You Heard it Here First

You heard it here first. Barack Obama is truly the same old stuff that all Washington insiders are made of. He conned the electorate into believing that he was the candidate of change. However, as I said here, he forfeited that mantle a long time ago. The man is not yet in office and he’s already showing his true stripes as a Washington insider. Consider his early moves …

For Secretary of State, his first choice appears to be Hillary Clinton, never was there a bigger Washington insider than the former First Lady and 2 term Senator from New York.

As Health Secretary, he came up with former Speaker of the House, Tom Daschle who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1978 and the Senate in 1986 where he served until 2004 before being ousted by a Republican challenger. Always the Washington insider, Daschle joined Alston & Bird who represent CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth. Daschle also holds a paid position as an advisor to the Mayo Clinic. In spite of all these entanglements, Obama, who pledged to avoid the K Street entanglements of various lobbying groups, still picked a man to hold a an appointed office of some serious significance.

Obama’s pick for Attorney General was yet another long time Washington insider. Eric Holder went to work for the Department of Justice, immediately after graduating from law school where, in 1997 President Bill Clinton nominated Holder as the deputy Attorney General. In 2000, after the election of George Bush, Holder joined Covington & Burling where he represented big spending and highly influential clients like Merck.

Janet Napolitano is Obama’s pick to head the Department of Homeland Security, Napolitano is another former Clinton appointee. In 1993, Bill Clinton appointed Napolitano as the United States attorney for the District of Arizona. She is the current governor of Arizona.

Obama’s closest advisor, his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is also similarly entangled in Washington’s seductive web. Emanuel was the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006. He is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn.