Obama Cabinet Vetting Process Most Rigid on Record (Toronto Star, CANADA)

Nominees quizzed on finances, foreign travel, mental health history and brushes with law.

Ever taken a puff of marijuana? Overlooked a work permit for your household help? Grazed with a lobbyist at Washington's top tables? Slung a "friendly" arm around an intern? Or been a titch too relaxed with your taxes?

If the answer is no, you can pass go and hand in your application for a job with Barack Obama's new administration.

But don't be too confident. Obama's vetting process, the most stringent on record, is very, very detailed. By the end of a 63-item questionnaire, and an interview worthy of a Catholic confessional, you might be out of the running.

"Obama is vetting his team in a way that I haven't seen in a U.S. president in a long time," says David Gruder, a California psychologist and author of The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World. "He is demonstrating a real willingness to learn from mistakes of the past."

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