What did you expect?
Be honest. November 5th rolled around, and we woke up, spontaneous grins breaking out across the Nation as we emerged like the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz after Dorothy's place crashed down on the Wicked Witch of the East.
And then the backbiting set in. Oh; of course it did.
First came the horror at Rahm Emanuel's Chief-of-Staff position. "How could he?" "Rahm's a Clintonite! Aiiiigghh!!" The echoes could be heard across DKos and the rest of the media. "Is this Change We Can Believe In?" they asked.
For the first time, DKos began to sound like Fixed Noise.
Yes; I know there are longstanding and deep distrusts between the Kossack community and Emanuel. I understand his opposition to Universal Healthcare and his response to Middle Eastern policy has made us all a little gunshy when it comes to his stance on "liberal Democratic issues".
"He's partisan." "He's a ball-breaker." "He's untrustworthy."
But he's also a close friend of Obama (which is, perhaps, the number 1 reason for anyone to be named CoS); he's tough; he's intelligent; and he knows how Washington works.
Did anyone really think that the entire Obama cabinet would be built around idealistic dreamers and Washington newcomers? Really? I mean, come on; Obama wants to change the way Washington works, but, come on people, he has to play the game too. He has to argue with wingnuts and hard-leftists at the Capitol. He may change the game, but he has to play it better than anyone else.
For the last year and more, we have trusted Obama's judgment on every issue, but now that he has won, and Change really is in the air, we abandon it, and choose to believe that he is just another politician.
I have news for you; there will be Clintonites and Washington Insiders in the Cabinet.
Gasp. Shock. Horror. Tell me it ain't so.
But here's the kicker, folks.
They're not in charge. Obama is.
Think of your local football team. They get a new head coach and turn a season around from 1-5 to 8-5. He fired few players, made only a few changes, but turned the team around, simply because there was a new leader with new strategies. That is what Barack Obama brings to Washington. A new strategy, implemented, yes, by some members of the old guard, and some new, but he's in charge, not them.
I don't recall reading anywhere that the CoS is a policy-maker. He's an advisor, yes, but Obama's official Senior Advisor will be Axelrod. The CoS simply runs between the Capitol Building and 1600 Pennsylvania and argues, cajoles and persuades Congress to implement the policy.
And few do it better than Emanuel.
Remember this, people; Obama will stay true to his ideals. He argued for change and he argued for unity.
Seems we forgot that.