Well, that didn't take long. I already see in the Emmanuel - Chief of Staff diary that some people are complaining that Obama has reportedly chosen a DLC centrist-type to be his COS. Undoubtedly in the days and weeks to come he will choose others for his administration that some of us don't like for one reason or another. And to that I say: get over it.
If I'm not mistaken, we've just had eight years of a President that valued ideology above all else: all that got him was a 20-something% approval rating and the title of Worst President Ever, all it got us was one fucked up country. From everything I've seen about his past, that's not the way Obama rolls. He believes in building consensus, bringing people over to his point of view with rational arguments and sometimes even (gasp) compromise, and choosing people that can get the freaking job done, whether they agree with him (and us) on everything or not.
Which means that, sometimes, he is going to do things that most of us don't like because a) he is sacrificing a pawn to gain a knight or b) he just flat out thinks that it is the right thing to do, even if you or I don't. However, I'm willing to get over it because I think that he WILL accomplish the following:
- He will Bring Them Home. 'Nuff said.
- He will expand health care coverage options in some form.
- He will reform the tax code to get the most fortunate in this country paying closer to their fair share.
- He will put people in charge of the EPA and other regulatory agencies that actually care about doing their freaking jobs instead of bending over for big business at every opportunity.
- He will act like a grown up in the foreign policy arena, which is a lot more than we can say for the current occupant.
That's a pretty good start, I'd say. Will he accomplish everything that you want him to? No. Will he accomplish everything that he wants to? No. But he is going to accomplish a hell of a lot, and he WILL get this country back on it's feet again. I encourage you to keep that in mind, and focus on what we're getting rather than what we're not getting in the months ahead.