Signs of intelligence? ;)
Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.
Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.
Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16292.html
John A Roark
12-10-2008, 10:16 AM
Great.
Not only is he a diehard fascist dictator waiting to be let out, he doesn't have the balls to do it openly.
What kind of twisted mentality did these idiots elect?
THEY deserve what they get.
WE deserve better.
Anenome
12-10-2008, 04:17 PM
We can only hope he's being naive by picking these people and this will cause problems for the administration, slow down policy implementation, etc., which will prevent him from accomplishing much of the liberal agenda. That combined with the republican senatorial filibuster blockade should prevent the worst of the left's ideas from barging into enactment. Obama's general legislative and governance inexperience may be causing him to rely on appointing people with experience as a reflex against his own insecurities about his competence in the role he's won, which would mean appointing Clinton people primarily. On the other hand, if he really did pick major leftists he'd quickly find himself publicly embarassed by them left and right. Maybe he realizes that also.
Attending security briefing's and the like probably has a sobering effect on incoming presidents, especially these days. On the one hand he may wonder if he changes anything on the security front whether that will come back to bite him; GWB has a flawless record of preventing Al Queda attacks on American soil in the last 7 years. Does he want to be the president under whom Al Queda began attacking American again, confriming in the American mind that Democrats are weak on 'Homeland Security', etc...
The above paragraph is typical of the kind of political calculation routinely engaged-in, likely to embarassing degree, by politicians on both sides. It was often said (by the right) that while Democrats wanted to get American troops out of Iraq they wanted to force a Republican president to do it and if in charge would never let themselves be saddled with being the president who waved the white flag. So we'll see. We have already seen articles questioning whether Obama will close Guantanamo, which is another thing he promised to do, because of the question of where you put these most dangerous of all terrorists.