Change You Can Believe In?

I’ve been monitoring the news over the course of the last several days, and I can’t help but notice that President-elect Obama is appointing more and more Clinton staffers to his transition staff and in some advisory roles.  Now, over the weekend, I see that Hillary Clinton may be Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of State.

First, let me discuss this idea of appointing former Clinton staffers to Obama’s staff.  Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington.  How does hiring former Clinton staffers indicate change?  To me these appointments seem like we’re going back to the past.  Is this an attempt to recapture magic in the bottle?  To me these appointments do not indicate change, it indicates more of the same.

I completely understand, given the state of the economy today, why some would choose to recapture the “magic” of the Clinton administration; however, that will be difficult given the climate of today’s America.  Plus, going back to the past will not help us solve today’s problems.  Who says yesterday’s solutions apply to today’s complex problems?  We’re in a completely different world than we were during the Clinton administration, so we need to be weary of adopting, verbatim, policies from yester-year.

Secondly, about the speculation of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.  How does the saying go, and this axiom definitely applies to politics, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.  However, that is not my reasoning for discussing this potential choice.  My rationale is, how is she qualified to be America’s top diplomat?  What foreign policy experience does she have?  Sure, for eight years in the 90s she’s traveled with her husband to foreign countries, but foreign policy experience that is not.  Heck, I’ve traveled the world a lot growing up but that does not make me qualified to be secretary of state.

Also, Bill Clinton, as has been the case since she ran for president, will cause her additional difficulties during the vetting process.  It is no secret how much money President Clinton has raked in for his presidential library and through his other endeavors.  He has accepted contributions from the Chinese, a lot of middle eastern royal families, in particular the Saudis and the other emirates in the Arabian Peninsula.  Is this the type of controversy that Barack Obama wants to bring with him to Washington?  He would be much better off choosing NM Governor Bill Richardson.  At least he has experience with foreign leaders due to his work as our ambassador to the United Nations.  That in itself makes him more qualified to be secretary of state than Hillary Clinton.

I hope that Barack Obama will bring in an ideologically varied administration, like Lincoln did in 1861; however, I see more of the same from Barack Obama in the early going, and I’m not sure that’s the change he campaigned on.