"I would have voted for John McCain, If I had any doubt that President elect will select senator Clinton for the State Department."

Then you my friend are an idiot. Obama and Clinton have very similar positions on national security and foreign policy issues. They are both very different from John McCain on those issues. If this appointment would have swung your vote then I have no other option but to consider you an idiot who ignores issues and votes from some strange sense of personal animosity.

"The Clintonites in his Cabinet, forgiveness for Lieberman, the creeping signs of centrism -- progressives aren't ready to panic, yet"

They should be ....... be very afraid.

You young'ens out there (who make up most of the 'netroots' root) wouldn't be so worried - especially about 'Clintonites' in Obamas' Cabinet, if your view of Bill and Hill hadn't been shaped - in many cases almost entirely so - by The Neo-Con Blowhards who've ruled the Airwaves for so long now; as they were also the ones who screwed things up, for Bill and Hill, so many times that their Administration - which began with Fleetwood Mac singing an Anthem to The Hope they once represented - never really got anywhere.

No offense to Hill, but the whole Monica Lewinsky thing is a prime example; just read Bosom Friends and Bitter Enemies (by Barbara Slavin), and learn about how keeping Bill occupied with that crap, kept us from helping out some very freindly Iranians - who now, after being labeled as part of the Axis of Evil - are no longer in power.

You could say that that 'not worth out time to be concerned about' so-called scandal - and many others like it - gave us Ahmadenijad!

And that's just International Politics! The Clintons did, after all, promise us Universal Health Care; but - thanks to A Newt, et al - all we got was a, "Contract (to rip off) with America"!!!

But people who are too wimpy to call themselves "liberals" or "leftists" deserve to be dumped. They probably like it. Now they can whine about it for the next four years.

Hope, change, unity - a government of intelligent, experienced people with the expertise that is needed to be the most effective and efficient at solving our problems and improving the living conditions including: the economy, security, education, health and human services, as well as making the best decisions for our role in the world and future generations.

The Clinton Administration was the most socio-economically successful administration we've ever had. They created 22.5 million jobs.

Go help a lot of poor people survive.

And then tell me which was more helpful, "pragmatism" or "ideology." Ideology is not bread - it is the idea of bread.

(And that's a metaphor - for those who will take it too literally.)

Ideas themselves don't feed hungry people. Pragmatism does. When it's a matter of survival or fixing problems, it's a matter of what works most efficiently and effectively.

It's very nice to be able to afford to sit back and contemplate ideological issues, with a full belly, and warm shelter you can call your own.

But in no way does ideology by itself trump pragmatism - when pragmatism is for the greater good. Ideology often just slows it down. (Or makes it impossible to achieve success or resolve.)

The bottomline is: Barack Obama, at this point, with his comprehensive intelligence and experience, truly knows a lot more about what it takes to govern successfully, and who will be the most helpful to him, than any of critics.

I'm no political scientist

But I figure if you're too middle 'o the road

That sooner or later a big Mack truch is gonna hit ya

With a 10 ton payload...

Hope, change, unity - a government of intelligent, experienced people with the expertise that is needed to be the most effective and efficient at solving our problems and improving the living conditions in our country including: the economy, security, education, health and human services, as well as making the best decisions for our role in the world and future generations.

The Clinton Administration was the most socio-economically successful administration we've ever had. They created 22.5 million jobs. The poor got richer and the rich got richer. It benefited and increased income for all income levels.

Go help a lot of poor people survive.

And then tell me which was more helpful, "pragmatism" or "ideology." Ideology is not bread - it is the idea of bread.

(And that's a metaphor - for those who will take it too literally.)

Ideas themselves don't feed hungry people. Pragmatism does. When it's a matter of survival or fixing problems, it's a matter of what works most efficiently and effectively.

It's very nice to be able to afford to sit back and contemplate ideological issues, with a full belly, and warm shelter you can call your own.

But in no way does ideology by itself trump pragmatism - when pragmatism is for the greater good. Ideology often just slows it down. (Or makes it impossible to achieve success or resolve.)

The bottomline is: Barack Obama, at this point, with his comprehensive intelligence and experience, truly knows a lot more about what it takes to govern successfully, and who will be the most helpful to him, than any of his critics.

Those of you who keep insisting on labels and ideology are missing his point. He's not interested in all your labels - he knows better than to waste too much precious time in endless ideological arguments. He wants to do what works. Because that's what actually brings hope, change, and unity to fruition.

He's the real deal.

I am pleased with Obama's appoitments. He is doing a great job. Obama's strategy should have surprised no one - least of all so-called "progressives." If they had read the American Prospect several months ago, they would have known that Obama tends to be some what cautious and pragmatic. He tries to build a consensus. He also tends to be somewhat of a "centrist."

Forgiving, for example, Lieberman was really a "class" act. If anything, it revealed what a "crass" politician Lieberman was and is. In a way, Lieberman is being put on notice, since his election bid is two years away.

Forgiving Lieberaman and harnessing the talents and abilities of many Clintonites, I feel, is a wiser course than what many so-called "progressives" want. Many of the ideas that Obama is promoting now have a lot of "progressive" influences. And, progressives can always express their ideas on Change.gov.

Obama has inherited a disaster from Bush. It will take years to get things in order. I believe progressives need to back Obama while promoting their ideas.