Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

Did Charen not hear Obama promise to defeat our enemies in the debates? Did she never read his iconic Iraq speech where he said he wasn’t against war, just dumb wars? Or were her ears and eyes clogged with partisanship?

- Andrew Sullivan

This is one of the funniest parts about the right-wing reaction to Obama’s transition moves: a lot of them seem to have really been expecting Ayers, Wright, and Chomsky to move into the Barack Hussein Malcom X Obama Black House. They reason they may have thought this is that they paid not one bit of attention to what Mr. Obama was saying or who he is. The (false) information they had on him may have been coming from trusted sources like talk radio or deep-thinking websites like National Review. And so this is why the Republicans find themselves where they are today. Partly. But I’m sure this suit to contest Obama’s citizenship will really get the ship righted!

Now, when Bush became president, we had some worries over on the left, such as the choice of John Ashcroft as Attorney General, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and his Vice President, Dick Cheney, to name a few. This wasn’t so funny, as we all know now (and knew then). Perhaps tragically hilarious, but not really that much at all. My point? It’s a simple one: we were right to be wary of Bush’s presidency because it had red flags right from the beginning; we got what we expected, except that it was worse. The diversity of Obama’s transition moves can only raise red flags from the true crazies on the right, and perhaps, the left. But if you’re surprised by his choices so far, then I can’t help you.