What About "Change"?

Fresh new faces, fresh ideas, eh' Mr. President Elect Obama? Look, I know that every time I doubt something that the Obama team does, I end up being wrong and Obama ends up being right, but something just seems off about this. The entirety of Obama's staff is shaping up to be Clinton administration people and though the Clinton administration was very successful, times have changed and that is why the American people voted for Obama and not, well, Clinton. Let's take a look at some of the names Obama has selected and see where they fit in, relationship-wise, to the Clinton administration.

Rahm Emmanuel, the future White House Chief of Staff, is a long known Clinton supporter since his first day on the political scene. In 1993 he served as one of Bill Clinton's chief advisers, he remains quite close to Bill and also helped in support of Hilary's recent run for the White House.

Bob Gates, future Defense Secretary, has no real ties to Clinton but is certainly not a change because he recently served under a guy, maybe you've heard of him, George W. Bush, in that exact same role.

Eric Holder, I talked about a little in a previous posting, as he was named as Obama's Attorney General, and while it is change in that he is the first black person to be named to that position, he too has close ties to the Clinton admin. as he served for Bill Clinton as Deputy Attorney General.

Hillary Clinton, the likely Secretary of State, has close ties to the Clinton's as well, mostly in that, well... she is one. I've talked already about why this is a terrible choice, mainly because of her differences with Obama in foreign policy, in regards to talking and meeting with foreign leaders with(out) preconditions, her lack of judgment on the war in Iraq, so on and so on, and I also mentioned the possible political ramifications of this choice in the long run.

Look, here is the bottom line, when you deal with the Clinton's and Clinton people you end up dealing with politics instead of real world issues. Yes, Bill Clinton's presidential era was a damn good one, but it was not without drama and politicking going on all the time, Obama said he was going to bring change to Washington and I simply don't see how it is possible when he is bringing in the same faces and names from the Clinton era. I understand it is hard to strike a balance between new people and experienced council, but I do think it is important for Obama to put a stamp on his own era in history.