If only this were the moment where the ridiculous overhyping of Obama ceased. But no-one ever pays much attention to the cock-ups of Cabinet appointments.
Obama has said "I screwed up" on two of his appointments - a would-be Health Secretary and a would-be budget watchdog who both withdrew because of investigations into their taxes. (BBC News: Obama admits errors over cabinet) There was also his (successful) nomination of a Treasury Secretary with tax problems. (BBC News: Obama's cabinet nomination crisis - no wonder the Barack Broadcasting Corporation is indexing that story under the alternative title "Honeymoon over?") So much for this glorious new era for the US - it's the same as ever! And then there was Obama's nominee as Commerce Secretary who had to pull out because of a contract given to campaign donors. Have all the years of being a Chicago politician made Obama blind to the problems of sleaze?
And then there's the appointments that have actually stuck. To shore up his limited foreign policy experience Obama's picked both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton with inevitable potential for disagreement - how many foreign policies is this administration going to have? Or there's the new appointment as Commerce Secretary - a man who voted for his own department's abolition. (BBC News: Republican to join Obama cabinet)
Very little of this is actually going to affect public perceptions of Obama and it's doubtful any of this Cabinet are going to succeed him - the last Cabinet minister to successfully run was, if I recall correctly, Herbert Hoover. But it's not the best start. And combined with his failure to deliver the much trumpeted bipartisanship (BBC News: Bi-partisan hopes fail first test) Obama is rapidly proving to be not some glorious superhero putting the world to rights (hey not even his hero Spider-Man can do all that!) but just another US President. I hope more people come to realise this rather than continuing to harbour unrealistic expectations.
And cue outrage in the comments that anyone dares to cast a critical eye over Obama...
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