Obama in the MIddle

I'm an Obama supporters who happens to agree with you. Now, had it been Rumsfeld I'd feel entirely differently but I think keeping Gates is a good idea, as someone said it will allow for continuity at the Pentagon. Annie

It also doesn't hurt to recall that Bush nominated Gates as a concession to those who wanted to see the excesses of the Rumsfeld era brought to an end. Gates has never been a yes-man to the Bush Administration, and that fact has earned him the respect of many who disapproved of Bush and Cheney's policies, especially those regarding Iraq. Gates has a proven record of speaking his mind, even when his opinions are not popular with The Boss. Then he has hunkered down and worked to make sure the job he was handed is done effectively and efficiently. That's just the sort of person Obama says he wants in his cabinet and in the new administration as a whole. I'm not surprised that Gates would be asked to stay.

I agree, where Gates proved himself worthy of the position, Rumsfeld failed miserably. I remember defending Rumsfeld because I thought he was letting the commanders on the ground run the war... we all learned that he wasn't and the failures that it created. Gates is a great addition to the Bush administration and will be just as great in the Obama administration as long as Obama doesn't get in the way.

I do a know a lot of people and bellamommy is right on.If Obama were white he would never have been elected.Many people voted simply based on his race without understanding the issues.This wasn't just blacks.White people voted for him without knowing anything about what he stood for. What Obama is doing now is showing his true colors.He's nothing more that a politician.All politicians are liars.The things Obama said during his campaign were why I was against him.Now that he's been elected,he knows he will never get many of the things he said passed,so he's changing his stance.I'm all for giving anyone a chance.All we can do is hope he'll actually listen to the people and use common sense.If he doesn't,we may end up in a bigger mess than we're in now.

Many of the people I know were more interested in making history than researching the candidates and issues. Race should have never been factored into this, but it did. People vote for the wrong reason, and that will never change. You have to remember, the right to vote applies to everyone, educated or not. I am hoping he will do some good.

I'm well aware of Obama's voting record as well as Biden's over all the years he's been in the Senate and neither of them are "far left" by any means. I agree with the poster that said what some call far left in the U.S. would be considered moderate in the rest of the world. Annie

All I can say is that it doesn't take much to hit with the label "far left" in the Bush era. In most of the rest of the democractic West, "far left" as labeled in the United States is viewed as moderate.

The "Far left" thing comes from his voting record. One of the most liberal voting records in the Senate. Some of his issues he backed off of a little because they wouldn't meet public perception tests for the Campaign. So it is not unreasonable to think he is pretty far left personally, I think when he started getting the presidential briefings, and access to a little more information he probably got some sense smacked into him that ideals and theory don't exactly cut it in the real world when lived and industries are at stake, so he moved a little further to the center, and we are probably all better off for it.