Where's my rookie?

Eric Holder.  That name started floating through the news today.  Apparently he has been offered the position of Attorney General by Barack Obama.  Holder was Deputy A.G. under the Clinton Administration, now getting a delayed promotion.  

Hillary Clinton.  She's the front-runner for Secretary of State, among many other things.  

Bill Richardson.  Appealing?  Yes.  But, another holdover from the Clinton administration.  

Rahm Emanuel.  I was pleased with this choice for Chief of Staff, but yet another Clintonite.  

Robert Gates may also stay on as Defense Secretary.  I may support that decision, but I also have misgivings.

 

Notice a trend with those names?  You should, because they're all VERY familiar.  After the election, Obama promised to not only bring pragmatism and bipartisanship but also youth.  He said he would bring in new faces to help usher in a new generation of ideas, however everyone we've heard about thus far has been quite familiar.  I like Obama's approach of playing it safe...most of the time.  Now, however, he's overcompensating by relying too much on the past.  We voted for Change, and now it's time to physically see it.

Still need to hope...

Last week was truly historic; there's no need to go on and on about its importance.  But, just because Obama won doesn't mean that the fight is over.  In fact, when taking all our foreign and domestic troubles into account, it has really just begun.  

There are many on the Left who would like to see Obama make very liberal appointments across the board in an effort to push back against these last eight years.  In an alternate reality, I can definitely jump on that bandwagon.  Hell, I'd be leading the charge.  But alas, we must be realistic about things.  Though I myself and very liberal (I consider the Democratic Party as a whole to be a bit too conservative, part of the reason I'm a registered Independent), I hope that President Obama governs from the center, and fills his cabinet with divergent viewpoints.

I believe that Centrist governance will help give way to a (slightly) progressive national agenda.  Assuming common ground can be found (and early polling indicates this is highly likely, assuming Obama stays in the middle of the field), it will be easier to pull the country over to the Left when it really counts.  People will not automatically refuse everything to come out of Obama's mouth if he comes to them on a regular basis.  Give and take.

There has been much discussion as to the location of this country on the political spectrum, and I believe that it's still a center-Right nation.  I mean, all you have to do is look at California's Proposition 8 and you'll get all the proof you need.  (A vote that makes me SICK every time I think about it, to say the very least.)  So, given that climate, a sudden joyride into the Left will crash and burn after two or three bills.  And, come 2010, there will be yet another Republican Revolution, followed by a stalled legislative process, and a country that is still going nowhere fast.