Ezra Klein wonders why the left is claiming to be "disappointed" with Obama, rather than just disagreeing. After all, isn't it obvious that someone who hires Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman to be their economic advisors during the campaign is going to appoint Larry Summers to a high economic position as President?
Unusually for Ezra, it seems like he's missing the structural forces at work. Lefty bloggers are trying to persuade their readers. And while it may be obvious to me and him that Austan Goolsbee is a U. of C. centrist, it's pretty hard to persuade Joe Q. Blogreader of that. After all, nobody's ever heard of Austan Goolsbee, the politics of the U. of C. econ department aren't exactly watercooler fodder, and his ideological predisposition is far from obvious. And, after the 2000 and 2004 debacles, any subtle complaints about economic advisors would quickly be shouted down as trashing the nominee we all need to rally behind.
By contrast, Larry Summers, Hillary Clinton, and "a Bush-appointed Republican" are all household names. You can get people upset about them in a way you couldn't during the campaign. And so, naturally, the audience for liberal blogs which was happy about Obama then, but unhappy about him now, is going to be disappointed. This isn't because no-one-could-have-expected-it; it's because they were structurally prevented from expecting it. No wonder they're disappointed.
I've noted before that the Obama campaign is being culled. Three extremely bright members of his team - Samantha Power, Austan Goolsbee, and Susan Rice - have been undermined by recent statements (or non-statements) they have made. Both Power and Rice represent in one form or another the more liberal side of the foreign policy establishment, and Goolsbee is simply an outsider to policy-making.
Guess who isn't being culled from Obama's advisory staff? Powerful foreign policy and intelligence advisor John Brennan, who said the following.
There is this great debate over whether or not the telecom companies should in fact be given immunity for their agreement to provide support and cooperate with the government after 9/11. I do believe strongly that they should be granted that immunity, because they were told to do so by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context, and so I think that's important. And I know people are concerned about that, but I do believe that's the right thing to do. I do believe the Senate version of the FISA bill addresses the issues appropriately.
A good interview with Brennan is here. Let's just say he's a creepy man who refers to America as 'the homeland'.
But it's Rice, Power, and Goolsbee who get nailed. The adults are in charge in DC, apparently.
... This is not an argument for or against Obama's election, it's just an observation about how his inner circle is being retooled by the press and DC elites.
So Austan Goolsbee, key Obama economic advisor, and Samantha Power, key Obama foreign policy advisor, have both been knifed in political fights. Goolsbee was blamed for the NAFTA discussion with Canadian officials, which I doubt he is actually at fault for. And Power called Clinton a 'monster', which is a gaffe, but not something resignation-worthy.
It certainly seems like the adults in DC are culling Obama's inner circle.
