Nunn advising Obama on defense

Please transition away from all these old Clintion people. It looks as if Obama is doing the same thing W did with Nixon, Reagan and Bush one guys. WE need younger advisors. We need to transition away from the generation that got the world into this mess

Since Sam Nunn is on the board of directors of Chevron Oil, I expect all you liberals to continue your incessant pissing and moaning about the war being about oil.

That is great. I was hoping he would be involved. He has amazing credentials on Defense issues. Now, could we ask one more kind favor of Senator (former) Nunn? Could he please stump for Jim Martin against Saxy Chamblis in his home state of GA? Chamblis, you will recall defeated honored war veteran Max Cleland who is wheelchair bound from his wartime injuries...by comparing him to Osama bin Laden. Disgraceful; and he has used similar tactics against Jim Martin trying to make him look 'unpatriotic.' Who had that famous quote about those who wrap themselves in the flag? Something about SCOUNDRELS I think. I'm sure someone out there can find it and post it. Let's send Mr. Chambis home and give the Dems one more important vote in the Senate.

Excellent choice, Sam Nunn was head of the the Senate Armed Services Committee when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the military. He is the real reason Reagan was able to accomplish anything. This man knows defense and since he is was not in office when the war started and he is not making energy policy as Dick Cheney did I see no reason to compare him to the Bush oil people that got is a war with Iraq when the terrorist that attacked us was from Saudi and funded by Saudi's.

The war in Iraq was for two reason: 1) Big Oil and 2) Bush 2's revenge against Saddam for the attempt on Bush 1. I don't care if Sam Nunn is on the board of OPEC, the reasons we went into Iraq was for positioning. Oil is not of infinite supply in the world; that means at some point there will be no more. We know this. That's why we feverishly seek to be better established in regions where there is plenty of oil. The new embassy in Iraq will be just what's needed to garner some control and in developing our new oil siphon.

To Robt,
You don't wee the US army going into Zimbabwe, terrible dictator, but hey, no oil.
So now we have to hear you conservatives pissing and moaning about socialism. What a crock.

Good. Sam Nunn was a good senator for the most part. I hope Obama does indeed use the smarty-pants advisers he can get a hold of and leaves the old Clinton cabinet and advisers out of the equation for the most part. We don't need more Clintonesque logic. Thankfully, we got rid of most of it in the Bush years (one of the few positives of the past 8 years).

IWasAtTheFiskGame: Jim Martin lied about the Fair Tax in all his TV spots, and tried to make Chambliss look like he was adding a huge tax on purchased goods (while leaving out the whole removal of payroll and other taxes). I don't like Suxby any more than you do (he's a neocon). However, since Buckley is out, I'm going to vote for Suxby in the runoff. Martin appears to be a big old liar. We have enough of those in Washington as it is.

Bad news. Nunn was and is an unabashed hawk... if he's helping set the priorities and tone of the DOD under Obama, we're in for 4 more years of war, billions or trillions of dollars wasted and thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.

Warren CHristopher is approaching his mid 80s - born in 19222225 and having just celebrated his birthday in October.making him 23. And people worried about McCain's age?

Institutional memory from his time in the Carter Administration as Secretary of state, and involvement in the Gore vs Bush legakl abttke yes, but UI find it hard to believe that he is the best candidate for anything other than advisory role. The is a distinguighed man, with a distinguished career, but is he more than an encyclopedia of some of our most disappointing times. On the other hand, maybe that's what Barack needs.

So much for "change" that we were promised. Although I did not vote for Obama, in all honesty, it seems like he is trying to surround himself with people who know how things work in Washington. In my mind that is a good thing. Just not the platform he ran on. if you voted for Obama for real "change," I think you can take away two things from his current transition team and chief of staff (i) he lied to you about "change", but maybe not because you never really asked him what he meant by "change" (remember it depends on the definition of "sex"!); and (ii) if you really wanted change, it looks like you may have actually lost the election. Now that is ironic.

I really don't think Obama is all that smart. It will be the same old, same old...He will do what he is told. We aren't leaving Iraq or anywhere else. I just hope his "people" come down hard on him when they realize this. It will be fun to watch.

Try not to be too reflexive in your suppositions every time a name from the past comes up. The tone of the team is set by the leader of the team. Clinton established his imprimateur, I am sure that Obama will set his as well. For all we know, Warren Christopher or Sam Nunn will have dramatically different views of today's crises than their perspective of eight years ago, ya know? Obama has proved one thing if nothing else. . . he is tough and smart.
Colin

"WE need younger advisors. We need to transition away from the generation that got the world into this mess."

Experience matters, especially in something as complex as the US government, which is now intricately tied to the world economy and goverments. If you have spend any amount of time in the complex business world you know that a smart guy with lots of experience is much less likely to make mistakes that even a smarter guys with less experience.

Obama, being very inexperienced himself MUST surround himself with experienced folks else he will not be successful.

Also to bring confidence to the economy and country he must do this. For all the talk of landslide victory and mandate for change, he probably got less than 50% of all registered voters. He also did not get much support in the demographics that have the most effect on the economy - middle to upper middle class and businesses. The only way to get those folks to buy-in is to show that you are not going off half-cocked and to do that you had better bring experience to the table.

Nunn advising on defense but who will be advisihng on offense? Keep an eye open for that great american John Kerry to now be for the war.

Can we possibly maybe just wait until Obama actually takes office before the histrionics and claims of abject failure on "change" start? I've heard from several sources that the closing of Guantanamo Bay is imminent, and that's certainly a change that has been a long time coming AND makes me proud to have voted for him. The makeup of his cabinet is not nearly so important as what he actually accomplishes with it, okay? Give the man a chance.

Sam Nunn is a very very smart choice for an advisor; he has been the singular expert on nuclear non-proliferation. Also wise is to take a pass on Warren Christopher in favor of someone stronger, when America is still in a dangerous
war. This war could flare up at any time and Obama needs men of real strength to go out and win it. He admires Lincoln? Lincoln preferred Grant and Sherman. Extols FDR? FDR called for "Dr Win the War." Wishes to emulate Kennedy? JFK said that America would be prepared and at the Ready for any foe.

IWasAtTheFiskGame:: Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. - Mark Twain

I agree with you about Saxby's shameless attacks against Max Cleland. For that reason, Saxby will NEVER get my vote.

We can wait, or do it now. Either way, nothing will change. Obama is our future president, and I know nothing about his transition team, but after reading this, and the posts about it, it seems we we're lied to. Only difference is, who knew?

I did. As much as you wanna believe in change, nothing will change... because he can't do what you want. This war woulda went on, no matter who won. It doesn't matter the reason bitch and moan to yourself. But I've been with Iraq Veterans, and I've spoken to them, listened to their stories.

They know they need to be there, doesn't matter. They are doing serious good. We are creating a free nation. A nation without a terrorist regime. Without fear of having no food or drink, no more suffering. No more disapearing citizens.

It shouldn't end til we finish it right... unless you wanna give the middle east one more reason to hate us, cause we kick your door down deconstruct your government and then leave.

Plus socialism is all around us, and it isn't fair... I don't take hand outs. But people need them. But do you think this is fair, when people who are lazy ride the system. No. This economic crisis is good for us.

It teaches people to never again mortgage something it can not afford. To start being fiscally responsible. And lazy people who can work will have to start. Why do you think after the last depression our economy boomed so well.

"I've heard from several sources that the closing of Guantanamo Bay is imminent, and that's certainly a change that has been a long time coming AND makes me proud to have voted for him."

Careful what you ask for. As soon as you bring those suspects to US soil you have to give them similar rights to non-wartime criminals which opens up a host of problems for US military secrets, how evidence was gathered, right to face covert informants, etc. The proposed Obama answer is to create a new, less transparent justice system to answer those. Exactly what Guantanamo is now. He could accomplish much the same thing without the fanfare but simply changing how Gitmo is run.

You simply cannot have a high degree of transparency or normal US criminal law rules for suspected war crimes, for effectively POWs as it compromises your effort and the safety of your troops and operatives and citizens. YOu can stop the torture, you can improve the expediency, but at some point you have to trust the folks you voted for to do the job you voted them in to do. Espeically in a wartime effort.

Colin - What has Obama done to show he is smart? Beating McCain does not show he is smart. True he ran a better campaign, but it did not appear to me that McCain showed us that he really wanted it as badly as Obama. Bottom line, Obama ran a great campaign, but that does not make him smart. I am not even going to touch the tough comment...he has not shown me that he is tough. Time will tell.

Seth - I have no problem waiting for him to take office, but tell me you think he should stop undermining the current administration by indicating that he made "suggestions" to the President when they met. That shows me he does not respect the Presidency. Just like his comments about the former first lady, which goes to how smart he really is. That was an off the cuff comment, that I might add, is something I would expect from W and not a Harvard Law grad. I believe Harvard trained him better than that!

"Can we possibly maybe just wait until Obama actually takes office before the histrionics and claims of abject failure on "change" start."

Of course you judge him in the long run, but you also judge him from day 1, which was the day after the election. You could clearly see the wariness of businesses as we have seen the market drop, indicating not a lot of faith in his campaign promise of raising overall taxes. You can already see socialistic tendencies with his beign a proponent of a bailout plan (and this is a true bailout, not and investment) of the Ford and GM. This is a huge step beyond investing in banking, this is bailing out an industry that is simply not competitive due to horrible union contracts and gross inefficiencies. Let them go into bankrupcty just like the airlines and tons of other large businesses have done. Let them mimic the more stable models of the japanese and euro car manufacturers (who manufacture many of their cars in the US by the way).

So no, it is not too early to start to scrutinize the guy. He made a lot of promises, including being "president to all" not just those that voted for him. Which to me means a centrist, not a liberal. So far many of his leanings have been centrist by going with experience, by re-instating funding for humanitarian organizations that do abortions, by removing stem cell reasearch restrictions.

Gitmo will be interesting. He proposed closing it but takes a more centrist approach of having a separate, less transparent, less criminal friendly justice system. The ACLU has already spoken against it so you know it is centrist.

The potential bailout of the car manufacturers though seems to be a socialist ploy to appease the folks in the rust best that supported him. But this is both non-free market, is really a bailout and is throwing taxpayer money at inefficient businesses. It is one thing to help the money supply and money market. It is another to bail out failed manufacturing - when we all know the US cannot compete in commodity manufacturing under those current union rules.

Using Clinton people in the transition to pick the best people for the job is an excellent idea. If these same Clinton people end up in the administration, that might give me pause. But using the most experienced and talented people is never something that should be disparaged.

I'm glad to see Nunn as part of the decision making process. I'm hoping they get Dick Lugar more involved as well.