Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Obama's CIA pick absurd

I think Obama's choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA is the first utterly ridiculous misstep of his transition, though there have been other mistakes as well (hello, Bill Richardson, hello Rahm talking to Blago's people repeatedly). This one is virtually incomprehensible, suggesting he knows nothing and cares nothing about the CIA. Too bad. There might have been a chance to depoliticize it slightly. Here's the Register's editorial on the pick. There wasn't room to mention that the last pick who was more political then professional, the former GOP congresscritter Porter Goss, was disastrous, but he was. It's likely the CIA will remain ineffectual and probably become a more hidebound bureaucracy. Although I'm not sure how badly I would want a really effective CIA, considering its past of having an expansive notion of what it could be doing inside the U.S.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While I can see the merit of many of his selections for the cabinet and many of the new "Czar" postings I to am concerned about the long term ramifications associated with the heavy inclusion of the original Clinton team players. It brings many questions to me about how much change can be brought forward with so many of the same old players on the “new” team of change. This is a question I have asked on my blog designed to follow Obama through his full term of 1,461 days in office. Perhaps I can get some of your thoughts there as well as the thoughts of some of your readers as well.