Ya can't please everyone...

The Republicans went on and on about Obama's lack of experience when it came to his qualifications for the presidency during the campaign. He used this to his advantage, promoting a mantra of change that even the Republicans adopted. I, too, was concerned about his lack of national experience; did he have the connections necessary to get things done, especially given the racial challenges he would have to deal with as well? Well, so far Obama is doing things right. He knows that he doesn't have the connections and that when it comes to reaching across the aisles and moving ideas forward in Washington, connections are everything. So, he is placing focused and well known "inside the Beltway" experts into the important positions within his cabinet. These are people that others in Washington know and respect, even if they don't agree with them. These are the people who would be able to vouch for Obama and his ideas and get key players to listen and cooperate. These are the "power behind the throne" people who can push agendas forward with introductions and phone calls to the right people, all of whom are in their Blackberry. The kind of people who the Republicans are, and should be, afraid of, because Obama might not fall on his face or be a lame duck as they hope he will.

The conservative press (Fox News and company) are in full cry. They are harping that Obama promised change, so why is he bringing insiders in? According to them, he should have a cabinet full of outsiders who aren't part of the system, as if outsiders are the only ones who are capable of creating change. They seem to propose that anything less than a full overturn of everything related to "business as usual" in Washington is a betrayal of Obama's mandate for change. The want him to be like Voltaire- all witty and powerful commentary, but no solutions or implementable ideas.

In picking these people, Obama is earning the trust I gave him with my vote. He is going to use the system he can't turn upside down to turn the system upside down. While he may not be experienced, he is showing a great understanding of strategy. If he came in and tried to turn everything on its ear in only 4 years, he would be destined to fail. You cannot come in and change entrenched ways of doing things and not meet with resistance and a stalemate. Too much change all at once is threatening, even if change is welcome. But, if you make the right strategic changes at the right time involving the right people and enroll others in the ideals and process behind it, you can move mountains. That appears to be Obama's game plan and he is putting the coalition behind and beside him to do it. I am very optimistically curious to see what happens next.

If I were a Republican, I'd be upset too- not because Obama "lied", but because he just might succeed where they have failed. With Obama, the Democrats have the potential to create the presidential legacy for this century. Only time will tell, but we have the next 4 years to watch and see how things unfold.