Obama has chosen Leon Panetta to run the CIA. The news reports concerns that he has no experience with Intelligence. I would respond to this criticism the same way I responded to claims of Obama's lack of experience: good. The lack of experience means the chance that these men will be able to effect actual change, that they possibly will not play by the book. The CIA is a secretive organization that is wary of outsiders like Panetta, they've served their function for a long time and don't wish to change. (The function being not intelligence gathering, but covert action to keep markets open for US business.) Obama wanted to pick a more experienced person with CIA experience, but couldn't find one that hadn't been involved with the Bush administrations extra constitutional interrogation/extradition/surveillance schemes. So the fact that he picked an outsider is a signal to the CIA that it will not be business as usual.

I'm not letting Obama off the hook for the steps he took to grant retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies involved in the NSA wiretap program. (This was a sign he would not oppose the intelligence community, at least while he was still running for president.) I also still have qualms with the fact that he gave a heartwarming speech before AIPAC guaranteeing his concern with Israeli security, insuring he wouldn't interfere with its role as an offshore US military base. In some sense I suppose any Democrat needs to have a solid chunk of the Jewish vote, but I'm reversing the logic of the argument that a candidate reneges on campaign promises. I'm hoping he does renege on promises made not to the voters, but to these powerful institutions and lobbies that he needed to court to ensure election.

I know people are becoming disillusioned with Obama, I'm not because I never believed the illusion. How can I believe in something I know to be the equivalent of a circus sideshow?? I want to see a radical revision of American politics as much as anyone, but we have to ask what kind of change do we want, we can't just place all our hope in one man talking vaguely and rhetorically about change. It doesn't mean I have no faith in electoral politics, it means I can overlook the things Obama said to get elected, and take a serious look at the people and policies he puts into action. I didn't and I don't expect the next or any president to be the author of the change we need. I do sincerely hope he can at least slow if not reverse the dangerous trend of expanding executive power and the use of intelligence for political ends. We need the CIA to be held accountable for its actions, to be operated under the norms of Constitutional law.