Quite a few kossacks have been puzzled by the same old faces showing up on Obama teams.
Some defend him by sharing history of Clinton bringing in inexperienced team members at the first of his term, usually giving this example to defend these choices. Others call bullshit on this meme, and say Obama never was anything but a moderate and that his choices should not be surprising.
Still others say that his choices do not matter to them, that this is early days, and President Obama should be given a real chance to bring about change we can believe in. Sheesh, they say, its only been a few days. (But what wonderful ones they have been! Yahoo!)
One blogger who is not ready to give the benefit of the doubt quite yet is David Sirota.
His rant today over at Salon is headlined:
Obama's team of zombies Even under the new president, Washington is the same one-party town it always has been -- controlled not by Democrats or Republicans, but by thieves.,
He slams Obama for his claims of a "team of rivals" below the fold.
Me, I am so excited about Obama, Pelosi, Kerry, and Barbara Boxer stepping up and talking reality today! I am drinking the "I.ve got this" koolaid today and spiking it with my chipotle infused Tito's Handmade Vodka in celebration.
Sirota, on the other hand, is looking for more:
Feb. 7, 2009 |
snip
Little did we know that "team of rivals" was what George Orwell calls "newspeak": an empty slogan "claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts."
Obama's national security team, for instance, includes not a single Iraq war opponent. The president has not only retained George W. Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, but also 150 other Bush Pentagon appointees. The only "rivalry" is between those who back increasing the already bloated defense budget by an absurd amount and those who aim to boost it by a ludicrous amount.
Ok. To tell the truth, I have been thinking the same thing. However, I also like the argument that he needs people who know the ropes and that he can manage them, or show them the door if they don't step to.
Sirota is having none of this:
Of course, that lockstep uniformity pales in comparison to the White House's economic team -- a squad of corporate lackeys disguised as public servants.
snip
Now, this pinstriped band of brothers is proposing a "cash for trash" scheme that would force the public to guarantee the financial industry's bad loans. It's another ploy "to hand taxpayer dollars to the banks through a variety of complex mechanisms," says economist Dean Baker -- and noticeably absent is anything even resembling a "rival" voice inside the White House.
That's not an oversight. From former federal officials like Robert Reich and Brooksley Born, to Nobel Prize-winning economists like Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, to business leaders like Leo Hindery, there's no shortage of qualified experts who have challenged market fundamentalism. But they have been barred from an administration focused on ideological purity.
Progressives on the team? Not so many. And at least one, according the Nation's story on Hilda Solis really could use our help to get confirmed.
The announcement yesterday of a new panel of outside economic adivisors did at least include labor representatives.
And Nobel Winner Paul Krugman , who has said in the past that he did not want a formal position, has been critiquing, cheerleading and advising from the sidelines.
With diaries both here and at Huffpo shining light on KBR getting another contract and more calls for increases, not reductions, in bloated military spending, I look forward to at least a few more appointments of change agents who can bring us forward after the disastrous Bush years.
Meanwhile, I will continue to celebrate the truth talking about the Republican legacy we are seeing from President Obama and others, putting reality into the story. Yeah, I'll drink to that!
UPDATE: Thanks to all who have commented/made editing suggestion, and I apologize for the typos, etc. Heh.
Want to especially thank Corvo and Something the Dog Said , with others, for their spirited discussion on whether or why Obama should continue spending on Afghanistan.
Corvo provided this fascinating link to a review of Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
by Ahmed Rashid
Viking, 484 pp., $27.95 in the NYRB that really is an eye opener:
Pakistan in Peril By William Dalrymple