Do you want to see something really scary?
Fed borrowing
If this isn’t a picture of change I don’t know what is.

Posted by: David | Jan 21 2009 14:30 utc | 3

it’s so clear that even david axe can see it 😉
Obama’s War Strategy Evolved Version of Bush’s

In her Senate confirmation hearing last week, incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that American foreign policy under President Barack Obama must blend military, diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, in equal measure. “We must use what has been called ‘smart power,’ the full range of tools at our disposal.”
While consistent with Obama’s longstanding call for greater international cooperation to address the world’s problems, the idea of “smart power” gained widespread popularity in military and diplomatic circles during George W. Bush’s second term. Obama’s national-power strategy represents an evolution, not a revolution.
At a speech at Kansas State University in November 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates — who is staying on under the Obama Administration — famously advocated smart power, emphasizing the need to make greater use of “soft power” tools beyond military force.
“This country must strengthen other important elements of national power both institutionally and financially, and create the capability to integrate and apply all of the elements of national power,” Gates said. “I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use ‘soft’ power and for better integrating it with ‘hard’ power.”
That Gates will remain with the Pentagon under Obama is, in fact, a strong endorsement of the national-security thinking that began to emerge late in the Bush Administration.
…
Obama campaigned on a platform of change. But when it comes to national security, there are more similarities than differences between second-term Bush and Obama. Both have embraced a “smart” merging of all aspects of U.S. power to advance national interests, without always resorting to force.

i’ll also throw in an article w/ some more on obama’s james jones
Global Energy War: Washington’s New Kissinger

Lost amid the national and international fanfare accompanying the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States is attention to the person who is slated to be the next major foreign policy architect and executor, retired US Marine General James Jones.
In nearly identical phraseology that cannot be construed as either fortuitous or without foundation, the Washington Post of November 22, 2008 referred to the then pending selection of Jones as US National Security Adviser in these terms:
“Sources familiar with the discussions said Obama is considering expanding the scope of the job to give the adviser the kind of authority once wielded by powerful figures such as Henry A. Kissinger.”
And the following day’s Israeli Ha’aretz wrote:
“Jones is expected to play a key role in the Obama administration. According to U.S. press reports, he will be as strong as Henry Kissinger, the all-powerful national security adviser to President Richard Nixon.”
…
James Jones is now the first career military officer to hold the post as head of the National Security Council since retired general Colin Powell did so in the second Reagan Administration and is the first former NATO Supreme Allied Commander to do so.
Jones was appointed to the NATO post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and the overlapping, essentially co-terminous one of Commander, United States European Command (COMUSEUCOM) in the first Bush term and is part of the two-thirds of the Obama administration’s foreign policy triumvirate – National Security Adviser, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense – inherited from the preceding administration. The other is, of course, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who like Jones is a graduate of Georgetown University, with a doctorate degree in Sovietology and Russian studies.
As commander of the Pentagon’s European Command (EUCOM) Jones was in charge of the largest area of military responsibility in world history, one that encompassed anywhere from 13-21 million square miles and included 92 of the world’s 192 nations. And as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander he was the chief military commander of an expanding military bloc of twenty six full members, two new candidates and twenty three Partnership for Peace, six Mediterranean Dialogue, six Gulf Cooperation Council and assorted other military partners in South and Far East Asia and the South Pacific, altogether on five continents.
While wearing both the above braided hats, Jones was the major architect of what last October 1st was officially launched as the first new US military command in over half a century, Africa Command (AFRICOM)..

uncle & i have posted a few links in the past months to backgrounders on jones, including a blurb from his posture stmt before the senate armed services committee in 2005 while he was running EUCOM

We must craft a policy that recognizes the growing strategic importance of Africa and its potential to become the next front in the Global War on Terrorism. African security issues will continue to directly affect our homeland security. It appears that we have a small window of opportunity to make relatively modest near-term investments to avoid massive problems requiring U.S. intervention in the future that could prove costly.

Posted by: b real | Jan 22 2009 16:51 utc | 5