National Security Team of Rivals

COFFEE cup, pourme, COFFEE cup!

OT GM says they are now selling two of their luxury jets. Just how many do they have?

I wonder if this means the Iraqis won't be naming a square after George Bush after all....
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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/21/saddams-square-now/

A smartypantsocracy is a big imporvement over the neanderthaltheocracy we've been living under for the past 8 years.

GM says they are now selling two of their luxury jets. Just how many do they have?
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There goes the neighborhood!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/phd9/407999128/
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I hate how those forclosures drag down the surrounding properties.

I'm skeptical; I'll have to see some results from all this pragmatic centrist realism people keep crowing about.

But yeah, the parallels with Lincoln and FDR are encouraging.

Andy-
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Kleptocracy
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Paul--
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Are they keeping the plain old regular jets?
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There is no end to these perqs, of course.

After the mediocracy of the Bush years, I'm looking forward to the Obama Smartypantscracy of the Obama team.

[...] Joe Klein (TIME): “General Jones is universally respected. He refused a series of major positions offered by the Bush Administration, presumably because he opposed the policies he would have been expected to implement. He did agree to study the security situations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Bush Administration, and came back with reports that were embarrassingly candid. If appointed, he–not David Petraeus–will be the most important (former) general in the Obama Administration, which will help tilt power back toward the President.” [...]

"The Great American Hegemony Project marches on here."
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Though this teams track record hasn't been great as of late, they appear pragmatic enough to understand that the days of US hegemony are over and that we are simply one of many military powers.
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"Rome comes to mind more and more often."
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I've been banging that drum for a decade...glad others see it too. Collapse of the currency? Check. Collapse of the military? Check. Collapse of the borders? Check. Who gets to play Maximinus Thrax is my question.

Not to be contrary, but the post raises several questions in my mind, the biggest being the business of "bipartisan" foreign policy. It seems to me, that while the major parties have clashed on domestic policy, since WWII at least there has always been a bipartisan foreign policy. The basic tenents are based on maintaining the military might sufficient that we are the baddest on the block, snubbing Russia, and mucking about in other countries sovernity and general business. Certain bipartisianship was maintained in the insane incursion into Iraq. We are buddies with China, but have persecuted Cuba for over 50 years. What will be new exactly?

As for Jones (I would suggest that he use his proper name of James for pr purposes), he sure seems to be a hail fellow, well met. Looking up his biography, there seems to be no mention as to what he was doing growing up in France. Was his father a diplomat during the nastiness of the Cold War? Don't know. Very successful after retirement...board of director at Boeing and Chevron. Very well placed. Wonder if he flies around in private jets? Boeing surely has some of those and Chevron can surely spring for fuel. Getting silly now, but really, just not ready to jump on the happy wagon yet.

cincy--
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You think they're gonna end the occupation of Japan, of Germany, of Korea? Do you think they're gonna end US "force projection"?
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The Great American Hegemony Project is never discussed. It can't until people talk about it out loud. This isn't news; Obama signaled very clearly to the Village that he was on board. And the Village made sure that the the three presidential candidates (Gravel, Paul and Kucinich) raising these issues were viewed as nuts. Paul schooled Timmeh when Timmeh asked an incredibly stupid series of questions that culminated "What would you do if Iran invaded Israel" to which Paul. "They're not going to invade Israel, Tim. They don't share a border."

"You think they're gonna end the occupation of Japan, of Germany, of Korea?"
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Probably not, though events may do it for them. Seriously, it's what's happening inside our borders that's important. All the other stuff will fall away as we become poorer and poorer. I'm glad Obama won, he'llbuy us time, but ultimately this thing is over. American hegemony is over because basis for it is gone. No one was ever going to stand up and say enough w/ American hegemony. Empires don't decide not to be empires, reality eventually imposes itself. So I'm not too terribly fired up about who Obama picks to fill these cabinet positions cuz essentially I just think it's over anyway.

Leftist fantasist Joe Klein asserts: "And it would reflect a growing centrist consensus in the foreign policy/national security spectrum that includes most members of the Bush 41 and Clinton teams ...."

The last time that I saw the leftist fantasist Klein make such an assertion about an alleged "growing centrist consensus", Klein included (with no evidence, of course) the "uniformed military" in his alleged "consensus". Evidently, Klein forgot to make the same bogus, ludicrous allegation this time.

textee--Joe Klein is a leftist!?

Are you stoned?

...nope, just stupid, scared, cowardly and unable to face reality.

I'm not sure how closely Joe reads the comments, so I guess this is a test. I'm doing a couple stories for local media in Denver/Boulder on the blogs and MSM, and I find Joe Klein to be an interesting case study.

Josh Marshall seems to represent the collaborative reporting, where his readers offer tips and thoughts that shape his reporting, whereas most mainstream journalists seem to despise the "vitriol" of the rabble, and be more elitist and insular.

Klein and Swampland seem to be one of the few places where MSM has effectively used the democratic aspect, and anyone who is a regular reader of Swampland has noticed a bit of a transition in Joe's reporting. Many (like me) were originally quite spiteful of Joe, yet we didn't scare him off, and he didn't totally dismiss us, and even found areas where he agreed with us. It's to the point where my least favorite pundit provided, in my opinion, the best campaign coverage.

So, I'd like to get a quick quote from Joe, if I can, if not directly, then out here in the open, in a very blog fashion: how do you regard the penny seats these days, Joe? And how much do you feel they have influenced your thinking? Or, do you see your writing as not evolving at all the way we do? How much have you come to accept some of the TPM model, where you allow the general opinions of people who respond in places like Swampland to shape your reporting like any other inside source?

I did a blog-interview at Squarestate.net for one of my stories. Join in, if you like.

http://www.squarestate.net/diary/7241/blogging-about-blogging-for-denver-insight

memekiller, good luck on that. I have never, never seen Joe respond to anybody or anything in the open chat. I seem to recall that he notes something said by somebody in his blog. That's it, and I'm not sure that I'm not confused with one of the other Time people. KT is the only one who actually engages here.

Correction...MS does too, but that is usually to respond to negative reactions to his blog. He suffers more grief than he should have to here.

formerly and meme: JNS increasingly engages here, as well. Ann Marie used to, but McCain came between her good humor and us.
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Joe has made it clear directly in some of his posts that he reads comments, but I don't recall that he has ever engaged commenters in the thread.

[...] Politics: Time’s Joe Klein on Obama’s important commitment to assembling a “team of rivals&#....  Here’s a quote from this very good article: [...]

[...] not necessarily EACH OTHERS’ rivals.  Hillary ran against Obama in the primary, Gen Jones is reported to be a friend of McCain’s, and Gates is a Bush appointee.  That sounds like a team of rivals [...]

[...] A sane take on Obama national security moves. SOURCE [...]