Given the beating that Sen. Hillary Clinton took during the primaries for being related to her husband, not just by marriage but also ideologically, given the scare tactics about a “second” Bill Clinton administration in the person of Sen. Clinton, given Obama’s focus on dissing everything “Washington” and construction of himself as the “change” candidate, doesn’t it seem just a bit ironic that he’s relying so heavily on people from the Clinton administration to fill key roles in the “change” administration?
Introducing his first appointments as president-elect, Mr. Obama reached deep into the Clinton fold on Wednesday, naming John D. Podesta, a former White House chief of staff, to lead his transition team. He has asked another former Clinton aide, Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, to be his own chief of staff and is said to be choosing between two other Clinton veterans for national security adviser.
This is nothing terribly new for Obama. He’s been relying on key members of the Clinton administration to advise him ever since Sen. Clinton went down to defeat. In fact, it would be a matter of some concern if Obama and his newbies didn’t reach out to the people with real experience. I guess he just couldn’t acknowledge that he would have to do this when he was busy pounding Sen. Clinton for being the not-hopey-changey candidate. That would have been too much like truth in politics.
mirabile dictu 