I wonder where the trade-off is between avoiding embarrassment, on the one hand, and making the barriers too high for promising applicants, on the other.

Sorry to hear you're withdrawing. The new administration NEEDS to read Tenkswatawa's comments. We all do.
I see Hillary is being considered, perhaps for State. Be still my heart. If we could get an Obama administration PLUS 4 more years of Clinton jokes, this thing is a total win.
It also speaks to Obama's instincts.
Bring her closer so he doesn't have to worry about her in 2012.

Hear, hear -- anyone who, by their very life's presences and accomplishments, can NOT embarrass a wide swath of any administration and its bureaucracy, is unqualified to make the future "smarter government," (as Chimp's envisioned).

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. -- Groucho Marx

wow... it is going too far... i rather keep my job.

If I understood it correctly, they also want to know about ANY and ALL comments you have ever posted to a blog including all "handles" you use on the internet.

BTW, what's the deal with wanting to know about gun ownership? Is that going to be their answer to the GOP's "what's you opinion of Rowe v. Wade?" I hope to hell they aren't going to make that a disqualifier for their admin.

I keep telling my kids that I'd never qualify for any public office. This questionnaire is proof-positive that I'd never be allowed near public office, especially at the federal level.

My concern is that I don't know anyone who'd qualify on the basis of this questionnaire.

I suspect that I am probably not elegible either. At times I fear that my financial interest in the VISA corporation may have approached that 5% figure.

I would have some trouble telling them that I have used the Internet handle "chunkylover53".

"where the trade-off is between avoiding embarrassment, on the one hand, and making the barriers too high for promising applicants, on the other."

Exactly, what type of personality is going to pass that review.

I see you are a blogger
And not just a common bum
Do you, or have you ever,
Stirred your coffee with your thumb?

(Northwest native inside joke)

But Jack, who will run the National debt-per-person clock?

(Can computers even count that high?)

If you are a blue blogger
looking down your nose
help us with the neocons
whom we are going to hose

Jack, if you have problems with this questionnaire, does that mean I should stop writing you in for all those positions on the ballot? Are you too tainted to serve?

BTW, what's the deal with wanting to know about gun ownership? Is that going to be their answer to the GOP's "what's you opinion of Rowe v. Wade?" I hope to hell they aren't going to make that a disqualifier for their admin.

The fact that that question is on there really upset me. The fact that it's phrased the way it is upset me even more. So much for understanding the constitution or this nation's history...

Wait a second. The questionnaire is for a political job. They're looking for people who can lie their way through this.

I think you'll like this, Jack:
http://is.gd/7zqV

(On the same questionnaire.)

Even St. Peter wouldn't look good after filling out that application. Mon Dieu!

I don't think the gun question is as bad as some of you think. It might be embarrassing if, during a confirmation hearing, it came out that someone did not follow their local laws about gun registration.

I think the gun question is altogether prudent, especially if Sasha and Malia might be invited over to play.

Jack- Dang it! I hoping you would become the new head of the IRS or maybe the new US AG!

45. If you have ever been investigated by any law enforcement agency (whether federal, state, military, local, Indian, or foreign)...please identify each such instance....

Hold on a second while I ring up Homeland Security and ask them to give me this information. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to cooporate.

I don't think the gun question is as bad as some of you think. It might be embarrassing if, during a confirmation hearing, it came out that someone did not follow their local laws about gun registration.

What gun registration? There are only a few places in the country that require people to register their firearms.

I think the gun question is altogether prudent, especially if Sasha and Malia might be invited over to play.

Then it should be asked in private, should that situation arise; not on a job application.

(64) Please provide recordings and transcriptions of your idle chats during your attendance of any Happy Hour gatherings during the last ten years. (These would a very fruitful in weeding out folks with subversive tendencies toward any authoritarian figure.)

(65) Have you every played 20 Questions? If so, supply details of both questions and answers.

Joey, you take this (and yourself) much too seriously. What is the source of this notion of sacred privacy about gun ownership? Or do you just find the subject embarrassing?

Joey, you take this (and yourself) much too seriously. What is the source of this notion of sacred privacy about gun ownership? Or do you just find the subject embarrassing?

Yes, I do take my constitutional rights seriously. I'm very open about the fact that I own guns, it's not a privacy issue. What I don't understand is what it's doing on a job application, especially phrased like that. The fact that they ask about 'proper registration' is a perfect example of how little they know about guns and gun laws, unless they're only planning on hiring from Chicago and New York. What are the chances someone who did exercise their right to keep and bear arms would be considered for a position in the Obama administration?

What are the chances someone who did exercise their right to keep and bear arms would be considered for a position in the Obama administration?

Sadly, I am guessing zero. I am really gonna catch hell from my friends when I swore to them that BO isn't gonna steal their guns. I don't understand why this is on the app and I would like the Obama team to explain it!

Oh man, bad call! Truth is, nobody knows what Obama will do regarding guns. We all know what he says, but we also look at his voting record, which is literally the most anti-gun of any president to date. And to me, actions speak much louder than words.

Well, regarding guns Obama is in the position to change everything, riding the wave of change and claiming the position of a demolitionist. The history showed that the gun-lobby in the US is just too strong, so we have to wait and see.