Bitch About Obama

By David Corn

The more things change, the more they

stay . . . well, you know. And looking at President-elect Barack Obama‘s top appointments, it’s easy to wonder whether convention has triumphed over change — and centrists over progressives.

A quick run-down: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who supported the Iraq war until she initiated her presidential bid, has been handed the Cabinet’s big plum: secretary of state. And Bush’s second defense secretary, Robert Gates, will become Obama’s first defense secretary. The Obama foreign policy adviser regarded as the most liberal in his inner circle, Susan E. Rice, has been picked for the U.N. ambassador slot. Obama is elevating this job to Cabinet rank, but he’s still sending Rice to New York — and in politics and policy, proximity to power matters. For national security adviser, Obama has picked James L. Jones. The retired four-star general was not hawkish on the Iraq war and seems to be a non-ideologue who possesses the right experience for the job. But he probably would have ended up in a McCain administration, and his selection has not heartened progressives.

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Here’s the line-up of President-elect Barack Obama’s advisors and Cabinet officers as of tonight:
Attorney General – Eric Holder
Chief of Staff – Rahm Emanuel
Commerce – Bill Richardson
Council of Economic Advisors – Christina Romer
Defense – Robert Gates
Health & Human Services – Tom Daschle
Homeland Security – Janet Napolitano
National Economic Council – Larry Summers
National Security Advisor – James Jones
State – Hillary Clinton
Treasury – Timothy Geithner
UN Ambassador – Susan Rice

The biggie on that list is Sen. Clinton to be Secretary of State.

To be fair, former President Bill Clinton pretty much opened up his donor files and made his speaking schedule and new income sources subject to ethics reviews. Sounds like a small price, but for someone like Bill Clinton that – and other concessions – are very big deals.

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By Paul Weyrich

Surprise, surprise. President-elect Barack H. Obama has appointed a center-right group of economic advisers. That is center-right in the Democratic context. That does not make them conservative but they are at least free-market advocates.

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BFF (Best Friends Forever)
By Nancy Benac

It wasn’t too long ago that Barack Obama and his advisers were tripping over one another to tear down Hillary Rodham Clinton’s foreign policy credentials. She was dismissed as a commander in chief wanna-be who did little more than sip tea and make small talk with foreign leaders during her days as first lady.

“What exactly is this foreign policy experience?” Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. “Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no.”

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By Janice Shaw Crouse

One after another, we are learning the names of the future Obama Administration. Behold, they are not new faces, nor are they the change agents that Obama’s campaign rhetoric promised. Instead, we are seeing Clinton retreads and a surprising move toward the political center. Rather than the far left team of new faces and new politics that the President-elect’s supporters dreamed about when they cast their ballots for the “change” they could believe in, we are seeing familiar faces and experienced pols. More than a few Obama fans are experiencing buyer’s remorse as they discover that “The One” seems to be abandoning them and their policies.

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