As President-elect Barack Obama’s national security team begins to take shape, there is increasing disquiet among antiwar activists that his appointees and rumored appointees have thus-far, without exception, favored the Iraq invasion and held hawkish foreign policy positions.
The persistent reports that Obama is in talks with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about keeping his position in the new administration had already prompted loud complaints that keeping him on was not in keeping with his campaign’s mantra of change. His apparent preference to make Sen. Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State, despite all the times he publicly trashed her position on the Iraq War during the primaries, has only added to those concerns.
But nowhere in Obama’s “Team of Rivals” cabinet is any suggestion of an appointee less-hawkish than himself, meaning his increasingly tenuous claim to being an antiwar politician will serve as the base-line for his administration’s foreign policy, with his cabinet pulling it in ever more bellicose directions.
punditman says...
Punditman is adding to Peacenik's bad economic news with this bad political news, which can only be construed as a disappointment to those who hoped for some sort of progressive foreign policy out of Obama (Punditman is not one of those naive types). Oh well. Perhaps the economic mess will constrain any further military adventurism?
On the bright side, Punditman scored a nice goal on a slapshot through the five-hole today and is therefore happy with his new hockey shaft purchase, which he got on sale. He recommends that everyone stock up on sporting goods of all kinds -- before world shipping grinds to a halt and store shelves become bare. In the days to come, recreational equipment may well be scarce -- and God knows we'll need it.
