Checking Sestak's sale price

Though many have issues with Rep. Sestak (D-PA) on either policy issues (political & Iraq, CAIR) or the way he treats people (Navy & command climate), there is one thing that everyone usually would give him - he is a man with integrity whose word is better than average.

He accrues this good will as a result of his years of service. Good people can agree to disagree about how he conducted himself while on active duty - but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his word as a Flag Officer.

That is one reason why Joe Sestak the politician is seen all the time - though he is a SWO and not a flyer - walking around in an aviator's nomex flight jacket from his days as a Carrier Strike Group Commander. He wants to remind everyone that he is a man of integrity and clear speaking as any good Navy officer is.

That is, of course, until now.

Byron York outlines the corner Sestak has painted himself in.

There are three presidential boards in the White House. One is the intelligence board. Another is the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which is made up, according to its by-laws, of members "who shall be appointed by the President, from among individuals not employed by the federal government." The third is the recently created President's Management Advisory Board, whose members, the by-laws say, "shall be appointed by the President from among distinguished citizens from outside the federal government."

Even a lesser group, like the recently recast President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, is made up of "distinguished individuals and representatives from sectors outside of the federal government."

Rep. Sestak would be ineligible for all of them.
...
The bottom line is Sestak, as a member of Congress, could not have served on most, if not all, of the boards the White House claims it considered for him. Did the politically savvy Obama team really not know that? Or is the White House not telling us something?

Whatever happens with the Senate election in PA this fall; from here on out, Sestak is better seen from a "word" point of view as a politician and not that of a former Flag Officer.

Sad, but accurate. It is a decision Sestak has made, we should honor that. If you think different of Congressman Sestak, let me know. Either way though, I think the nomex jacket should go - a sports coat or barn coat is a more appropriate casual look from here on out.