Obama front and center
There’s been a lot of hullabaloo going around for the past week or so about Obama’s staffing picks. There’s a lot of press on how he’s building a “team of rivals” (Lincoln reference # 29,384,132) and how many of his would-be appointees are clear centrists. CNN’s political ticker notes that Obama will be unveiling his national security team tomorrow and that, surprise, surprise, Hillary Clinton is expected to be his nominee for US Secretary of State.
It’s an all too well-known formula to run in the primaries pandering to your party’s base and then move to the center after you’ve secured the nomination. So it’s not surprising to me at all to see Obama move drastically to the center after he won the election. He’s smart in that he’s acting just like the Clintons.
The big difference here is that Hillary Clinton’s campaign proffered this platform from the outset. The reason why I was/am such a big Hillary supporter is because I know exactly what I’m going to get. She’s a centrist and a pragmatist, just like her husband. That’s not to liken her let’s-get-shit-done attitude to his, but rather that’s just how they work. They’re results driven. Emotions have no place on the national stage. (Most of the time.) The world has problems. Let’s solve them. What a novel approach. Democrats aren’t “liberals” they’re progressive. Let’s drop the term the right-wingnuts love so much here and now.
So the NY times runs this piece on Obama “tilting” to the center. Interesting to note that, according to the author:
But the names racing through the ether in Washington about the choies to follow also suggest that Mr. Obama continues to place a premium on deep experience.
Hmmm. I seem to remember someone’s campaign who emphasized just that quality.
I’m tickled to death to see many-a Obama supporter upset about his centrist choices. My response to them would be:
What did you expect? Change??
The fact of the matter is that he’s moved to the center for a reason. Because that’s where the world belongs. Hoity-toity idealogues, right or left, are typically problematic and only serve to polarize any given electorate and the world at large.
What hopefully this portends is a decent administration with enough knowledge of hubris to not commit the atrocities of the Bush administration. A keen eye on the here and now with a practical approach to solving problems is what we need. This and enough foresight to realize the future and America will lead the world stage once again. There’s enough calamity to go around to all the problem solvers after the current knuckle-head finally gets the fuck out.