If there was any doubt that Barry was going to hand-over national security to friends of self-interested folks, we give you this rather stunning announcement:

Even more stunning: the major announcement on Monday was not Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, but General Jim Jones as his National Security Advisor. Having a retired 4-star marine general replace what has recently been a job for scholars (see Condoleezza Rice, Sauel Berger, W. Anthony Lake) marks a bold move by Barack Obama that nearly no one saw coming. At the very least, Jones' dominant, methodical personality will ensure that Hillary Clinton's diplomatic work is synchronized with the NSA and the Secretary of Defense. I don't think there was any serious worry that Clinton would be a freelancer, but the selection of Jones draws clear lines that Clinton cannot stray outside.

Obama has built himself what appears to be a very strong, smart, no-nonsense defense management team. While we cannot be certain, I cannot imagine the general shoe shopping on Madison Avenue or Secretary Clinton attending a Broadway show in August or any month. They know they have to run an air-tight operation, since it seems it would take much less than a drowning city to bring an Obama administration down.