"And when I'm President, there will be change...Hillary, Podesta, Emanuel, Gates, Holder...you know, real change we can believe in."
Isn't it great to see all these fresh new faces coming into Washington? If you read Time Magazine, Barack Obama is the reincarnation of FDR. Newsweek is now comparing him to Abe Lincoln. NBC News, which everyone knows was in the tank for Obama during the election, has now come out with a DVD on Obama called, "Yes, we can". How about, "Wir folgen unserem Fuehrer!" (We follow our leader in German).
One would expect that on inauguration day, the temperature in Washington will be balmy 75 degrees with lots of sunshine. Yes, a new day is dawning. CHANGE is in the air. Why, just look at the people Obama has named or is about to name to his cabinet.....
Uh,.......
First, it appears that Obama will retain Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who would be a holdover from the Bush Administration.
White House Chief of Staff- Rahm Emanuel, former Clinton hatchet man, who is now a representative from Illinois.
Head of the Transition team- That would be John Podesta, another Clintonista who spent much of his time in the Clinton Administration defending Bill from one scandal or another.
Today, it has come out that Eric Holder is the top choice for Attorney General. Holder, who was Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, was mixed up in the infamous Marc Rich pardon. He was apparently the only one in the Justice Department who thought it was a grand idea to pardon a man who was still a fugitive from justice. It may even be that Holder was the only person in the Justice Department who had any knowledge of the pardon. Great choice.
And finally, it appears that none other than Hillary Clinton will probably be our next Secretary of State. Hey, why not? Hillary has now had her ticket punched as Senator, so now she can add Secretary of State to her "impressive" resume:
1992-2000 Wife of President of US (well, sort of)
2001-2008 US Senator for New York (a state where she had never previously lived).
2009- Secretary of State
(Boy, I can hear those striped-pants boys at State shaking in their boots right now.)
But what does this do for Obama? What it does is make the presidency a triumvirate between Obama, Hillary and ....BILL!!
Is this what Obama really wants-to have TWO loose cannons with their own agendas at his side? And what about the probable conflicts of interest that will arise when Hillary engages in diplomacy and negotiation with countries who have poured millions into Bill's library and other endeavors (UAE, Kazakhstan, etc)? And what administrative experience does Hillary have to run a huge government department like State?
At any rate, as the posts start to fill up, the question begs; with all these Clinton people in the top tier of the Administration, will Obama be his own man?
More importantly, where is the Change? Joe Biden certainly doesn't represent Change. What we are now seeing (so far) is, to borrow a phrase, just more of the same.
So what's next Mr Obama? Are you going to appoint Bill Clinton as President?
4 comments:
Good post, Gary. I've actually been trying to tell the same things to some liberals that I discuss politics with. So far Obama's administration is shaping up to be Bill Clinton's third term, at least on the surface. Although my criticisms of the Clinton administration stem from a leftist perspective rather than a conservative one such as yours, I definitely agree with you that this isn't looking like "change" so far. But I guess we'll find out more after January 20th.
Bryan,
I am sure there will changes that I won't welcome in the area of policy. But the political system itself will not change. Remember, Obama came out of Chicago politics and he has learned enough in Washington to run a great campaign. He knows how to play the game. The people around him represent no change except for reversing Bush's policies.
Gary, can't you wait until he is inaugurated before you start on him again? Please, no comparising to the Fuehrer or Voelkischer Beobachter, there are other problems ahead. At least it will be a change from the Bush administration. That's a great plus.
Ingrid,
The reference to the VB and Fuehrer was not to compare Obama to Hitler, which I would never do. The comparison was made as criticism of a slavish American news media.
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