Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Such light posting lately, is everyone on vacation or what?!?
I'm actually on vacation this week, but I do have one comment I have to get off my chest.
All this complaining about Obama not giving us "change" because he is putting a lot of former Clinton people in his cabinet is ridiculous. First, Clinton's is the only Democratic presidential administration in the last 30 years or so. If you want people with some experience, that is where you necessarily have to go. Second, the Clinton years were pretty darn good as I recall. The worst thing about the Clinton years - Monica Lewinsky - was entirely Bill Clinton's fault and had nothing to do with the people in his administration. So what's to complain about?
Finally, of course this is change!! Bush has been president for the past eight years, not Clinton, with Republican ideologues filling most administrative positions. The only way it wouldn't have been change is if Obama picked a bunch of right-wing Republicans to fill his cabinet.
Which of course brings us to the latest news that Obama is planning to keep Robert Gates on as Secretary of Defense for at least the first year. But Gates - former president of Texas A&M - IS a change already. He is a 100 percent better choice than Donald Rumsfeld and a non-ideologue who has already shown a willingness to work across party lines to the good of the country. Tapping Gates was one of the few good decisions that Bush ever made and I don't have a problem keeping him on for a bit longer while we try to wrap up this quagmire in Iraq.