The Obama Collective – Are You Assimilated?
What’s the difference between an “experienced hand” and a “Washington insider?”
Well, the former is what you’re called if President-elect Barack Obama appoints you to serve in his administration. The latter? Well, apparently the mainstream media has forgotten they exist.
After promising to bring “Change to Washington” with magical ingredients like “Change We Need” and “Change We Can Believe In,” Barack Obama is doing anything but – instead bringing a host of Washington insiders into his administration.
In short, he’s letting the same old inmates run the same old asylum – and the press is, not surprisingly, kissing his “chosen” ass every step of the way.
It started with Obama’s appointment of former Clinton Deputy Rahm Emanuel to run his White House, and has followed suit with Hillary Clinton at State (allegedly), former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle at Health and Human Services, Clinton Energy Secretary Bill Richardson at Commerce and another former Clintonista, Eric Holder, as his Attorney General.
Additionally, Obama’s top budget director, lawyer and economic advisor in the White House will all be Clinton veterans.
Oh, and if you found it reassuring that Clinton … sorry, Obama’s … pick for Treasury Secretary wasn’t a FOB, consider this … he was “intimately involved in the Bush administration’s responses to the financial crisis.”
Which in case you haven’t noticed, isn’t working.
Anyway, you’d think that so quickly dissing the “Change mandate” might backfire on Obama, but then you’d be forgetting that he apparently has mind control over all the people we pay to be skeptical for a living.
From NY Times columnist David Brooks:
(Obama’s) personnel decisions have been superb. The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left or would suffer self-inflicted wounds because of his inexperience. He’s off to a start that nearly justifies the hype.
And from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Obama is choosing people who know how to pull the levers of power in Washington.
Hmmm … he’s also choosing people who know how to pull the levers of failed bailouts, impending entitlement disasters, special interest earmarks, billion-dollar boondoggles and related fraud, waste, inefficiency and corruption.
We’ve got nothing against any of Obama’s appointments personally, mind you, and there’s definitely something to be said for experience.
Which is why Obama is being blown … err, compared … favorably against Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (there’s that name again), who were said to have met with “disastrous results” by trying to populate Washington with outsiders too early.
At the end of the day, it’s Obama’s ball and he gets to run with it.
We just thought America voted for change, not more of the same old, same old.
Comments
By Hal on November 23rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
How dare you, a mere man, question Obama, a god.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on November 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Exactly who should Obama pick to fill key jobs, sic(k) willie?
Should he pick markie-moonbeam because of his vast international experience? After all he showed good judgment, once, when he fired you. And as mentioned before, gub’ner moonbeam can almost see Georgia from his plantation.
He also has extensive military experience – as an Air Force Reserve “Second Lieutenant” (gee, has he ever been promoted?).
How about sic(k) willie for Attorney General. sic(k) willie has extensive legal experience as a defendant.
Randy Page could be the Minister of Public Education. His first official duty would be to change his title: CarpetB@gger-in-Chief or Sc@mB@ugger-in-Chief.
The character “@” can be an “a” or “u” – both choices work. Play with it.
We could go on and on and on with our enlightening humor.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
By mijeel on November 24th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I will leave assessment of the relative quality of humor of the previous comment to professional critics in that area of expertise. However, given that I (or anyone else, for that matter) have about as much relevant experience as “The One,” I would assess the quality of President-elect Obama’s personnel selections as, well, “more of the same.” Aside from arguably superior communications skills, Obama continues to prove he is nothing but a “more of the same” kind of politician he so eloquently railed against during his campaign. With the media swooning over Obama like a teenage school girl over a handsome yet shallow high-school quarterback, no one seems to notice that Obama is not only following the same playbook as his political predecessors but he is also doing it even better!
My only question is whether we are looking at Carter II or government ineptitude on a grander scale…
By sid on November 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
What’s with the third @, BIN? I’ve tried both options and come up with “Baugger” and “Buuger,” neither of which make any sense. Nice attention to detail.