Monday, December 1, 2008
Bitter State Department Irony (12:28 pm)
Samantha Powers, the Obama campaign advisor who called Hillary Clinton “a monster” in March (and resigned from the campaign team a few hours after her comment was published), is helping the incoming administration prepare for Clinton’s role as secretary of state. Powers, author of A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, is a member of the “Agency Review Team” for the State Department, according to this AP story.
Power told the Scotsman newspaper that Clinton would stop at nothing to defeat Obama. “She is a monster, too,” Power said in the interview. “She is stooping to anything.” Power added that “the amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive.”
I’m sure she and Clinton are looking forward to a collegial relationship. Maybe it’s all blood under the bridge, as Obama suggested during this morning’s press conference while responding to a question about his campaign-season comments about Clinton’s lack of foreign policy expertise:
This is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were formed over the course of the campaign.
posted by Jeremy Gantz
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while i find Obama’s justification suspect in a highly speculative and un-official manner(at this point) I do believe he has and will exhibit a completely honest and forthcoming response.
Such a move--such a selection--provides necessary credence to progressives. Why???
Well given his selections so far it’d be far from logical to assume his interests are superceded by any one camp in particular.
True, President-elect Obama has appointed a great many former Clinton associates, etc. However--like the Bob Gates selection--Obama has proven nearly every single campaign promise that he ever dared to make(oh the audacity of it all!!).
Currently I come across numerous bloggers, editors and think tank framers that rail against Obama’s picks. The common expression seems to be Obama is far from “progressive” and therefore unconnected to our noble ideology.
I offer two things here:
look and understand his position all along.
secondly, realize two more subsets: Obama is not yet President and his selections will not assume solidarity and/or unilateralism.
I refrain from repeating a competing ideology that assumes Obama is not nearly progressive enough. I subsidize faith in order to quell my brothers and sisters fears.
I hope as you do that Obama will flip the contemporary political script. I’m certain he will. I’m also comforted by my progressive friends who have decided to do everything they can to return our country to us. I believe this will happen.
And while I give Obama the benefit of the doubt I’ve found myself consciously and subconsciously proactive for one solid reason:
while it’s unlikely I’ll hear back from Obama, it’s an absolutely beautiful notion that he--unlike so many other presidents(Democrats included) might actually read my emails!!
Peace.
posted by southern progress on 12-4-08 at 2:47 PM