The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler and Jonathan Weisman have a decent story today buried under a bad headline: "Experience Reigns, Not ‘Change’." The jist, of course, is that Barack Obama, who had the completely novel and revolutionary idea of being a president who ran on "change," particularly "changing the culture of Washington" is actually appointing a bunch of Clinton administration retreads to his cabinet. And when he’s not naming Clinton folks, he’s choosing Tom Daschle. He said he would bring change, but nooooo — he’s another compromised, insidery politician.

A couple of points on this. First, as Meckler and Weisman report, Obama is the first non-governor since Lyndon Johnson elected as president. Unlike George W. Bush or Bill Clinton he doesn’t have a deep executive staff that he can bring with him to Washington. So in order to find experienced people he has to select the Eric Holders and Tom Daschles of the world.

Second, and more important, what kind of change was Obama talking about? In terms of promises, the electorate can actually hold him to, the most concrete Obama got was in his Democratic National Convention speech. There he laid out the policies his presidency would prioritize (his campaign Web site also clearly detailed his policy prescriptions).

Obama promised no fresh faces other than his own. His promise was relatively progressive social policies and a return to constructive governance. I, personally, am nauseated about the prospect of former World Bank kingmaker Larry Summers as Treasury Secretary. But Summers and Daschle and Holder and most everyone else (okay, not Hillary Clinton) were part of Obama’s team all along.

Obama’s appointments can be criticized on their merits. But it seems premature to suggest that they violate the overarching ideas his campaign was based on.-MB

CORRECTION: George H. W. Bush also wasn’t a governor. But Bush ran as heir to Reagan so that might be one presidency that didn’t explicitly promise change (though he did promise a "kindler, gentler" America).

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