Legal Commentary

Obama's Announcements

By Jeralyn

President Elect Obama is making his announcements. Hilllary, Eric Holder, Robert Gates, Janet Napolitano, Susan Rice, General James Jones.

Update: Hillary gave a great, short speech. Holder makes me nervous. Napolitano stresses securing the border. Susan Rice also wants to strengthen our security. Biden, who spoke after the nominees, was confident.

I think we did get a welcome change from the Bush Administration -- and in thinking about who these appointees would be had McCain been elected, I'll say we did okay with this team.

Questions: To Obama, "Would India be justified in going after terrorists on Pakistani soil?" No direct answer. Next question is about whether the appointees will be a clash of rivals. [More...] Obama gave a good answer as to why this won't be the case. He also gave a good put-down to the reporter who brought up his campaign comments about Hillary's foreign travels being to have tea. Both he and Hillary laughed and with good humor he called the reporter out for the childish question as having been asked for self-amusement.

I wonder how different the remarks and questions would be had Mumbai not occurred. It's too bad Obama has to begin his administration on the heels of an international terrorist attack.

To another reporter, Obama said the choice of Hillary was not " a light bulb moment" and that because of their shared values, he has been interested in finding ways to collaborate since the primaries ended. After the election, he thought about how to make that happen and he believed Secretary of State was the best way.

Thoughts? I'm nervous about DOJ and immigration reform with Holder and Napolitano, but the rest of the team seems pretty solid. And I'm very excited about Hillary as SOS. I'm looking forward to be able to listen to a national leader explain what's going on with trust instead of skepticism, and Hillary does that for me.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).