Obama: “What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking,”

[DCBob]

Obama Describes Team as Experienced Yet Fresh
Sally Ryan for The New York Times
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: November 26, 2008

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday defended his decision to select veterans of the Clinton administration for positions in the West Wing, in his cabinet and across the administration, saying Americans would be rightly “troubled” if he overlooked experience simply to create the perception of change. Mr. Obama, who built his presidential campaign around a message of bringing a fresh outlook to the problems of Washington, said he would be negligent if he did not recruit people who had advised previous presidents. He grew animated as he sought to dismiss suggestions “that there’s a recycling of people who were in the Clinton administration.”

“What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking,” Mr. Obama said, speaking at his third news conference here in three days. “But understand where the vision for change comes from first and foremost: It comes from me.”

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/politics/27obama.html?ref=politics
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I like the sound of that. I think this guy may actually be successful in his new job!

[uponit7771]

1. Finally someone who understands leadership, we've lived without it so long that it seems like the

...policy leadership come from the appointments vs. the president.

They execute what Obama wants or they leave

I'm more comfortable with Obama as the 'decider' than Bush

[DCBob]

3. I think Bush lost control of his administration early on.

Cheney and the Neocons were running rampant. Bush just thought he was "decider" -- they simply manipulated him.

[Tennessee Gal]

2. "Fresh thinking" ................. what a welcome idea!

Obama is making all the right moves.

[DCBob]

6. Totally. I am so impressed with what he has done so far.

I think he has single handedly stopped the collapse of the financial markets with his personnel announcements and press conferences.

[mwb970]

4. I'd love to see the end of the "how can old-timers produce change?" meme.

My question is, how could anyone but old-timers produce change? An unknown face is expected to appear from nowhere and suddenly make the changes we need? How? Wouldn't that require someone who knew the ropes, and all of the players involved? What could a newbie accomplish quickly?

New ideas, not new faces. It's not that tough to understand, really.

[DCBob]

5. The first step to changing America is to change people's thinking...

and anyone who has signed on with Obama is onboard with his new mission.