He Said He'd Do It All Along

I know that I've had some periodic queasiness over the non-liberalness of Obama's appointees thus far, and others in the blogosphere have as well. It's important to keep in mind, though, that the divergence in policy and world views between Obama and his more hawkish Cabinet is not a broken promise of some kind, and should not come as a surprise:

Some liberals might have cringed yesterday seeing Obama unveil a national security team consisting of Hillary Clinton (who voted in favor of the Iraq war), Bob Gates (Bush's current Defense secretary), and Jim Jones (who is close to McCain). The truth is, however, that the president-elect is simply following through on a promise about changing the tone and creating a bipartisan atmosphere in Washington. Yes, Obama opposed the war in Iraq and probably owed his victory in the Iowa caucuses to that fact. But outside Iraq, he never pandered to the left as much as they thought he did; the left simply heard what they wanted in Obama. Some examples that come to mind: his reversal on FISA, his support for merit pay for teachers, and his championing of faith-based services.

If you look at Obama's appointees, coupled with the Lieberman situation, it does seem like he is thus far following through on his promise to be bipartisan president for all, and someone who just leaves the old Washington bullshit at the door ("No Drama Obama"). That's music to my ears after eight years of Bush, Cheney and Rove, who played politics with everything - including our soldiers' lives.