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Thursday, June 19, 2008
Puzzle: What change is Obama?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The headline in the morning AJC over a story about Barack Obama meeting with his newly assembled national security advisory group is this: “Obama turns to Clinton advisers.”
For those who feared that Obama represented the second term of Jimmy Carter, it was reassuring. There she was, semi-well preserved, former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, along with Warren Christopher and former Defense Secretary William Perry, all from Team Clinton, the administration that declined to take custody of Osama bin Laden in 1996. Not enough evidence to indict, they thought.
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn was there, too,of course, along with former U.S. Sen. David Boren and former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton.
On national security, it’s reassuring that the change Obama represents is no more radical than that wrought by old school Democrats. Obama could be in a position where his decisions could plague this nation, and the world, for generations to come. It’s reassuring, therefore, to see that the “change” he promises is yesterday’s.
It does bring up a question, though. Has anybody heard a policy statement from Obama that represents anything other than yesterday’s approaches to anything? Taxes, no. Social spending, no. Bi-partisanship, no. Energy, no. Obama’s a new soundbox affixed to an old agenda The problem is that much of the country seems to be unaware of the 60s and 70s, while many of those who are still cling to the era. The old-timers of the flower-children generation want one last Woodstock on the White House grounds before they go.
But the question, really, is to identify something in Obama’s promise of “change” that represents actual change.
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