- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
It's at least heartening that 'team Obama' is hearing some of this. Obama has countered that he himself is bringing the change, not those he chooses to work for him. Change isn't in their job description, he implies. Change is strictly his domain. "That's MY job", he has said, in defense of his selection of nearly 100% Washington insiders.
And it may work for him--if he actually does bring The Change himself, and all his workers are nothing more than "change multipliers" or "change managers". Maybe change can truly be a top-down phenomenon in his administration. Just as Bush was "The Decider", perhaps Obama will indeed be "The Changer". Obama's statement from the podium of "The Office of the President-Elect of the United States of America" (official seal included) is a benchmark he has laid down--and should be held to--as time groans onward.
In a way, the Holder revelations seem very similar to John Brennan's, who removed himself from consideration for another key post. Brennan claims to have had little role in the decision-making that went into our illegal torture policies, rendition, etc., just as Holder claimed to have little direct connection to the Rich pardon. My guess is that the Rich affair isn't nearly as damaging to Holder as the many sins Brennan committed were to him, at least in the eyes of the left-o-sphere. But the sins are similar in kind, if not degree.
