CLINTONITES….Just a quick comment on a common meme: Why is Barack Obama surrounding himself with so many Clinton retreads? That’s not change we can believe in!
Sure, sure, but look: anybody who’s been active in liberal governance for more than eight years is likely to be a Clintonite. It was the only game in town during the 90s. And anybody who’s been active less than eight years probably doesn’t have the experience to get a top level position. So there’s really no way around this. There are some fresh faces around for Obama to tap, but for the most part, when you’re staffing highly visible and responsible positions, you want someone who has at least some experience to fall back on. And since Bill Clinton is the only Democrat to hold the presidency in the past 28 years, that means someone who served in the Clinton administration.
I suppose this doesn’t bother me as much as it does some people since I never expected Obama to be a huge left-wing break from Democratic tradition in the first place. He’s a little farther to the left than Clinton, but not a lot, and it’s only natural that he’d find a fair number of Clintonites who hold views similar to his own. What’s more, as his campaign showed, he’s obviously a guy who values experience and deep knowledge. He’ll do fine, Clintonites or not.
