Back in November of 2008 John Brennan withdrew his name for consideration as CIA director after Obama received heated criticism from the left, particularly in the blogosphere. Glenn Greenwald called his withdrawal "exceptional news," and gloated about the left's ability to block the nomination. He wrote
Brennan was the only prospective appointment that, speaking only for myself, was completely unacceptable. Advocacy of Bush's interrogation and rendition programs should exclude anyone from consideration for any important position, let alone CIA Director or Director of National Intelligence.
Well guess what? Obama named John Brennan to the National Security Council as his top advisor on counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reports, the appointment will give Brennan a "powerful voice" on all sorts of national security issues. So much for the big left-wing victory in blocking him for CIA.
By his appointments, Obama seems to indicate that he is going to do basically whatever he thinks is best. If left-wing bloggers with delusions of grandeur think they are going to be able to block him from choosing his key advisors, they might want to think again. If he can't get them in through the front door, they can always be brought in the back -- in the form of appointments that don't require Senate confirmation. It appears that Obama really does want a range of views among his foreign policy advisors, and isn't subjecting them to any leftist litmus test. If only the same thing were true of his economic team.
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