Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Oh No! The Adults are Taking Over!

Sad chuckle thinking about the talking idiots eight years ago hurrahing over the incoming Bush administration as "the adults" taking over. At least the Onion saw through it:
at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history
that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by
unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace
overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us.

So I don't have any issues at all with the number of ex-Clinton folks that are being tapped for positions in the Obama administration. Seems like a pretty good place to find competent, experienced people.

What concerns me more is the number of strong senators and governors that are leaving those positions for the Obama cabinet or at least being discussed for them. Even though those seats will (I think in all cases) be backfilled by Democrats, that's a lot of experience that the Senate and statehouses will be losing. I think it also points to the reality of the last 25 years or so - the consolidation of governmental power in the Executive branch. It certainly hasn't been linear - Bush 41 certainly didn't have a free hand and Clinton was limited in a lot of respects by the Gingrich-led Republican Congress - but it has been leaning more and more towards that point of the triangle. I'm not one of those that believes that it's better when the Executive and the Legislative are from different parties, especially now that they're both controlled by MY party, but I do hope that this Congress will not sit back and let the President drive like their Republican counterparts did during the first 6 years of Bush 43.

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1 Comments:

At 1:13 PM, Blogger Ralph Radon said...

Sheeyoot. Now that there's a Dem in the White House, Congress will magically rediscover its oversight obligations and also rediscover its 1990s pastime of nuking horseflies.

 

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