Youtube

Post with video

Alex Witt: New reports that Hilary Clinton will give up her NY Senate seat and accept the nomination for Secretary of State. Even though her selection is still set to be formalized, the NYT said, an announcement will be made sometime after Thanksgiving. A spokesman for Clinton says, the discussions are very much on track for her appointment as SoS but no final arrangement has been made. And some of Barack Obama’s choices are inciting grumbling from the liberal blogosphere. The New York Times writes today Obama’s cabinet picks suggest he is planning to govern from the right center of his party. And many leftie bloggers who are credited with promoting Obama’s candidacy are worried that once in office, Obama may turn his back on them. Jane Hamsher, founder of Firedoglake.com and she joins us this morning. Good morning to you Jane!

Jane: Good morning, how are you?

A: I’m well thanks and I hope you are too but I have to ask this question which might upset you a bit – why are liberal bloggers so concerned Obama may abandon them?

Jane: Well, I think the problem people that are seeing right now is that the people he is appointing to his cabinet positions are very much not in line with what he promised when he was running. He was running against the Clintons at that time and the message was ‘Let’s get the Clintons out of Washington DC’ and now many of the people he’s appointing to his cabinet are ex-Clintonistas. I think some people are more bothered than others, people who can’t extricate themselves from the primary wars, but other people, such as myself, see that, you know, who’s he going to appoint? These are the people who have experience in Washington DC, and we’re just more looking forward hopefully to the idea that with Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, hopefully that signals that maybe Mid-East peace is going to be on the table again.

AW: Ok. I’m gonna actually read from your own blog there on Firedoglake.com and here’s what you wrote…

Jane: That could be dangerous!

Alex Witt: Uh yeah it’s gonna be good. Regarding a quote from MSNBC that you were watching, asked what it would mean if Lieberman kept his chairmanship, one Senate Democrat aide said bluntly, “The left has been foiled again. They can rant and rage, but they still do not put the fear in folks to actually change their votes, their influence would be in question. So I guess, the question of the influence of liberal bloggers, if they have an unrealistic view of the importance they hold.

Jane: Well obviously we scared that person quite a bit, because they were too afraid to give their name. But I think that what the question of Lieberman doesn’t have to do with the cabinet appointments that Obama is making, so much as the decision that the Senate is making. And I think that is of quite a bit of concern. Rather than opting for true change, which would have meant putting Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, George Bush influence out of office, they decided for the optics of change, sort of kumbaya politics. But Joe Lieberman himself didn’t investigate Katrina, because the Republicans didn’t want him to, he overlooked graft to the tune of fifteen billion dollars in Homeland Security that Henry Waxman rooted out that he refused to investigate. So I think there is concern that we’re gonna have the same ol’ same ol’ Bush administration with Lieberman there. But people are hoping that there’s a larger agenda that Joe Lieberman won’t be able to sabotage, that Barack Obama is going to go for. I think people are still very much on his side and want to see him do great.

Alex Witt: Ok, um, let’s um… [desperately consults notes for some question that will stop the unstoppable JH] bloggers with their concerns with the choice for Secretary of State, because there was, I guess, no love lost in terms of foreign policy creds between the two when they were both candidates, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, during the campaign. What are you hearing from bloggers on that front?

Jane: I think people are realistic, they understand that campaign rhetoric and actual governance can be two separate things. You know, Hilary Clinton and diplomacy aren’t really two things that people think of in the same sentence. Yet, at the same time, Obama’s got no greater challenge before him that what happens in the Middle East. Over at emptywheel’s blog, what a great post, about how Hilary Clinton – nobody has quite the clout, the relationships, the international capital to be able to go in and perhaps push both the Israelis and the Palestinians into some kind of agreement. And that could have an effect that ripples throughout the Middle East and to our economy. Europeans and Americans are putting untold amounts of our money there that could be alleviated if there was some kind of peace there. So I think that Hilary Clinton going into that job signals that this is going to be a priority for the Obama administration.

Alex Witt: Ok. Firedoglake.com founder Jane Hamson..Hamsher rather, thank you for joining us here on MSNBC Saturday.