Obama's great idea: do an Alinsky-style census

"This is nothing more than a political land grab," Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said of Barack Obama’s Chicago-style political decision to bring the influential role of conducting the U.S. Census under White House influence.

This single act should end any further bipartisanship. Obama is executing raw power politics as taught by his role model, leftist Chicago organizer Saul Alinsky.

Alinsky pioneered this in-your-face style of political move. Practically, this means that Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff and the former Democratic congressional campaign chairman -- who has tax problems, ethics problems and negotiated with impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- will be in charge of the process that determines congressional redistricting and the makeup of the Electoral College."

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E7AFB2E4-47C2-4FCF-8480-E5E4393A1EDA

Why census oversight is moving to White House

"President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to "restore science to its rightful place" in government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think it would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary, as is customary. "There's only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement," a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. "And it's called politics, not science."

The decision was made last week after California Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Hispanic groups complained to the White House that Judd Gregg, the Republican senator from New Hampshire slated to head Commerce, couldn't be trusted to conduct a complete Census. The National Association of Latino Officials said it had "serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 Census produces the most accurate possible count."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123423384887066377.html