Cha Cha Cha Changes???????

[Chicopee John]

Obama's Cabinet Picks Heavy on Washington Experience

 

Thursday, November 20, 2008

 

 

WASHINGTON — For months on the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington. But now that he's president-elect, his first potential Cabinet picks indicate that he may bring more years of Washington experience to his administration than Bill Clinton or George W. Bush did.

 

Obama's first four likely Cabinet choices, including former first lady Hillary Clinton, have a combined total of more than 60 years of Washington experience.

 

By comparison, President Bush's first four Cabinet picks had a total of 30 years experience in Washington, and former President Clinton's had 58.

 

Obama has chosen former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, a 30-year Washington veteran, to be his secretary of health and human services, and former deputy attorney general Eric Holder, a 20-year Washington veteran, to be his attorney general. His transition team is also reviewing Hillary Clinton, who has 15 years of experience in Washington as first lady and as New York senator, for the position of secretary of state.

 

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's pick to lead the 7-year-old Department of Homeland Security, is a Washington outsider.

 

Obama signaled early on what kind of Cabinet he would recruit when he named Rahm Emanuel, a veteran of the Clinton administration and a fellow member of Congress, as his White House chief of staff.

 

Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, said he wasn't surprised that Obama would be relying more on Clinton veterans "who participated in a presidency that is viewed to have its accomplishments and was viewed as well run."

 

He added that Obama is entering a political landscape that is far different from the one Clinton faced when he was elected.

 

"When President Clinton came in, Democrats had virtually no farm team of executive branch hands that they could rely on for White House and Cabinet positions," Riley said.

 

In 1992, Clinton became the first Democratic president in 12 years, compared to the eight year-interval between him and Obama. Clinton also faced difficulty in picking veterans from Jimmy Carter's administration because Carter's four-year presidency was widely viewed as a failure, Riley said.

 

But Obama faces pitfalls when relying on Clinton veterans because he ran on a mantra of change, Riley said.

 

"The argument that Obama people would make ... it's possible to rely on people who know how the levers are pulled, but move it in a different direction than the last eight years," he said.

 

President Bush brought many Texans with him to Washington, but the ones who had the most influence on his administration were the Washington insiders, Riley said.

 

Bush's first Cabinet choice was his secretary of state, Colin Powell, who had 14 years of Washington experience, including a four-year stint as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush and President Clinton.

 

Bush's treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, had 16 years of Washington experience, including his work as the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, which creates the executive branch's fiscal blueprint.

 

Non-Washington insiders who were early choices in the Bush administration included Don Evans, a private businessman, as commerce secretary, and Mel Martinez, who had been a Florida utilities official, as secretary of housing and urban development.

 

Bill Clinton's first Cabinet pick was Lloyd Bentsen to be secretary of the treasury. Bentsen had 28 years of Washington experience, including 22 in the Senate. He also had been the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1988.

 

Clinton's other early choices included Ron Brown, a former head of the Democratic National Committee, as commerce secretary; Donna Shalala, head of the Washington-based Children's Defense Fund and a Carter administration official, as secretary of health and human services; and Robert Reich, a veteran of the Ford and Carter administrations, for labor secretary.

 

Riley said it's a good idea to appoint Washington veterans to positions that a president must rely on for so much.

 

Every president is "at the mercy of the people" he surrounds himself with, he said. "You have to have a good mix of eminence, people you can rely on and not mind being in a foxhole with."

 

[Mr. T]

Reno Twin For Homeland Security?

 

Uh-oh. Terrorists better be careful. Looks like Janet Reno’s twin is going to be head of Homeland Security.

 

This is on the plus side.... She ordered state contractors to ensure that their employees are legal [and] set up an undercover unit to catch forgers of identity documents … In mid-August she declared a state of emergency in Arizona to direct more funds to protecting border areas from illegal crossings.”

 

 

Wonder if Al-Qaeda has heard of Waco?

Separated at birth?

 

Arizona Demcratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.

[calfoxwc]

On the negative side, that could be Janet Reno's Evil Twin Sister.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Obama's decision making is already becoming suspicious. This is not 1992. I thought he ran his campaign promising change? This isn't change, it's trying to turn back time. Not going to work. I think his picks thus far are terrible. He is not impressing me or a lot of democrats for that matter. I sense a "Jimmy Carter" presidency.

[Westside Steve]

In fairness any Democrats with any experience are naturally going to be Clinton retreads.

Secondly, anyone who really thought this unprepared ward politican had a grip on the job was being foolish.

Third we dcan only hope that "change" is only a slogan.

What would any of us want "changed" that is in the ppresidents power to affect?

Not much.

Last for even those who think changing back to a Clinton era team should realize there will be no checks and balances as there was during Bill's more prosperous years.

And no internet bubble to cover up the budget.

 

WSS

[Chicopee John]

Obama's decision making is already becoming suspicious. This is not 1992. I thought he ran his campaign promising change? This isn't change, it's trying to turn back time. Not going to work. I think his picks thus far are terrible. He is not impressing me or a lot of democrats for that matter. I sense a "Jimmy Carter" presidency.

 

 

 

Let's not quote the score until the game, at least, begins.

 

I was never an Obama fan but I believe that he should be given a chance to succeed (or fail) based on a track record that has yet to begin.

 

[calfoxwc]

Obama is already putting the leftist verbage that propelled him to prominence behind him, and he isn't even pres yet.

 

He has now put the "ask don't tell" elimination on the backburner, where I'm sure it will stay.

 

I hope that is just a sign of him becoming a centrist president that is representing ALL of America.

 

If not, things will be bad.

 

Hope and change. we may never know what it freakin means. Which, is a lot better than the possible ? worst case scenario...