for the White House to focus on the important issues and avoid looking foolish
I am terrified...
You can effectively remove the rights of citizens in a democracy if you do not count their votes correctly. Reassignment of states' representative counts based on census counts controlled by a political party can quickly become a political party controlling the votes of the representatives. Once a political party or person has control over the votes, democracy is gone. Anything in the constitution, your right to free speech, your right to vote, your right to speedy and fair trial can be easily removed. Don't think that this won't happen, just because you live in America. Think about it. What is preventing this? Congress? Don't kid yourself, moving the census to the White House removes another check and balance and gives the Executive branch more power, which is why it was done.
Hand off the Census, Obama!
I strongly Obama to return control of the census back to the Commerce Dept.
Political hacks like Obama's chief of staff should not have any supervisory domain over the census.
Keep politics out of the census!
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