Installing A Cabinet Fixture Or Two

The Village has a lot of pressure on Obama to basically fill his cabinet with Republicans who will continue Bush's day to day policies, if not Bush's Cabinet itself. Digby explains what Obama should do about that.

After the closest election in American history had been decided by the Supreme Court in a partisan 5-4 decision and which left the US Senate in a 50/50 tie, one might have expected the new president to appoint a bipartisan cabinet. He had run as a "Uniter Not a Divider" after all, and the country was brutally divided after the impeachment of president Clinton and the dubious election results. Among the political establishment, he was seen as a master at reaching across the aisle. Richard Cohen, villager extrordinaire, said this:

Given the present bitterness, given the angry irresponsible charges being hurled by both camps, the nation will be in dire need of a conciliator, a likable guy who will make things better and not worse. That man is not Al Gore. That man is George W. Bush."

This is what George W. Bush did:

President George W Bush has produced a cabinet team which is the most ethnically-diverse in US history, but is politically right-wing.

He promised to to take an inclusive, bi-partisan approach to government, and his cabinet nominees include four women, two African-Americans, two Hispanics an Arab-American, a Japanese-American and a Chinese-American.

But although the team includes one Democrat, the key members are hardline Republicans, and several served in George Bush senior's administration.

I don't recall the Villagers rending their garments over this. In fact, they criticized Democrats for being too partisan when they objected to Bush appointing throwbacks like John Ashcroft Justice department:

To argue too loudly that Bush's Cabinet isn't truly bipartisan risks opening Democratic critics up to the charge of indulging in post election sour grapes. Democratic leaders appear to realize that and have tempered the carping, say GOP staffers.

How dare those horrible Democrats indulge in post election sour grapes. Why couldn't they just "get over it?"

I'll go one step further. All of this Village griping makes perfect sense when you realize the following:

• The Village has no respect for Obama yet. He's the new guy. Bushism has ruled DC for eight years, and change is bad. They're not sure how Obama will govern. But they sure as hell know how he should govern...and that's being as identical to Bush as possible. They expect Obama to kiss their asses the same way Bush's folks did, expecially after giving Obama all this valuable advice on how to run the country for the dirty masses.
• It's not Republicans that the Village wants...it's conservatives. The Washington Elites, your "liberal media", are in fact either Red Meat FOX conservatives or Blue Dog Democrats. They have no respect for Liberalism in any way shape or form. The country has to be in the hands of a Serious Centrist. If it's not, the Village will appoint one to run the country. Right now Obama doesn't qualify, but of course all these conservatives who have been kissing the Village ring are certainly qualified.
• The Village hates Populism with a passion. They despise populism and populist Presidents and view them as something akin to unsupervised children in the grocery store. Obama's internet-based people power approach scares the hell out of them, because only the Village is allowed to disseminate information to the unwashed, not this...internet abomination. Anything else smacks of Dirty F'ckin Hippiedom. More than anything the Village wants to put an end to this before Obama does something crazy like leave the Village out of his decision making process.And after 8 years of the Village telling Bush what to do...
• Obama thinking for himself will not be tolerated. Obama doesn't get to run the country. The Village does. Obama will play ball eventually, after all Clinton did after he got steamrolled in his first two years. It didn't stop the Village from turning on him and enabling his impeachment of course...but after '94 he became a Sensible Centrist for sure.

So why did Obama win over Hillary? The Village hated her more than they hated Obama, is the short answer. The long answer is Obama will be more easily manipulated and controlled, just like Bush. The Village has run this country for 14 years now. They expect another 4.

Obama I think is going to surprise them in a way they will not like. That's when the honeymoon officially ends. In many ways it's already over, but the Village will come to a consensus on exactly who gets to run the country, and if Obama doesn't play ball, it's 1993 all over again.