YHTBFKM: Follow-Up

My now notorious "You Have To Be Fucking Kidding Me" post raised a few eyebrows, hackles and gorges. If it made you stop and think, so much the better. We need more of that.

Look. We got our wish. The MSM now does pay attention to blogs. When they strike a current of discontent, they seize on it. Worst of all, our petty grumbling serves to further energize and validate the opposition.

We have to trust that Obama knows what he's doing until he proves otherwise. Or at least wait until he's sworn in to start petitioning for impeachment hearings.

Segue to today's AFP story, Obama's cabinet -- change or Clinton era retreads? The RNC & The NY Post reliably sputter their patented anti-Dem/anti-Bill Clinton vitriol. Ignore them as per usual. This story offers both an important reality check and a history lesson:

But are these anything more than predictable political attacks, and is it fair to brand Obama's picks as retreads?

No, say many analysts, who argue that there is a limited pool of Democratic operatives with government experience qualified for top cabinet jobs.
Obama's personal brand is so strong, after two years campaigning on change that his cabinet picks may be less important than his own actions and rhetoric.

That's the money graph. Picks not nearly as big as Obama's deeds -- Pool of qualified candidates small. Brriiiiiing! Class dismissed.

For extra credit, please keep reading:

Such are the myriad crises facing the nascent Obama team, the president-elect may have concluded that while some officials may hark back to a previous era, he cannot afford to snub the best Democratic brains.
And had he sent a group of neophytes to Washington, he would surely have been pilloried for picking people short on experience.

Former president Bill Clinton, who came to power in 1993, decided not to stack his administration with veterans of the Jimmy Carter administration, which was seen as a failure.

But he soon hit trouble and had to call in Washington hands like veteran White House operative David Gergen.

"With the economy in such critical shape, to not choose people with experience would be foolhardy," said Martha Kumar, a political scientist with Towson University.

Be mindful we are watching a work not in progress but in gestation. The canvas is on the easel. The palette stands at ready. A brush flashes blocking in the foundation over the underpainting. When we can't possibly know what this sucker will look like, it's pointless to harp on these earliest of hues.

So let's be cool, babies. Breathe.

-AF