Friday, November 21, 2008

So Far

UPDATE: below

What do Obama's announced cabinet appointments say about his administration? In some respects, the surprise is the absence of the oft-promised change. Leaving aside the much mooted, but still-certain possibility of Hillary as Secretary of State, some thoughts: So far, Obama's team looks like a Clinton Administration cocktail party. To some extent, that's a tack to the right--which is welcome, given that Congress has swerved far-left. But it's also a reflection of Obama's inexperience and a bit cynical.

MORE:

The Washington Post's take:
Some critics are unhappy about the number of Clinton administration veterans -- the derogatory word is retreads -- in the new administration. As we've said before, we have no sympathy for this complaint. The best thing the new administration has going for it in comparison to the last Democratic president is the amount of executive branch experience it has to call on. Mr. Obama's willingness to do that and to bring on board those who supported his chief rival -- indeed, to enlist his chief rival herself -- underscores his own confidence.
The WaPo also suggests something I thought impossible--that Napolitano is more pro-illegal immigration than the Bush Administration:
Immigrant advocates, business groups and civil libertarians said that the choice of a two-term governor from a Republican-friendly border state could lead to a reversal of policies that they contend unduly punish illegal immigrants, commerce and Americans' privacy. Agency observers on the right and the left say that her selection appears to reflect a calculation that she could do so without appearing weak on terrorism.
Finally, the Wall Street Journal unearths a January 2002 interview with AG nominee Eric Holder where he opines as to the status of captured terrorists:
It seems to me that given the way in which they have conducted themselves, however, that they are not, in fact, people entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention. They are not prisoners of war. If, for instance, Mohamed Atta had survived the attack on the World Trade Center, would we now be calling him a prisoner of war? I think not. Should Zacarias Moussaoui be called a prisoner of war? Again, I think not.

2 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

There is an interesting discussion about Holder over at Volokh.

@nooil4pacifists said...

Good articles, thanks. Holder won't speed legalizing semi-autos in DC, that's for sure.