Other than the Clinton stupidity, what’s your assessment of the Transition so far?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Whatever happened to Samantha Power?
So what if she called Clinton a monster? She’s rad. She needs to be brought back into the fold – a team of rivals and all that.
Her husband’s going on the Supreme Court. Too much of a power couple?
The good Professor is quite a guy, so we now know a future diversion will be some sort of made-for-TV farce: some kind of 4-way freeforall reality-tv competition for the next SCOTUS appointment between the Clintons and the academic elite power couple. Like coliseum games for policy wonks.
I hope President Elect Obama picks a Republican Senator from a State with a Democratic Governor. In the name of unity, how could a Republican refuse such a gracious offer.
They seem to be running the transition like they ran the campaign. Close to the vest with an eye on the prize. This is a well-oiled machine.
It’s amazing how people who have had no other tense than “rant” for eight years are having such withdrawal symptoms right now.
Running a government is not child’s play. When Carter and Clinton brought total outsiders into government, the career employees in those agencies simply brushed them off. Nothing was accomplished for a year, and by then it was too late. I’m amazed that people who care so passionately about government seem to know so little about how it works.
So far, with the exception of the constant Clinton leaks, I think the process has been quite good. Once again, Clinton has shown that she is a victim of the idiots who surround her. I believe she will be much better working for an Obama administration than as an independent agent, and I think Obama knows that. If she tries to invent her own variation on his foreign policy, she’ll see the road quickly. If she manages her agency well and is a team player (albeit an honest participant in the behind-closed-doors “team of rivals”) she’ll have a clear path to a presidential run when she is not quite 68, and that’s not beyond imagining.
Napolitano, Holder, Emmanuel all seem very appropriate to me. I’m sure that Richardson is being held in the wings for state, and hope that he’s inclined to take on Energy–a position for which he is well-suited and which will require an equal amount of International Diplomacy.
Relax! If we can just find Bill Clinton a hobby, all will be well.
Bill Clinton does have a hobby. That’s the problem.
Not a crime to know how to turn on the lights in the restrooms.
But I do agree with you that Billy C is a real problem, a fading alpha-dog. Watch any documentary on wolves or gorillas to see how awkward that becomes, when a new young alpha rises to power.
I stumbled across is Post-op ED.
Aging white southern alpha-male, his wife and a black man. I could see where that could really upset Bill’s apple cart.
Or maybe I have CDS.
YMMV
to ask him to do some high profile but ultimately small change political task–negotiating with Somali pirates or something–that will enable him to get press but won’t be part of Obama’s overall effort to get energy and Middle East progress.
I got an email asking for money for the transition team.
I’m not thrilled with what I’ve paid for so far.
Tell them to get it from Joe Lieberman.
Transition look OK to me, I have the impression that basic competence is coming to Washington, which shouldn’t be remarkable, but it is.
However, it is worth noting that Obama is reaching out to the Right — I don’t see much evidence of reaching out to the Left.
That expresses my views on what to expect from Obama’s war policy perfectly. And I agree with Raimondo that if Obama wants “bipartisanship”, he should choose Chuck Hagel as his SecDef. That would be change I can believe in.
As for the economy, I have not seen Obama have anyone on his team who understands that the era of neoliberalism is over.
As for the rest, I have no major complaints. Overall, despite my low expectations, I have been disappointed by Obama’s handling of the transition.
Anyone who believed at any point in the two year campaign process that Obama was an anti-war candidate or would be and anti-war president was either not paying attention, listening very selectively, or in a deep state of denial – probably a bit of all three, in fact.
I, for one, am not disappointed simply because I knew right away what to expect from him. I tried to tell y’all over and over and over again, but no one wanted to listen.
To quote from idredit’s post below:
I expected Obama to be Clinton light, but we are getting full strength Clintonism. You really expected that?
On the other hand, it was always obvious to me that if Obama had been in the Senate when the Iraq war authorization bill came up, he would have voted for it. He lucked out not being in the Senate yet, the way he lucked out with getting that Senate seat in the first place, and the way he lucked out with the financial crisis coming sooner than the Rethugs thought it would.
“As for the economy, I have not seen Obama have anyone on his team who understands that the era of neoliberalism is over.”
Robert Reich, for one. Where he is now in all this transition stuff, though, I don’t know.
All things considered, i’d rather be in Philadelphia.
Oh wait, i am. That’s why I’m not really paying attention to the fuckwit brigade in DC.
I’m busy trying to save my library and my rec center.
I won’t be happy with it until I receive my appointment. < taps foot >
Hey only after me! Do they have a Department of Slacking? Oh wait, that’s what they’ve been doing isn’t it. OK the Department of Good Slacking.
I’ve always heard do more with less. Does slacking count?
Undersecretary of Slacking. That way you won’t have to work too hard.
You can’t get that job. The Secretary of Slacking will never get around to appointing anybody.
yeah other than the Clinton freak show, I can take the rest of it.
BTW, President – elect Obama eyes a certain Governor of Arizona for Homeland Security
OTOH
anyone wanna take issue with this essay at Alternet:
This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House
Daschle at least means Obama’s serious about getting something passed healthcare-wise. Eric Holder also seems like somebody who will get some things done.
Defense and Treasury will tell the tale.
It’s a great team for dealing with the problems of 1992. Unfortunately, it’s 2008 or maybe November 1929.
The Hillary nonsense aside, I’m fine with things so far.
what’s your assessment of the transition so far?
As to be expected.
You isolate yourself from the consensus center that Obama is building with this foolishness, Booman.
He’s going to get things done this way, and you are going to be relegated to the sidelines of history.
So it goes.
I wonder who the next Henry Wallace is going to be.
AG