He's publicly suggesting everytime he can for the 2001 and 2003 income tax reductions and elimination of the estate tax to be made permanent? Cites, please.

And he's appareently not touching Bush's tax policy either.

Boy, reality is a lot tougher than "Hope" and "Change" mantra.....eh, Barry?

Jones is my boss' boss, so I can't really comment on his qualifications. My understanding is that Obama sought out and received advice from Jones during the campaign (as did McCain) and the report cited here is that Jones had gotten assurances of real power. One imagines he and Gates have worked crossed paths in the past, which likely helps.

Did I say that it was? Don't think so. But it was a mistake of historic proportions.

Either you did or this comment is a non sequitur.

Just to be very clear about my position: both realist foreign policies and neo-conservative ones have gotten us into trouble in the Middle East. Going back to a realist stance isn't an improvement. Before our occupation of Iraq, before the invasion of Iraq, before George W. Bush we were hated in the Middle East because of realist policies.

Santorum/Keyes '12!

that shouldn't be construed as him being the sole cause of our problems there.

Did I say that it was? Don't think so. But it was a mistake of historic proportions.

There are a lot of factors. Our inability to move away from oil dependency has let to our support for dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. That is another big factor. One in a long list.

I think that we need to remember that a tremendous laundry list of the complaints that people in the Middle East (for example) have against us were the result of realist foreign policies.

Realist foreign policies? You mean like "Saddam has WMD that can strike us at any time and we have no choice but to go to war to take them out"?

Was it Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results? I avidly disliked the Wilson neo-conservatives but I think that we need to remember that a tremendous laundry list of the complaints that people in the Middle East (for example) have against us were the result of realist foreign policies.

An amusing result of Obama’s appointing people to his right to all three top foreign policy positions is that Max Boot is thrilled and Chris Bowers is bummed.

Damned for what he does and damned for what he doesn't do. Sounds pretty good to me. As night descends on Wingnuttia, a dirge can be heard throughout the land: "Obama, we hardly knew ye, and thou hast undone us. Lawd have mercy."

As Politico's Mike Allen reports- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Barack Obama, according to officials in both parties. Obama plans to announce a national-security......