Politix As Usual: So What's The Big Deal?

There has been a lot of ink spilled at left-of-center blogs over the fulminations of the right wing in the wake of the McCain-Palin trainwreck. But in the run-up to the inauguration of Barack Obama lefties also are making fools of themselves because -- gasp! -- the president-elect's decisions so far seem less indicative of hopeandchange than politix as usual.

I will grant you that I may have been at the beach on the day Obama shed his Chicago street politics mufti and became Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, if that is the prevailing view.

So maybe I should feel all weirded out that he has reached out to a one-time foe to be secretary of state, anointed a guy with some baggage to be his attorney general, tapped a longtime war horse to lead Health and Human Services, might keep a Bush appointee at Defense, named a bully to be his chief of staff, greased the skids for the return of Uriah Heep to a powerful committee chairmanship, and won't release every swinging dick at Guantánamo as his first official act. Oh yeah, and his veep pick was some old guy with a hair weave.

But I'm not weirded out at all.

If this is your first up-close-and-personal presidential election, let's hope your learning curve is steeper than the whiners at the Daily Kos.

And if you happen to believe that Obama has somehow betrayed your ideals, then kindly wake the freak up.

Thank you.

Illustration by Ian Short