12-01-08, 5:04 pm
The rumors proved true. President-elect Obama, Monday, Dec. 1, announced the top figures in his national security cabinet. Hillary Clinton will head the State Department. Jim Jones will serve as National Security Advisor. Current Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates will continue in place. Janet Napolitano will take over at the Department of Homeland Security. Eric Holder will serve as Attorney General. And, Susan Rice, the Obama campaign's leading foreign policy advisor, will be the administration's public face to the world as UN Ambassador.
A lot of commentary from right- and left-wing pundits have focused on the ties the new appointees have to the Clinton administration. Is this change?, they have wondered. Some are just perplexed at the retention of Gates at the Pentagon. Overall, there is plenty to be optimistic about, but still serious concerns that peace and democratic movements which backed Obama should hold and prepared to mobilize around.
What is usually missed is that the composition of this national security group is in itself an enormous change – both from the racial and gendered tokenism of past administration's and the more immediate and disastrous policies of the Bush administration. This is the swiftest change we need. In the end, however, educating and mobilizing the public about more fundamental and meaningful transformation of US foreign policy is now possible.
