BARACK OBAMA BECOMING CLINTON III

His campaign mantra was ,"change." He claimed for 20 months that he was going to shake up the Washington establishment and it would no longer be business as usual. He talked about removing the influence of Washington insiders and becoming the ultimate Washington outsider with his message of ,"hope and change."

Yet first candidate and now President Elect Barack Obama has shown that he favors the Washington insiders and has no intentions of bringing ,"change." First he selects the ultimate Washington insider to be his Vice President and now as he works on his transition into the White House making appointments and hiring staff, Obama is creating the third Clinton Administration.

Throughout the campaign Obama attacked John McCain being tied to President Bush and that if elected a McCain Administration would be nothing more that a third, "Bush term." So Obama is elected and what does he do ? He begins creating a third Clinton Administration. First he selects former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta as head of his transition team.

Another Clinton carry over is Obama's choice for Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel who was a Senior Advisor to Bill Clinton and a leading strategist for the failed Universal Health Care initiative early in the Clinton Administration. Last Friday came the next Clinton member as a possible appointment to the Obama Administration, Hillary Rodham Clinton the top candidate for Secretary of State.

Breaking news hit the airways yesterday concerning Obama chosen nominee for Attorney General. Former deputy Attorney General during the Clinton years Eric Holder. Already a part of the Obama campaign as co-chief of his Vice Presidential selection team, Holder served as deputy AG under Janet Reno and was involved with the decision to seek a pardon for then fugitive financier Marc Rich who fled the country while being prosecuted for tax fraud and illegal oil deals with Iran. The most controversial of the more than 200 pardons at the end of Clinton's Administration.

The list of former Clintonites at the Justice Department does not end with the AG. In addition to Holder, Obama is looking at appointing Elena Kagan former Clinton White House Council as Deputy AG. Also former Janet Reno Chief of Staff David Ogden currently heading Obama’s Justice Department transition team will be another Justice Department appointee. It is quickly becoming the reincarnation of the Janet Reno Justice Department.

Adding to the mix is Ron Klain who has been appointed as Vice Presidential Chief of Staff. Klain served in the same position during the Clinton years as Chief of Staff for Al Gore. A full 31 of the 47 transition and White House staff appointees or two thirds of the team Obama is taking with him to Washington are former Clinton aides and officials who served in top and lower staff levels under the former President.

This is the , "change," that Obama promised throughout his campaign ? Hiring a group of the ultimate Washington insiders who also have ties and loyalties to the Clinton Administration and the former President. These are the same advisers and staff that created the debacle during the first two Clinton years that resulted in the GOP becoming the majority in Congress after a forty year drought of Republican legislative leadership.

Come to think of it with advise like that and the obvious liberal agenda of Obama along with Pelosi and Reid on Capital Hill, this could be the making of the ousting of the Democrats in 2010. So that being the possible case then I say have at Barack, bring back the Clintonites. But to the GOP this warning, be prepared for 2010 with a new strategy that brings back true conservatism and candidates who will govern as conservatives or else the possible Majority status will be short lived and 2012 could be a disaster comparable to 2008.

Ken Taylor