Brennan for CIA? Seriously?

There’s a good Sirota piece up about this “Team of Rivals” nonsense:http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/11/team_of_rivals_as_the_new_brod.htmland the followup-http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/11/evidence_anyone.htmlIt feels like more and more we progressives (also known as sane people) are being sold down the river so that Obama can maintain some semblance of Broder-partisanship and fulfill the false media meme of a center-right nation.Seriously, between this and all of the Michael Bay remakes, is there EVER good news?

I understand the disdain of this pick (if it’s true) but, I remain unfazed by it. Of all the most likely things to happen – a degree of continuity on national security issues is the first place a new president gets stuck on. I’ve never once seen a new president come in and not continue to a far greater extent than he wanted to, policies of the prior administration when it comes to national defense. And it stands to reason – there’s an entire infrastructure that the public never knows about that the incoming president suddenly inherits. Bush abdicated foreign policy to Cheney so as not to have to think about it. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem likely at all that Obama will abdicate his responsibility on foreign policy, so he’ll be able to make changes in tone, and policy, but it won’t be instantaneous, and it looks (to me) like extricating us from much of what’s been done is going to require those most familiar with it to transition away from the harm.In short – I expect the least amount of dramatic change in areas of intelligence, and military efforts. If I had to hazard a guess – I’d say we aren’t looking at too much change in that department until 2010.QT

Ok and what’s wrong with this:

Brennan, who was once slated to be deputy to current DNI Mike McConnell, is a lifelong Republican who converted to Obama last year, after his friend Tony Lake asked Brennan to serve on an intelligence advisory panel.

A career CIA officer, Brennan favors a holistic and systematic approach to intelligence gathering,

and earned the respect of Democrats as the founding director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, now the National Counterrorism Center. On terrorism, as he told National Journal’s Shane Harris, United States foreign policy should be more proactive.

Later in Ambinder’s article, he talks about combating the underlying causes of terrorism.QT

QT, While you have valid points about the necessity for some continuity in the military and intelligence fields, there are plenty of people in those fields who have not compromised their integrity by being active participants in what I consider to be illegal activities.

That said, Obama has been working with the guy for a while so is in a much better position to evaluate Brennan’s suitability than I. I know I won’t always agree with the Pres-elect, but do trust him to make good, intelligent decisions.

>>It feels like more and more we progressives (also known as sane people) are being sold down the riverYou’re looking at this too narrowly, Travis.

QT just mentioned what I was going to quote. The guy was in the room (so to speak) when Cheney and Tenet did their bad deeds. Doesn’t mean it originated with Brennan or that he actualy supported it.Obama’s been working with him, and has shown excellent judgement on almost everything thusfar. If Brennan is a supporter, and follows Obama’s stated policies, he might just be the best guy to advance those policies.What? Do you morons expect Dennis Kucinich to be tapped to run the CIA?If you rise through the ranks at the CIA, you’ve been part of some unseemly stuff. If Brennan is a good soldier and follows sound policy coupled with what appears to be his forward-thinking vision of counter-terrorism, he might just be a god director.Until shown something more than handwringing from the ‘sphere, I’m fine with trusting Obama on who he chooses to use as his tools.

GOOD director.Whew!

Let’s calm down here on both sides. I just submitted my concerns about the potential appointment to Change.gov, I suggest anyone who feels the same way do the same, but do so in a calm, collected way.Mr. Furious, we should not be name-calling here. I trust Obama as well, but I think he needs to pick somebody who is not as ambiguous in his views on torture. It’s not an ambiguous position. You either torture or you don’t. That said, the President is the one who sets policy, so as long as Obama is committed to ending torture (and I believe he is), then it will end. But again, symbolically, it wouldn’t be a good thing to have Brennan head the CIA.

And let’s again remember this is just a rumor. Sources said that one woman (I forgot her name…) was going to be commerce secretary and that turned out to be false. Let’s wait and see but at the same time, do submit your concerns to Change.gov. That’s why it’s there.

I agree Bob! This one really troubles me!I keep asking myself: “self, what could he have learned during these early security briefings”?”Self, are we as fucked as Bush and Cheney have been trying to tell us”?”Self, was Obama blowing smoke up my ass”?”Self, WTF”?I want to just trust the guy! I really do!

Well so far the Obama team’s done such a bang-up job of listening to credible progressive voices, surely they’ll acknowledge the viewpoint of some jerk from Huntsville with a blog that gets dozens of hits per week.

Also – on a site that I rarely frequent (because they are SO progressive that they cry everytime Obama does anything they don’t think is progressive enough – which is, almost every time Obama does anything at all), one of the top line posters, Mike Lux, is now an absentee, having been added to the transition team. So – there. The progressive blogosphere has at least one man on the inside.QT

I put forward that there’s no such thing as “too progressive”.

Morons was a carry over from an argument in another thread on this. sorry for that. Guess that’s why they (me) call me Furious…

A little OT, but still about appointments:It looks like Hillary Clinton will be SoS:http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/clinton-to-accept-secretary-of-state-job/?hpWill she be a “good soldier” or not?Discuss amongst yourselves.

Hi Travis: I have no problems with your pov. I don’t consider myself “progressive.” As a rule, I think of myself more conservative than not. Let’s try – moderate politically, and temperamentally conservative. So – in being an Obama supporter, I find myself traveling in circles that are usually far more liberal than I am, and often find myself out of place. You probably fit in here more than I do.BUT – I think I’m able to be here more than on other sites because here is an Obama-supporting site, as opposed to a “progressive” site exclusively. That other site (OpenLeft – are you a member there?) has as its purpose analyzing the news from a progressive perspective and supporting leftist policies and politicians – Obama was not their first choice. Anyway, Obama’s reach is farther than just the progressive left – I’m proof of that. And Lee has an excellent post from a week or two ago about what he calls “Obamacrats” – democratic leaning folks who are more in line with Obama’s policies than they are with the democratic party in general (sorta like Reagan or Goldwater republicans).Hmmm. I’m not sure I had a final end point for this post, other than to just express empathy for your position and hopefully make room for us to be different, and still friends.QT

I just wish my position as someone who is for science, social justice, and proper use of my tax money wasn’t something to be looked down upon.

In other news it appears Timothy Geithner is going to be named Treasury Secretary and Bill Richardson is getting commerce secretary.About the Geithner pick in relation to this. For a while Larry Summers was considered the overwhelming favorite for the Treasury Job but there was outcry against him. I’m not saying it was all about the outcry but, if Geithner is indeed picked, don’t think our voices don’t count for nothing. We aren’t dealing with W here.

“Well so far the Obama team’s done such a bang-up job of listening to credible progressive voices, surely they’ll acknowledge the viewpoint of some jerk from Huntsville with a blog that gets dozens of hits per week.”Oh yeah set the tone and the conversation will follow!Obama said from day one that he wanted to represent ALL Americans! Now, I’ve never written Obama an email! I have sent numerous emails to Biden!That began long before Biden last ran for POTUS! I’ve always received a response! Of course I know it’s just a “staffer”, but I know that Biden would NOT be part of an intentionally disastrous plan!That said, who the hell are you talking about! Who lives in Huntsville? Why do you know? Are you obsessed? I’m a lifelong Nebraskan until disability moved me to Kansas to be near my son! So what?It’s ONE America!

TD,I think I misunderstood you! Apologies!

Yeah I was talking about myself?Are people this in love with Barry O? He’s a solid dude but let’s not forget ourselves, nah mean?

Travis,For me, having lived my whole life in communities that are “relig-i-o-conservative” it becomes a knee-jerk response to go ballistic when someone “whacks” a liberal/progressive site!BTW, I have no idea where Bob resides! I don’t really care!As far as being in love with the new POTUS, I love the idea that a Democrat won! Period!

@kansasdem: If I hadn’t known he was from the Rocket City, I might have reacted even more personally. I live in Florence.

until i hear otherwise,im just gonna assume this is one of those “coordinated leaks”,done in order to keep certain segments content.id be thoroughly shocked if this actually panned out.