General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is the President just punking the base at this point? [View all]Romulox
(25,960 posts)His cabinet members are like his eyes, his ears, his arms, and his legs. Chuck Hagel has been hand-picked as representing the President's views. So where Geithner, and Summers, and the rest.
Your issue isn't really with the people the President picks, it's with the values that those pick demonstrate. To that, I simply say, that's who the President is, and that is what he believes in. If the President was passionate about reforming Wall Street, he wouldn't have nominated Geithner (or Summers.) If he was passionate about reigning in the Pentagon, he wouldn't have appointed Bush's man Gates to run the Wars. And if he wanted Single Payer, he wouldn't have put Romneycare forward as his initial offer (after famously taking Single Payer "off the table.)
So there is no "secret" Obama, trying to do the right thing but unable. Nor is there any point in demanding party loyalty in cabinet positions, as if that will transform the President from a defender of the status quo into a iconoclast. It won't. He's not. He's a "centrist", and he appoints Republicans because he agrees with them. He's told you that all along.