By David Keptsi
After weeks of Republican complaints and side-tracking (primarily due to her support of Obama’s executive action on immigration), Loretta Lynch has finally replaced Eric Holder as the new Attorney General of the United States. Based on her qualifications alone Loretta Lynch makes a solid choice for the new Attorney General: humble beginnings in North Carolina, Ivy League education, and experience as district attorney of east New York.
When it comes to her legal history, Lynch has made a name for herself prosecuting difficult terrorism and political corruption cases. In addition to her great qualifications, Loretta Lynch will also become the first African-American attorney general, a fact widely toted by the Democrats. If Loretta Lynch is so great then how come Republicans were so against her? The answer? Cronyism. The previous Attorney General, Eric Holder gained a lot of controversy due to his alleged cover-ups and scandals plaguing the Obama administration such as his refusal to admit possessing knowledge or memos of the failed “Fast and Furious” operation and refusal to persecute people involved in the IRS targeting of political groups with republican affiliations.
Such controversies are pretty indicative of political favoritism and Republicans likely expect the democratic Loretta Lynch to follow suite in Eric Holder’s path. But cronyism in the cabinet is nothing new or even unexpected as presidents have been appointing cabinet members loyal to them for quite some time. John F Kennedy appointed his own brother as Attorney General despite Robert Kennedy’s limited legal experience and Andrew Jackson was famous for appointing friends and family to government positions in his “Spoils System”.
Any favoritism on Lynch’s side shouldn’t be too unexpected, as nepotism in government is not a recent phenomenon, as those who are aware of American political history should know. Thankfully, Loretta Lynch is still very qualified and hopefully she will try to abstain from repeating the failures of her predecessor.