The more things change…

…the more they stay the same.
Chalk up the President-elect’s first election promise broken.
From the very beginning, Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington, D.C. Of course, he never really defined what his brand of change was. But many people believed that part of this promise was to end the cycle of career politicians keeping things the same as they’ve always been in our nation’s capital. And the soon-to-be former junior-senator from Illinois let people believe this by promising to bring fresh, new ideas and faces to the table to foster real, substantive policy reform.
The reality is that President-elect Barack Obama is filling cabinet positions with Beltway veterans who know how the game is played in Washington, D.C., and who are themselves career politicians.
From the attorney general nominee, Eric Holder, who pardoned Clinton Administration political backer Mark Rich, and was involved in the Monica Lewinsky White House probe, and played a key role in the controversial Elian Gonzales deportation; to the next Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, herself a current senior senator and Beltway power-broker; to former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, D-SD, as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services; to former Clinton Administration staffer and Illinois Congressman Rahm Emmanuel as Chief of Staff; former Clinton Administration Energy Secretary and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as the probable next Secretary of Commerce; current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is expected to keep his post through at least Obama's first year; and even Vice-President-elect and current Sen. Joseph Biden, D-DE, who has carved a comfortable niche for himself in our nation’s capital with 30+ years in the senate and is arguably one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the country.
Exactly where is the change here, Mr. Obama? You are surrounding yourself with people who have made a living dancing the Potomac Two-Step, working the system, and playing the game as it has always been played. If you are not willing to think outside of the box with regard to your cabinet and administrative staff, why should we believe that you will actually change the ways of Washington for the better, as you promised to do early on in your campaign?
In my opinion, the first step toward bringing about real change is not to give the same old Washington, D.C., more power. By Obama's appointments thus far, he is endorsing the exact opposite of change. He is siding with the status quo.
Sounds to me like Obama is more interested in being the party man than the bipartisan agent of change he sold a lot of us on.
So, what else is new? Obama will simply be doing what many other career-minded politicians have done: Changing addresses, but not directions.
I think he’ll fit right in at 1600 Pennsylvania.