Wow, well, it's looking good for the forces of evil, or at least, the forces of lameness. I guess we indy-types shouldn't be too surprised that Obama can't deliver the "change" promise he ran on. He may still be promising new ideas, but let's look at some of the
old people Obama's appointed to his cabinet so far:
Treasury Secretary: Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
ThePete Says: Wow, one of the handful of people that controls America's money supply as TreasSec? Meh, I'd rather get some generally independent economist from
outside the system that is currently crumbling under its own weight. Also, he was TreasSec under Clinton, so you might suggest that Geithner had something to do with setting the dinner table we're all financially going hungry at right now.
I remember reading something about how Geithner was supposed to be corporate-experience-free--but guess what? Running a FedRes bank is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing as running a corporation. Apparently,
Geithner was also instrumental in orchestrating the bailout of Bear Sterns. He also worked for Kissinger Associates--as in
Henry Kissinger (many look at this man as a war criminal).
Secretary of State: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
ThePete Says: Giving her "lost to Obama" status, this seems like a fair appointment (though I'd still prefer her as VP). However, it doesn't get much more Clintony than an
actual Clinton. I know most of Americans are used to blaming Bush for all of our troubles, but remember, these economic problems are actually more complicated and older than the media is explaining right now. As I mentioned above, the table we're all starving at right now was set by the Clinton Administration.
That said, I actually believe Hillary will make an OK SoS. (!) Of course, that's in comparison to previous ones, which isn't setting the bar too high, I think.
Attorney General: Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general.
ThePete Says: Yikes, this is the dude who
defended Chiquita Banana against lawsuits accusing the fruit company of supporting terrorism (which they did, in order to keep farming bananas in Columbia). He was also Deputy AG under Bill Clinton and feels drug penalties should be more harsh.
Defense Secretary: Robert Gates, a holdover from Bush administration.
ThePete Says: I love how the AP calls Gates a "holdover" from the Bush Admin. They're almost all holdovers from previous administrations. Yet the AP seems to think this is not significant. What's even funnier is that Gates is not only a holdover from George W.'s admin, but he was also the head of the CIA under George H.W. Bush. That makes him pretty much entrenched in evil. ;)
To be more specific,
the Wikipedia page for Robert Gates reminds us of his role in the the Iran-Contra Affair. Remember that old chestnut?
Homeland Security Secretary: Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.
ThePete Says: Don't think that just because she's a Democrat she's not a racist xenophobe like most southern-border-based Republicans. Seems
Napolitano is quite the hawk when it comes to cracking down on illegal immigration having called for not only National Guard support along the border but also asking for more ICE resources to be sent to Arizona, as well. She was also a US state attorney under Bill Clinton--yep, she's another Clintonite.
National Security Adviser: Retired Marine Gen. James Jones.
ThePete Says: I don't know much about this guy. Turns out he's a former NATO commander and also served on the boards of Chevron and Boeing. Yeah, two big-ass companies, one oil and the other military/industrial (you know, like the complex). According to
James L. Jones' Wikipedia page, he:
....became president of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chair of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council of the United States. He also served as chairman of the Independent Commission on Security Forces of Iraq.
Hmmm, seems like that energy institute thing hasn't worked out so well and that whole thing where he was to, according to that same Wikipedia page:
...investigate for 120 days the capabilities of the Iraq armed forces and police.
That hasn't worked out either. Granted, he did find "serious deficiencies in the Iraq Interior Ministry and in the Iraq National Police" but his alleged strong negotiating skills didn't exactly get his findings accepted as fact. Of course, the Bush Administration isn't known for their acceptance of facts, are they?
Commerce Secretary: Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.
ThePete Says: Meh, yet another Clintonite. Richardson was Energy Secretary under the Billster. He is also the object of scorn for some Chinese Americans who felt that he was unusually racisty during the Wen Ho Lee mess. Lee was the fellow who was wrongly accused by the Clinton admin for spying for the Chinese. Apparently,
Richardson tried to encourage the idea that any Chinese people in the US could be spies.
Here's a big however--I do like Richardson. I've seen him in a bunch of interviews and he seems like a fairly reasonable guy. Another however is that just because he's reasonable doesn't mean he's a good leader.
National Economic Council Director: Lawrence Summers, former treasury secretary.
ThePete Says: Haha, another Clintonite and another guy who's partially responsible for our current money mess. Back in 1991 Summers was chief economist for the World Bank and wrote a memo suggesting that
pollution from first world countries could be exported to third world countries which he consider to be "underpolluted".
You may also remember Summers as the dude who had to resign as president of Harvard University after he said publicly that women had less innate scientific ability than men.
Office of Management and Budget Director: Peter Orszag, director of Congressional Budget Office.
ThePete Says: I hardly know anything about this guy, either. But if he's in charge of money now, that worries me. However, Democracy Now reported that
Orszag felt the bank bailout would make things worse, not better and testified to that. So, he gets points from me on that.
Veterans Affairs Secretary: Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki
ThePete Says: Ahhh, OK, cool--this dude is OK, as far as military-types go. He was the guy who was ignored by the Bush Administration when he told them the Iraq Attack would require waaaay more troops that the Bushites wanted to send in. Turns out Shinseki was right (as you may have noticed).
TheCONCLUSION: I don't see a lot of change with this cabinet, so far. Sure, it's tentative and the names could change as they are rejected by vetting or by Congress. Still, there have to be perfectly competent people out there who have not held positions in the Clinton Admin or in the financial or corporate worlds who can be appointed. I'm sick of all of these damned insiders. Nothing is ever going to change if the same people keep getting cycled through Washington.
Am I being a bit harsh? Maybe, but it's the media's job to play devil's advocate for everything the government does. Figure, the government puts forth the "pro" argument for everything they do. Who will represent the "con" argument? Some lame Republican think-tanks? That's just letting the system criticize itself--the press needs to represent the non-government opinion and be critical of all. That's how they've let us down and that's why I cite only the negative aspects of Obama's appointees. I figure, if you want to read how good these people are, go to Obama's blog, Change.gov. Come to me for some contrarian stuff :)
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