Obama announces Clinton, Gates for cabinet

Hey I think he's made some great picks. It going to be hard to complain about who Barack's selected. He's pulled people from both/all sides.

Sure the right wingers will complain, but that's expected.

I'm looking for good things. < :-)

I thought Barack Obama was against the war to overthrow Hussein's regime in Iraq? The majority of his appointments to national security positions supported the decision to go to war. Asking Gates to stay on is an endorsement of Bush's war policy. It's not the Right that is complaining, I would think that the Left wingers are the ones that will be complaining. I wonder if he lied to his Leftist base...

I don't think he lied to us. I never expected to see all lefties on his cabinet. I expected to see people who had brains that wanted to work for change.

Just because Gates was brought in doesn't surprise me. If you're preparing to pull our forces out, I think it's smart to have someone who's adamently involved and knows exactly what's there. < :-)

Even the Republicans are amazed at what he has done.... ABC News is reporting that

Limbaugh called the choice of Clinton "a brilliant stroke by Obama."

Obama's advisors may be strong and opinionated, but they have to remember - he's the Commander in Chief.

Well, after reading aide to former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton Rick Jasculca's article, I've changed my mind - Hillary is a great pick! Here's a quote from Rick's article:

"This is a woman who trekked half a mile on a dirt road in the mountains of Panama to support and showcase the women from the tiny village of Chica, who defied their lazy husbands and set up their own tree nursery business and food cooperative."

now he's got the Clintons locked out of politics, and under control... way to go O!!

Hey, If President-elect Obama, who won in a LANDSLIDE, picked Hillary, by golly, she must be the BEST person for the job!

"In a debate on Feb 26, then-candidate Clinton said of Obama, "Last summer he basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, which I don't think was a particularly wise position to take."

...

obama is the guy who claimed to be so different, so revolutionary and so unique from the rest of the Washington establishment. obama based his entire campaign on the mantra that mcCain is another four years of president bush. This is a guy who claimed that the last eight years have been a disaster in every way, of which gates was part of the last two. This is the guy who claimed he was going to bring "a fundamental change to Washington."

So, what does he do? He picks bush's Secretary of Defense as his own. A Secretary of Defense who supported American troops being in Iraq, warned against early withdrawal and advocated the surge in Iraq. In other words, he supported the same policies obama railed against for years. This is the change Americans have been waiting for?

What if mcCain had won and decided to keep gates on as his Secretary of Defense? The Leftists would shriek that mcCain is continuing the same disastrous foreign policies of Mbush's administration. obama picks gates and he is hero of bipartisanship. Nope, no hypocrisy there.

This should prove to the liberals (the ones who are allowed to vote in our elections, that is) once and for all that obama pulled off the biggest election con job in U.S. political history.

RR

Which Bush Republican appointee said this with regard to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan Sarge: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

I don't think the cabinet sets the agenda. The president sets the agenda and the cabinet carries it out.

This president, unlike the last, isn't profiteering on his position in office.

This president isn't from the bottom of the graduating class.

This president will set the agenda and this cabinet will follow.

This president, unlike the last, will lead this country responsibly. < :-)

now he's got the Clintons locked out of politics, and under control... way to go O!!

Actually, that's a pretty good point. And Obama did it without spending over $6 million and without a single dumpster dive!

Impressive.

Taka

Obama has been clear that he wants alternative opinions when making decisions. He's got a good team forming and I agree that debate will get you to the right answer. GWB had too many 'yes men' following him around. Time we had intelligent discussions. If you've ever listened to the Kennedy tapes around the missile crisis, you know that discussion and debate made for good choices to avoid nuclear war. Let us hope that Obama's team will have the same intellectual dynamic when making choices.

heh, obama repeatedly trashed hillary's foreign-policy cred throughout the primaries. Now, he thinks she's qualified to be Sec. of State.

Go figure.

RR

If he and his team can restore America as leader of the free world,keep China ,Russia under control and rescue American economy as well..this will be excellent!

Gates is part of the Papa Bush, Scowcroft, Powell crew, not the neo-cons. The only reason he was Bush's defense secretary is that they needed somebody competent to clean up the mess caused by Rumsfeld. When Obama talks about change, one thing he means is that he will appoint competent, intelligent, and qualified people from the start instead of ideological hacks like Dubya did. That means Gates was a totally predictable choice. Anybody, right or left, who doesn't know that just ain't been paying attention.

He's got a good team forming" Yeah, he's got one member who prefers to use shock troops to settle a family dispute He's got someone from the Bush Admin as RR states wouldn't have gone over well had the election gone differently. He's got lady who shamed him to death. Talked about him like he was a dog.

Just another average day in D.C.

GJDailleult

When Obama talks about change, one thing he means is that he will appoint competent, intelligent, and qualified people.

You mean like appointing Hillary as secretary of state? Intelligent, sure. Competent, probably. Qualified, hardly. It's pretty much understood that this selection was purely political, nothing else. Though I'll grant you selecting a secretary of state with such a modicum of foreign policy experience could be considered change.

Obama is putting forward a dream team with a diverse, non lapdoggy quality. He seems much more intelligent and in tune with the world than the present icompetent, who chose Rumsfeld, Chenney and Rice to promote a disastrous policy abroad.

I like all of Obama's picks so far. They show that he's a pragmatist. Politicians make big speeches to get elected--and guess what? They go against them. That didn't start with Obama. The era of the liberal-conservative dichotomy is over. Those labels don't apply anymore. Nobody can afford to be so idealistic in today's world of terror and financial crisis. Hillary is the right person for the job, bar none. For the country it is a win-win solution. Should Gates be dumped just because he did a good job under Bush? No. Even Newsweek admitted that Bush did some good things toward the end of his term--so don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Old saying: Keep your friends close, and your Clintons closer.

Another old saying: Two for one.

There's always the old, "Keep shooting, we've still got bullets."

But this new administration is smarter than the last.

Barack Obama is packing his cabinet with thinkers and movers. People who are used to making people do what they want done. < :-)

Obama is so intellectually confident that he is quite comfortable in the midst of people who will essentially have opinions that differ from his.

Yo Aday,

Barack Obama is packing his cabinet with thinkers and movers. People who are used to making people do what they want done." You mean bossy? Now, that I can see Hillary and that Marine guy.

Hey, I want to invite you to my family's house for New Years, please come to Miami with a tee-shirt of Eric Holder.

Thanks skipthesong. < :-)

Obama is looking more and more comfortable everyday. The well thought out unscripted responses to questions that are not so predictable. The best of this man is yet to come, i suspect that we will be talking about him 50 years from now, not only as the first first African American president, but one who brought real intellect back to house and made it cool to be commander and chief. A man who single handedly rescued America's pathetic international image from nearly a decade of ridicule and distrust.

I was in a bar last night in Sydney and this one white America guy was the centre of attention. Everyone was buying him drinks because they thought he had something to do with electing Obama. Obama has even made it cool to be white American.

Get ready repubs, its obamarama time. The sorry losers of the right are going to be out of power for a long, long time. And to think just a few years ago rove was predicting a repub dynasty. Well Bush, you all remember him, killed all of that with his useless wars and failed government.

Its obamarama time. Finally the USA is rocking again.

Moderator: Please refrain from using meaningless words like "obamarama." They lower the level of discussion.

Bill's gonna be miserable rather suprised he went along with it. Hillary's new job does involve lots of travel, and she won't be home much.

I sure hope Bill will be able to find something to keep his hands full while she is away.

Now that Hillary is going to concentrate on foreign affairs, Bill can concentrate on domestic affairs.

And the beat goes on!..Team Obama has left the Republicans simply shaking their heads. It's not even suprising that Alan colmes has also decided to ditch his long time far-right wing counterpart Sean Hannity.

"Team Obama has left the Republicans simply shaking their heads"

Team Obama has left quite a few people, Republicans and non-Republicans, simply shaking their heads.

Everton2

Obama has even made it cool to be white American.

Very encouraging to hear. Let's hope Obama can finally put an end to this kind of racism against whites.

Obama has even made it cool to be white American." OMG, I am laughing so hard right now..

first first African American president" and who will be the second?

How come you ain't making any waves about the small about of Hispanics in his admin? At least Bush has family below the border.. this is wrong man.

It's a good team, comprised of people from different backgrounds, different experiences and different views. The appointments were not made to achieve tokism or faux diversity, where people look different but in fact share identical views. Obama has demonstrated the level of engagement in policy issues necessary to manage such a team.

Sarge at 05:12 PM JST - 2nd December - Team Obama has left quite a few people, Republicans and non-Republicans, simply shaking their heads.

I agree Sarge, they are shaking their heads up and down in an affirmative motion. < :-)

I find the debate about whether the president should put people around him who agree with him or who have different opinions from his own to be interesting. Though it isn't a good idea to be surrounded by yes-men it is equally troubling to have a core group of advisors that don't share your basic core beliefs either. I feel that what Obama is doing is putting a moderate face on his administration because he intends to be a Leftist president. Nothing from his past - what little is known of it anyway - would indicate anything different. The fact of the matter is, Obama himself has indicated that he is the final arbitor in the decision-making process (hmmm... sounds like he intends to be the 'decider').

He will do his best to nationalize health care even more than it already is. And as his chief-of-staff said, he will use the economic crisis to push his agenda which is to re-distribute wealth (his words - and we know how important words are don't we!). He will increase taxes and spending as soon as he can - the economy be damned. He will fall in line with this crazy global warming stupidity and damage the economy as a result.

Gates was a little surprising but I guess it shows Obama is more pragmatic than I feared and doesn't want to change horses in mid-stream. The appointment of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State is terrific news. She's tough and smart and exactly the kind of person I would want pushing America's interests abroad.

We were supposed to be happy with George Bush being the decider.

Well, we have to get used to Barack Obama being the decider now.

George Bush has already redistributed the country's wealth by giving the top 1% of the nation $4Trillion in his first term. Obama could never outdo that.

I'm happy with the election results. I don't like everything he's said since he was elected, but compared to what we had... I'm happy. < :-)

Hannity, the fanatical right wing fox news propagandist have declared that this is now an Obama recession. This guy is obviously smoking crack. Talk about a sour looser. He went on to describe the security team selection as a bad day for America because of Hillery. It makes you wonder if this guy ever really travel anywhere outside America. Does he have any idea how the world feels?

an Obama recession.

Well when you look at it that Barack Obama will have to fix the economy after george bush trashed the hell out of it, it is an Obama recession.

That's like those are Barack Obama wars that he has to finish. george bush started them, deserted one and they have to be ended by Barack Obama.

Gosh Everton2, I understand. < :-)

WOW hannity is as broken up about it as sargie boy. By the way if I remember right didnt sarge say that Mcsame and failin were going to run things.

Whoa, when was the last time this happened? When the winner has his/her ex-foes join him/her? This is certainly not the same-old same-old Wash DC way. At least it's better than having a posse of yes-men. It's a huge gamble, but if it works out, it could change the Wash DC thinking.

Anyone reading the New York Times this past Thursday will have read just what a bunch of outright lies the Obama campaign was based on. This was the Democratic candidate who initially at least promised to end the war in Iraq. Well, now we know in case we missed picking it up from his purposely misleading campaign speeches that in fact he has no such intention.

Now Obama is talking about 'reality'. So I guess he was not talking about that previous to his election. Obama now talks about the need to maintain up to 70,000 US troops in Iraq so to continue the occupation past the supposed dead line for withdrawal of December 31, 2011.

And what is to be made of Obama's announcement of his choice of Hillary Clinton as the new secretary of state, and George Bush appointed Robert Gates continuation as defense secretary? Well, remember that it was Clinton who Obama excoriated during the Democratic primary campaign for her support of the Iraq war. It that it was Gates not so long ago stated that there would be no pullout of US troops from Iraq for years into the future.

This then is the reality of the Obama administration policy, and my recent occasional posts on JT during the period leading up to the presidential elections stated as much.

The only really odd thing here is the complete failure of anti-war groups to pick up on the sad reality of the Obama administration unmasked. The New York Times report said this, "To date, there has been no significant criticism from the antiwar left of the Democratic Party of the prospect that Mr. Obama will keep tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for at least several years to come."

I guess though this isn't so odd. On one hand people will believe anything but the truth if grasping reality means letting go of the illusion they live under. On the other, there are a great many people out there, in the media, and leading these pretend opposition political parties and pretend lobby groups who will do anything to maintain the pretense for as long as possible. Reality says though, that Obama and the Democratic party represent the very same interests that ruined the American (and the world!) economy and dragged America and the world into Iraq with all the imperialist aims that has always entailed.

That's reality for you.