Rotwang nails it:
The joker missing from the deck of Obama's brilliant team is a single, solitary person with an eminent track record of scholarship reflecting a critical understanding of the shortcomings of markets.
Yeah, yeah, I know: there have been plenty of people saying stfu, it's absurd to be criticizing the guy before he even takes the oath of office.
like here
and here
and here
I don't think that these people who argue "give Obama a chance" actually understand what the stakes are. Not when these people raise nary a word of protest when "business men" in suits are willing to murder old men and old ladies by cutting nursing home staff and services in order to squeeze out more profit.
Here's a fuller excerpt from Rotwang:
. . . the sensible leader collects some diversity of advice. There is no intellectual diversity in the Obama White House. The left brain of the party is missing. As smart as Obama is, he cannot personally supply the 'Team B' expertise he will need in economics, finance, and other matters not found in law school curricula.
Of course qualifications matter. But so does ideology. Ideology might be understood as the summary of a view of how the world works, a set of predispositions, rules of thumb, and yes, biases, all informed by intelligence, study, experience, and practice. The "Team of Rubins" has ideology too, and now we are living with its fruits. How is that working out for us? What does it take to discredit these blokes? If their policies resulted in hordes of flesh-eating zombies roaming the countryside, would that be enough? I fear not.
The joker missing from the deck of Obama's brilliant team is a single, solitary person with an eminent track record of scholarship reflecting a critical understanding of the shortcomings of markets.