On election night, President elect Obama talked about unifying and reaching out to Republicans, so he could be everyone’s president. I knew we had heard it before - I have been around politics a while now. But, on that night, and since, I have been willing to give hope and change a chance. For me, it was hope that the Clinton legacy related to the White House was over. As President elect Obama makes those tough choices for cabinet positions and other appointments, two things become clear:

1) There is no indication in any of the prominent posts of anything resembling “crossing the aisle”.

2) President elect Obama is either taking over the Clinton oligarchy or becoming a victim of it.

In any case, change is not yet apparent in an Obama administration. The folks being considered as top of the list for cabinet posts are part of the very means by which the current state of divisive, highly polarized politicking has gone down since the Clintons came to town.

Rahm Emmanuel, Chicago ties. While a bulldog of the Democratic Party, was a pretty good choice for WH Chief of Staff. That job requires a tenacious, kick-ass temperament and utter loyalty to the President, while knowing how to get things done in the inner-circle.

Peter Orszag - this makes a lot of sense for an Obama administration. Orszag seems competent and he is being awarded a post well within his sphere of experience - gifted in this area even.

Penny Pritzker - Commerce Secretary. Chicago ties.  Well, she knows how to make money, but she was also involved in the sub-prime mortgage mess and a bank she chaired was seized by the FDIC in 2001 because the over-extended themselves in sub-prime lending.

Tom Daschel - Health and Human Services. Puting former Senator Daschel in charge of the $650 Billion/year (and likely to grow) HHS budget, well that seems logical. HHS is all about spending money and Daschel is god at that.

Eric Holder - This is Janet Reno 2.0

Janet Napolitano - Homeland Security Secretary. I didn’t see this coming at all. Napolitcano was appointed by Bill Clinton to a Federal attorney position in Arizona. She ran for State Attorney General and won. Then she ran for Governor and won. She owes a lot to the Clintons. I figured she got tapped for the transition team as a concession because of her support for Obama, when it was expected she would support Hillary. HSS? I don’t see it. She can’t even secure her own state’s border with Mexico. On the other hand, she has claimed that securing that southern border is a federal issue, so now she has the power to do something. Will she?

Tim Roemer - National Intelligence Director - it was his idea to create this department and he has a lot of skin in the game as far as the way this should be run. He is a social conservative and a political liberal. I honestly don’t know a lot about the guy, but I don’t have a beef with him because of that. This seems a good posting, but it certainly is not reaching across any aisles.

James B. Steinberg - Deputy NSA under Clinton.

Here is the complete list from the AP of possible personalities for these posts. The trend is clear - nothing is changing. These are all well entrenched members of the Democratic Party political machine that has been involved in the polarization and lack of accomplishment in Washington for more that a decade. Knowing many of these folks’ policy stances and records, I understand exactly the type of political battles that are going to be occurring in the next term.

President elect Obama, the honeymoon is already over.

 

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On Tap for Today:

• Stop talking about rebranding the party and conservatism. Start living the values and people will get it.
• President Elect Obama will be immediately reversing some of the Bush executive orders - find out which ones.
• Russia is going to pass a constitutional amendment to allow Putin to come back into  power for 12 years.
• Racial Politics - buh bye! Jesse Jackson’s gig is on the way out the door.

The 44th Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle, offered advice to the 44th President (President-elect Obama) recently- Learn to say no. President-elect Obama seems to be challenged with a need to say no to a lot of people right now, whether he wants to or not.

He is going to have to say no to many who thought his administration was going to immediately shift into major immigration reform. Some will say this is because his aunt is an illegal immigrant, but that isn’t the issue - although it could prove to be a short period embarrassment for a new president. But President Obama has a lot of other reform to achieve and most of it will not be easy -with or without Rahm Emanuel.

The Obama Administration is going to have to tackle the economy first and fast. There is health care to address and this issue alone is going to bring out all of the rancor and rhetoric that can be mustered in American politics. Social inSecurity is going to occupy this administration as more boomers, whose retirement plans have been devastated by the Fannie and Freddie debacle, begin to ease out of the workforce.

Which reminds me - if there was any doubt that how people “retire” is forever changed in America, that should be comepletely gone at this point. Except for some of the Union workers and government employees out there, there are no more “Gold Watch and Pension” retirements for the average American.

President Obama is going to find that the enormous political capital reserve he has will dry up very fast with the American people. It is time to look at policy and a lot of that landscape looks bad, bad. On January 21st, the Kumbaya portion of President Obama’s administration is over. I pray that “Hope and Change” does not better define how we get over and Obama administration - we’ve got a lot riding on this guy.

Is he graying yet?

Be proud!

God bless you and God bless America.