Barack Obama picks Clinton - change we can believe in?
Barack Obama's personnel picks for his White House and cabinet are prompting political foes to claim he has dumped his promise of change for tired Washington insiders and Clinton-era retreads. After spending months feuding with former foe Hillary Clinton and casting veiled criticisms of her husband's administration, Obama is poised to hand her the plum job of secretary of state, aides said.
Former senator Tom Daschle, a veteran of the partisan political wars Obama has vowed to end is set to become secretary of health and human services.
Eric Holder, a former Clinton-era Justice Department official is being lined up as Attorney General in the Obama administration.
Obama's chief of staff is feared Rahm Emanuel, a sharp-elbowed former Clinton White House aide, who has warred with Republicans for years.
Clinton energy secretary Bill Richardson is being touted as commerce secretary.
Republicans, demoralized from their drubbing in the presidential and congressional election on November 4 claim this line-up shows Obama's promise for "Change we Can Believe In" is hollow.
But are these anything more than predictable political attacks, and is it fair to brand Obama's picks as retreads? No, say many analysts, who argue that there is a limited pool of Democratic operatives with government experience qualified for top cabinet jobs. Obama's personal brand is so strong, after two years campaigning on change that his cabinet picks may be less important than his own actions and rhetoric. Such are the myriad crises facing the nascent Obama team, the president-elect may have concluded that while some officials may hark back to a previous era, he cannot afford to snub the best Democratic brains.
And had he sent a group of neophytes to Washington, he would surely have been pilloried for picking people short on experience. Former president Bill Clinton, who came to power in 1993, decided not to stack his administration with veterans of the Jimmy Carter administration, which was seen as a failure.
While Obama is tapping veterans, he is bringing Chicago confidants like David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett to Washington -- and his reported Treasury pick Tim Geithner is well known to the markets in New York. Change seems assured, as Obama is already striking a sharp course away from the Bush administration, when he takes office in January. He has vowed to end the "denial" of US policy on global warming and to close the Guantanamo Bay 'war on terror' camp in Cuba. Obama's gestures to vanquished opponent John McCain and renegade Democrat Joseph Lieberman also suggest at least a hope for a change of tone in the US capital.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j-LnTi157z_qoUWhpHw6FEZhn-_g
You want my opinion on Hillary for Secretary of State? Don't have much of one. She'd be fine--I've traveled with her overseas and she's a terrific ambassador--but I'd also be thrilled to see her stay in the Senate and help build a consensus on health care and other issues.
You want to hear me expatiate on the plethora of Clintonians filling the Obama Administration? Don't have much of an opinion about that, either. I mean, most administrations are filled with experts who served in previous administrations. The Bush Cabinet dated back to the Ford White House (and to the previous Bush Cabinet). The Clintonites Obama has picked, or is considering, are excellent. I haven't heard a rumor yet that alarmed me as much as the prospect of Janet Reno (D-Mars) as Attorney General during the Clinton Administration; there hasn't been a name raised or a position offered that seems implausible so far. And the quiet, disciplined way that Obama has gone about this transition seems nothing but good. I can honestly say that he's probably a much better person than I am: His tolerance for Joe Lieberman--who questioned his patriotism--is saintly (and also smart politics).
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/11/19/things-that-matter/
Length: 527
Rating: 4.90 (15 ratings)
Tags: Rachel Maddow president Obama Hillary Clinton secretary of state bill Richardson Eric holder Rahm Emanuel Tom Daschle
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