Since my last post, Barack Obama has had some time to choose many of his inner circle of advisors and cabinet secretaries. During that time, I suffered through and have nearly fully recovered from a sinus infection that kept me from blogging. So I thought now would be a good time to analyze what Obama means by "Change" at least in the context of his selections.
Remember immediately after the election, he chose Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff--not exactly "Change". But have things changed? Or, has "Change" now changed to real change after a couple of weeks? The answer, in short, is not even close. Now, look, I understand that Obama will need Democrats with experience in politics and "how things work" in DC to help him. But apparently "Change" still means recycling old Clintonistas, prehistoric big-government liberals, or thuggish partisans.
Don't believe me? Here's a list of just some of Obama's choices for top posts:
Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff: View my earlier post just after the election for some info on this unstable, Mafia-like partisan.
John Podesta, Head of the Transition Team: Podesta is former Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, and former head of the "progressive" (read: big-government liberal) Center for American Progress.
Eric Holder, Attorney General: Holder was the Deputy AG under Janet Reno in, you guessed it, the Clinton Administration. He was acting AG under Clinton who approved Clinton's infamous 11-th hour pardons of notorious criminals like: tax cheat and fugitive Mark Rich who also conducted illegal oil deals with Iran; members of the FALN terrorist group responsible for numerous acts of terror in American soil and against American interests; the commutation of the sentence of former Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds who was convicted of bank fraud, wire fraud, sexual assault of a 16 year old and solicitation of kiddie porn; and the communitation of cocaine trafficker Carlos Vignali, son of a long time Democratic fund raiser. Holder doled out these and other similar gifts to dregs like these. Holder also was a point man in the Justice Department's armed seizure of Elian Gonzalez.
Greg Craig, White House Counsel: Craig served as Bill Clinton's counsel during the impeachment, and has a checkered history of questionable representations, including Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin John Hinkley, Jr., Marxists like the Nicaraguan Sandanistas, and Fidel Castro through his surrogate, the father of Elian Gonzalez.
Tom Daschle, Sec'y of HHS: Daschle, the former Senate Leader ousted in 2005 by Sen. John Thune and famous for his unreasonably partisan blocking of federal court nominees, is also affiliated with the Center for American Progress (see Podesta, John above), and will be in charge of the massive governmental expansion into health care Obama plans to push.
These are but 5 examples. And that's before we get to Hillary. There are many more top Obama officials who have extensive Clinton ties.
Where is the new blood? Where are the new ideas? What happened to bringing "Change" to Washington?
I suppose that's all yesterday's news and something Obama hopes we'll all forget. Like my sinus infection.
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1 comment:
I think you hit the nail on the head. We are all now in the process of finding out Obama's definition of the word 'change'. I guess it is something like Clinton trying to define the word 'is' back in the day. What a shock to all of those who heard only the word 'change' and with hope stemming from ignorance, hopped on the Obama band wagon only to find out that perhaps they should have looked into it a bit more carefully. I think people will be surprised at how little change Obama intended, because our system selects for the best compromiser, rather than the most competent and qualified leader. I'm still in a 'wait and see' mode however, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he can deliver on some of what he promised. After all, what choice do I have?
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