Legal Commentary

Critiquing The Obama Administration

By Big Tent Democrat

As someone who was criticized for railing against the idea of John Brennan as a potential head of the CIA (I also find the idea of Michael Hayden as DNI intolerable), I do find it ironic that by and large, I am quite comfortable, pleased even, with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration. At the same time, I am someone who has always urged people to speak their mind - to wit, if you are not pleased with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration, it seems to me you should say so. In a NYTimes article on the subject, Markos Moulitsas is quoted as saying:

“Some people may be nit-picky about his choices but at the end of the day, he’s going to make better choices than John McCain would have made,” Mr. Moulitsas said by telephone. “There will be a time to push him, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to wait to see what it means on a policy basis, not on personalities.”

I disagree with that. The time to push is all the time. There is not a time not to push. I suspect that in reality Markos is probably pretty comfortable with Obama's choices so far himself, so he does not urge "pushing now." In the same article, Chris Bowers is quoted saying "“Why isn’t there a single member of Obama’s cabinet who will be advising him from the left?” Chris seems upset about the quote:

That so many news organizations would quote me and identify me as representative of a certain viewpoint without even bothering to contact me doesn't make it difficult to see that I am being stereotyped and used. If you are a "reporter," and you are quoting me--in a forum where I can't possibly respond--but not actually bothering to contact me, then you don't actually care about my thoughts on Obama's personnel decisions so far. Even though those view happen to be quite detailed and mixed, they don't care. Instead, two quotes I wrote, out of about 60,000 words I have published since the election, have been constantly recycled used to fit their established narrative. What I actually think, be damned.

So does Chris regret the quote? Does he not mean it? Can he explain in less than 60,000 words what he means by that quote? For once, my sympathies lie with the reporter - Bowers' complaint does not make a great deal of sense to me. Did he not express frustration that more liberals have not been chosen for the Obama Administration? Is it necessary to read his dissertations on the subject to be able to report that, in fact, Chris Bowers wishes Obama's cabinet had more folks from the Left in it? And if he means it, why would he be upset that the NYTimes is reporting it? I do not understand Bowers' complaint here at all. As an aside, I thought Chris was quite good on Hardball discussing this issue. Sure, it was more nuanced and in depth than the standalone quote from the Times, but the message, it seems to me, was the same -- Bowers wants more folks from the Left in the Obama Administration. He argued the view quite effectively I thought.

Anyway, a note to the Times - you can pull a quote from my posts anytime you want - no need to call me.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 09, 2008 (boomark / email).