Guessing Game

President elect Obama is facing the double edged sword of Washington. He is being both praised and criticised for his administration picks so far. Depending on who you are hearing either he is undercutting any message of change by bringing back old players in new roles. Or he is doing a very responsible job of putting strong people in key positions.

I have touched on this previously but I am not certain where. First and foremost President Obama and his agenda is the change and this is also combined by the forces of the millions of volunteers that worked to get him elected. The number of people he is bringing in are there to advance this change, to ensure that the agenda has the best possible chance of being enacted.

In the previous post I had mentioned that a mistake that Carter made in coming to Washington was bringing in too many outsiders who did not know how to work the corridors of power in Washington. Any of the major challenges that an Obama will encounter will require a congressional partnership. He is assembling a team that he feels give the American people the best chance of besting these challenges. Tom Daschle former Senate Majority leader, Rahm Emmanuel former House Majority Whip, Joe Biden one of the longest serving members of the Senate. He has selected people who know that ways of Washington but also the people who have not been corrupted by the ways of Washington.

John Harwood has a piece that speaks to this in the New York Times in which Chief White House Adviser David Axelrod sums it up best.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/weekinreview/23harwood.html?_r=2&hp

“He’s not looking for people to give him a vision,” said Mr. Axelrod, who will be a senior White House adviser. “He’s going to put together an administration of people who can effectuate his vision.”