Return of the Clintonistas — Hope and Change You Voted For?
[Posted by WLS Shipwrecked]
A Clinton third term, is that what the electorate thought they were getting in voting for Obama?
Is the “talent” poll of the Dem party so shallow that two dozen veterans of the last Democrat to hold the WH are going to occupy the senior most positions in government 8 years later?
Hillary, Richardson, Emanuel, Cantor, Kerry, Craig, Klain, Holder, Gorelick, Napolitano, Summers, Rubin, blah, blah, blah.
What about Janet Reno? Did she disconnect her phone and not leave a forwarding number?
The fact is that Obama is going to the WH only 4 years removed from the Illinois State Senate, and without having any kind of noteworthy “Kitchen Cabinet” of advisers and trusted aides that have been built up over the course of a political career.
Chicago politics where he was raised and nurtured is far too corrupt for him to bring to Washington. His other primary environ is academia — but he seems to recognize the perils of putting the stewardship of his administration in the hands of a bunch of people with no practical experience in the real world, much less governing, and with no track record of handling critical scrutiny from either the press or a political opposition.
So, rather than have an administration of “yes men” who don’t know their way around Washington or the national press corps, we instead get an “Administration of Rivals,” aka Clinton redux.
And before this post is swamped with a littany of “Clinton prosperity” comments, I’ll point out once again that which always seems to be overlooked about the economic prosperity of the Clinton years:
Clinton didn’t invent the internet, he just happened to be fortunate enough to occupy the WH when the internet began to be earnestly exploited for both its commercial and business potential. All the good economic fortune enjoyed during the two terms of Bill Clinton can be directly traced to the peace dividend that followed the end of the cold war, and the huge sums of money raised, spent, and then earned in the build-out and commercialization of the World Wide Web.
P.S. My list of Clintonistas comes from the top of my head. Please feel free to add to it in the comments. I’ll update this post with a running list as they are mentioned.
– WLS Shipwrecked
Reed Hundt on Tteam and could head back to FCC
Fred P. Hochberg was Clinton head of SBA
Lots of old Clinton camp of the transition team leaders.
Agency Transition Teams
Valerie Jarrett is old time Chicago as you get and she is taking over the Karl Rove slot.
Comment by daytrader — 11/17/2008 @ 6:06 pm
Heck you can look at also
Transition Team Board Members
and you see another pack of the old timers still in the house.
Maureen Dowd got it right the other day when she said that after nearly 30 years of Clinton/Bush he promised change but it sure looks like we are headed for a lot of retreads.
Comment by daytrader — 11/17/2008 @ 6:11 pm
Hillary as Sec. of State,
nine out of ten Jihadists agree - Allah Akbar!
Comment by Perfect Sense — 11/17/2008 @ 6:19 pm
‘Chicago politics where he was raised and nurtured is far too corrupt for him to bring to Washington.’
Valerie Jarrett, Rahm Emanuel, need I say more?
Comment by Stanford Matthews — 11/17/2008 @ 6:23 pm
You know, I was bracing for a Carter Redux…somehow this is a relief…I think.
Or maybe this is like a K-tel compilation of all the songs I hated the first time around, only by artists who play county fairs now because they have lost their voices?
I don’t know. A Carter foreign policy team with a Clinton state department and a Barney Frank economy, with a Pelosi Speaker…
I really did just laugh out loud at this…it’s gallows humor, I swear.
Comment by cfbleachers — 11/17/2008 @ 6:30 pm
David Axelrod is a Chiago guy and well. You can bet that there will be more.
Comment by BT — 11/17/2008 @ 6:36 pm
This is hilarious … “Change” …
Comment by SPQR — 11/17/2008 @ 7:06 pm
We heard the same stuff in 2000, when George Bush was — belatedly, thanks to Sore-Loserman — putting togetehr his staff: they were all retreads from the Reagan and first Bush administrations.
The talent pool in Washington keeps going through the in-power/out-of-power-think-tank-membership cycle. Usually we get second-tier people moving up.
There will be a lot on which to criticize our incoming president, but putting the adults in charge, rather than the Kos Kids is a positive step.
Comment by The not-so-cynical Dana — 11/17/2008 @ 7:14 pm
I didn’t vote for Obama, but I must say this is way better “Change” than I feared. Clinton-style pragmatists, even cutthroat ones, beat the heck out of hard-letf ideologues.
Comment by DRS — 11/17/2008 @ 7:21 pm
Clinton didn’t invent the internet, he just happened to be fortunate enough to occupy the WH when the internet began to be earnestly exploited for both its commercial and business potential…
Boy, try and pound that into the skull of the average moron liberal.
Comment by Nyctalus Lasiopterus — 11/17/2008 @ 7:23 pm
Can Sandy “Socks” Berger’s appointment as CIA Director, NSA Director or FBI Director be far behind?
Comment by Perfect Sense — 11/17/2008 @ 7:35 pm
Clinton didn’t invent the internet, he just happened to be fortunate enough to occupy the WH when the internet began to be earnestly exploited for both its commercial and business potential.
Exactly! In other words, luck. As for Bush: 9/11, Katrina, RE & mortgage-bubble bust====bad luck.
It’s that simple. We tend to dismiss luck as an ingredient of our success but quickly accept bad luck as a reason for our failures.
The case of Clinton and Bush are classic examples.
But in the long term, history will be much kinder to Bush than Clinton. He was a war-time president who stayed with his core beliefs and eventually proved his harshest critics just how wrong they were.
It is very difficult right now to accept all the Obama idolatry when I know that Dubya is the better man.
Comment by PC14 — 11/17/2008 @ 7:46 pm
I think a separate post should be started on suggestions to Obama for his appointments…a nice, helping hand.
After the rumor that Kerry was being considered as Secretary of State, I’m sort of relieved that it might be Clinton.
Comment by PC14 — 11/17/2008 @ 7:53 pm
^
Well, it’s the Hill’ all right. She’s leaving the Senate. I didn’t think that would happen.
Comment by Vermont Neighbor — 11/17/2008 @ 8:05 pm
Well, since our incoming president has said that he’d appoint a Republican to his cabinet, what about Patterico for Attorney General!
Comment by The demented Dana — 11/17/2008 @ 8:07 pm
And DRJ for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or whatever they’re calling it these days!
Comment by The original Dana — 11/17/2008 @ 8:09 pm
A great post, but I quibble with giving Mr. Clinton total credit. How about a Republican congress that brought Mr. Clinton around, especially on welfare reform? Yes, Mr. Clinton vetoed it twice, but he would have never gotten in with a Democrat congress. I for one do not think that President-elect Obama will be able to help himself in the end and get taken for a ride by the Democrat left-wing in congress.
Comment by Mark J. Goluskin — 11/17/2008 @ 10:43 pm
In addition to the growth of the internet, the PC transformed into an affordable commodity and became extraordinarily usable whereas before it was little more than a high tech toy that was irrelevant to most people. And I havent even broached the subject of Y2K yet.
I don’t see anything remotely similar over the next few decades… possibly the growth of portable computing, the portable internet. But that would be far more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Comment by h0mi — 11/17/2008 @ 10:57 pm
The same team that brought you higher taxes, the internet bubble, & the recession of 2001 is back?
It’s like deja screw all over again.
Comment by Icy Truth — 11/18/2008 @ 12:35 pm
Just when we thought it was safe to eliminate our dry cleaning budget in D.C., now the Clintons are back! I’ll pay to watch Obama the leftist illuminati president in a cage match with Hillary! That would be entertainment.
Comment by Jeff — 11/19/2008 @ 11:12 am
There is only one way for Hillary to become President. She should resign her Senate seat, run for the House of Representatives and replace Pelosi as Speaker. Then she would only be two Polonium capsules away from the Presidency. I’ll bet it has crossed her mind!
Comment by John A. Davison — 11/19/2008 @ 11:56 am