Changing the Changie Change Thing (by dakinikat at The Confluence)
So, he’s rethinking Gitmo closing, not changing the Bush tax cuts, just saying no to the windfall profits tax that was supposed to pay for health care, and appointing the same folks to cabinet positions he was criticizing just months ago? What’s next? Pardoning Dubya of anything remotely resembling a crime on January 20th?

The difference between Hillary Clinton and Obama is that Hillary is exactly who she says she is (by J -SOM at Liberal Rapture)

Obama was NEVER who he said he was. Those of us who did not give over our brains to mindless chants and the personality cult knew - at the very least - that something was missing. With Clinton there never was any cognitive dissonance. Far from creating an alternate persona in order to win during her campaign - she seems to have become herself as the year marched on. She came into her own… It is easy to imagine President-Elect Hillary Clinton making similar national security appointments. The difference is: No one would have been surprised. She ran as a hawk with moderate impulses. Obama did not.

But Hillary Voted For The Warrrrrr! (by madamab at The Confluence)
Bloody hands. Warmonger. NeoCon DLC AIPAC hack. These were all words used by “progressives” to describe Hillary Clinton during the primaries. It was the excuse they all gave for claiming that Obama was a progressive and ever so far to the left of Hillary on foreign policy. Now what for the Obamasphere, as their progressive hero has appointed many Clintonites, including Hillary herself, to be Cabinet members and close advisors?... Let me spell it out for you, Obamans: Obama. Was. Lying.

Norway Calls for Cluster Bomb Ban - Silence From Obama and Cheeto [Daily Kos] Hypocrites is Deafening (by campskunk at Alegre's Corner)
Cluster bombs are back in the news - Norway is pushing for signatories to a resolution banning their use, and everyone's signing it - except the usual countries: Russia, Israel, and the US. During the primary, any development like this would work the fainting couches overtime as Obamazoids wailed about how she-devil Hillary was a heartless child killer, and Obama was the Enlightened One? who opposed the use of these cruel weapons. So why the silence from Obama and the cheetos now? Hypocrisy, that's why. They don't give a shit about cluster bomb victims - never did. They just used the issue for political advantage.
Click through for good background information on this issue.—Caro

Nepotistic succession in the political class (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Bill Clinton [Tuesday] was forced to deny speculation that he would be appointed to replace his wife in the U.S. Senate. Leading candidates for that seat still include John F. Kennedy's daughter (Caroline), Robert Kennedy's son (RFK, Jr.), and Mario Cuomo's son (Andrew). In Illinois, a leading contender to replace Barack Obama in the Senate is Jesse Jackson's son (Jesse, Jr.). In Delaware, it was widely speculated that Joe Biden would be replaced by his son, Beau, and after Beau took his name out of the running because he's now serving in Iraq, the naming of the actual replacement -- lone-time (Joe) Biden aide Ted Kaufmann -- "upset local Democrats who believe the move was a ham-handed attempt to engineer the election of Biden’s son, Beau, to the Senate in 2010."

Meanwhile, in Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed by her father to take his seat in the U.S. Senate when he became Governor, yesterday warned Sarah Palin not to challenge her in a 2010 primary, a by-product of tension between those two as a result of Palin's defeat of Lisa's dad for Governor. In Florida, Mel Martinez's announcement that he won't seek re-election in 2010 immediately led to reports that the current President's brother, Jeb, might run for that seat. And all of that's just from the last couple of weeks.
In an update to the original post, Glenn discusses the trickery involved in Illinois Democratic Blue Dog Rep. Bill Lipinski handing his seat to his son. Glenn says, “the Lipinski son, ever since, has been vigorously supported by the Democratic establishment, particularly Rahm Emanuel, in order to defeat progressive (and meritocratic) primary challengers. He was simply handed the seat by his dad.”

That’s Illinois politics. The current Mayor Daley is, of course, the son of the late Mayor Daley, he of 1968 riots fame. The Cook County president was given his position after his father had a stroke. The governor of Illinois is the son in law of a powerful Chicago alderman (probably the best one we have, by the way), and the Attorney General is the daughter of the speaker of the Illinois House.

And that is the environment in which Barack Obama was nurtured and promoted, well beyond his experience level, well beyond his years, well beyond anything at all that makes sense, other than his being made a member of the club. Who knows how expensive the payback will be for the American taxpayers.—Caro

Heh (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
I don’t know who came up with this, but it’s brilliant: “Members of Congress should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we can identify their corporate sponsors.”
Yes, and the president elect should also wear one of these suits. I know, we could call them “Mission Accomplished” suits.—Caro

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com