LAMBRO: Cabinet cachet

What's the point of your article ? Of course, Obama negotiated agreements with the people he wanted - they are the best. What you have him do - pick a loser who would do whatever Obama told him to do ?

Obama has chosen people to lead him in foreign policy because he has no vision of where he is heading. He waffled on Iraq, and he is waffling on NAFTA, he called for peace in Georgia and he is going to eliminate the "threat" of terrorism with Mumbai (whatever that means). Bush used the military and anticipatory self defense (Charlie Gibson) as the compliance portion of his foreign policy. Clinton used multilateralism as the consensus portion and would NOT commit U.S. force unilaterally for U.S. interests (WTC, Khobar Towers, Embassy and USS Cole bombings) but would for international interests (Kosovo). Obama is uncomfortable with the military, so Jones and Gates are just there long enough for stability until he can find someone to align with the Secretary of States doctrine. With the appointment of the HillBills and Rice, one can only assume they will promote a U.N. save humanity doctrine (legal consensus, human rights, global warming and anti-genocide). Management by committee may be appropriate in the Senate but in the Executive Branch especially with Commander in Chief decisions, they must be based on some kind of a doctrine first, you can't wait for the committee to develop the doctrine. If Rice has any pull, it would also be advisable for the military to get ready for another tour in Africa. One thing Jones needs to ensure is that it doesn't evolve into another Black Hawk Down scenario.

If Obama relaxes from his campaign rhetoric, then he is really only showing the good judgment and practicality that his supporters claimed that he had despite a lack of experience. Given that lack of experience especially with diplomacy and national security, it makes sense that he would select people with a lot of it to make up for that. If he's going to do that, it really is good judgment if he puts aside ideology and, at the very least, gives thoughtful consideration to what these people have to say. Not sure why he'd pick Hilary Clinton for that purpose unless Obama's figuring that, in getting her, he'll also get Bill --- a sort of two for the price of one.

Forrest...I believe the point of the article is BO made promises to his base and has pretty much moved away from those promises. Now you can say he was lying to his base in order to win the election or the information he has recieved in the last month has been so new to him that he now has to manage America's security like Bush did. I'll leave that to you.