The Boy Who Cried "Job"

After months of controversy the White House has come out with an official statement that Sestak was never actually offered a job, but rather an "unpaid position" on a Presidential Advisory Board. And Sestak now says that's what he was talking about.
At a minimum, Sestak has shown himself to be an out-an-out liar on this issue. Sestak has claimed, repeatedly, that:

1) He was offered a JOB

2) That this job was a "high ranking" "federal job".

3) That the offer was made by the White House (not an intermediary) in exchange for Sestak not entering the Senate race.

4) That it was only one conversation, and he turned the offer down immediately.

5) That there was no misunderstanding, when he was offered some wiggle room that he might have misinterpreted a suggestion of possible opportunities as a job offer.

6) When asked if it was Secretary of Navy, Sestak gave a coy "no comment", but in a way to suggest/mislead that the interviewer had guess correctly.

Joe's use (or rather misuse) of the word job, for an unpaid position, is a slap in the face to millions of unemployed Americans struggling to put food on the table.

Joe's non-denial of the Secretary of Navy position was so firmly implanted as a rumor (that Sestak had nurtured), that the White House memo had to specifically address it. Besides the fact that Obama had selected a Secretary of Navy a few months before the alleged job offer, Sestak is ineligible for SecNav until 5 years after his resignation from active duty.

Sestak has also implied that he had so much integrity that he was turning down a bribe for a lucrative job. Not only was the position unpaid, but several news articles have reported that Sestak would have been ineligible to be on such an advisory board unless he left Congress. How much "honor" does Sestak need to turn down a offer that would not only be unpaid, but require him take a 100% pay cut himself by quitting Congress.

Of course, Sestak doesn't pay many of the people working for him. So, maybe in Joe's mind an unpaid position counts as a "job". Is that going to be Sestak's solution to the unemployment crisis...offering unpaid advisory positions to the jobless?

The White House account (and Sestak now agreeing to it) seems contradictory. First of all, as it's been laid out in their memo, it wasn't even a decent, reasonable, or plausible offer. It was almost an insult, so I find it hard to believe this was the best/most the White House offered. Secondly, the claim is now that there were a series of conversations over the months of June and July 2009, but Sestak has insisted there was only one call, from Clinton, that briefly touched the subject. My take on the mostly likely explanation is that Sestak is lying about the one call, and made a counter offer that was rebuffed when the White House wasn't willing to meet Sestak's price.

Sestak has shown himself willing to allow a scandal to taint the White House, merely to make himself seem important enough to be bribed, and honest enough to turn it down. Self-promotion at the expense of the President's Administration, and feeding fuel to Obama's critics are not activities in which we need Democratic candidates engaging.

Sestak could have ended this whole thing months ago by stating that he wasn't actually offered any job (let alone a high ranking one). The White House could have shut him down as well by exposing him as a liar. (Like I said, my guess is that Sestak may have been offered a job, but also asked for a job as part of a negotiation that failed to offer him a big enough bribe.)

Since Sestak has been blowing smoke about this job, I guess it's just another blow-job.