...isn’t it amazing just how impressive the people being named to key positions in the Obama administration seem? Bye-bye hacks and cronies, hello people who actually know what they’re doing.As I mentioned yesterday, some on the left are up in arms over Barack Obama's appointments (or rumored appointments) to his administration. Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State? Didn't people like me go absolutely bat shit over the possibility of the former first lady as the Democratic presidential nominee? How can a lefty like Obama name a centrist Wall Streeter like Timothy Geithner to run the Treasury? Robert Gates will stay at Defense? Hell, no!
Some bloggers are apoplectic over the shape of Obama's incoming cabinet. Well, let me say right here and right now: Get over it. You obviously weren't listening while Obama campaigned for the presidency. He promised change, yes. But after eight years of failed leadership, that change will come in the form of competence; and that means a solid team of people who know what they're doing.
All one needs to do is go back to the archives of this blog from December to June to see that I was none too pleased with the prospect of a Clinton candidacy. While the financial crisis may have pulled her over the finish line, her popular vote and Electoral College margins would have been paper thin, Republicans would have picked up seats in the House and Senate, and our government would be as divided as ever. And the thought of a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton dynasty made my stomach turn.
HOWEVER...there is no doubt that Hillary Clinton is a stellar pro on matters of foreign policy, and her stature around the globe puts her in the category of "superstar." President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and Secretary of State Clinton? Their names alone will go a LONG way toward repairing our global reputation, so sullied during the Bush years.
As for Geithner and the rest of Obama's economic team, he has put in place a group of economic masters who will give him advice from different corners of the financial spectrum. Tim Geithner and Larry Summers may well be animals of Wall Street, but they will be tempered by Christina Roemer, a UC Berkeley expert on the nation's recovery from the Great Depression.
President-elect Obama is a careful, cautious, pragmatic man who, while liberal politically, is conservative in temperament. He is surrounding himself with capable, competent people. His team will be the cream of the crop. Some will come to the table with contradictory views, but after eight years of "yes men" and unqualified hacks (see "Brownie"), some good, old fashioned debate in the White House is really a good thing. This team will deal with things as they are, not with some rigid partisan ideology as to how they should be.
Am I 100% thrilled with Obama's top choices so far? Of course not. (See yesterday's post about Robert Gates.) But I am 100% confident that our new president is putting together the team he thinks can best tackle the disastrous mess his Republican predecessor will leave behind.
