Holder as AG

I haven't commented much on the various Cabinet appointments. For one thing Obama is not in office for another 49 days, I don't think hyper-ventilating about his Cabinet is really a worthwhile at this point. For another thing Barack Obama is a smart guy and I learned during the campaign that he knows what he's doing and it's best to just give him the benefit of the doubt and see how his plans play out.

That said I've been wondering why he picked a guy for AG with a lot of baggage. Eric Holder's behavior in the Rich pardon is going to be an obvious point of contention in his Senate confirmation hearings. The right-wing drama machine will no doubt be in full effect. It seems like a odd choice for "No Drama" Obama even before one gets to the substance of the Rich pardon. I was but a college sophomore during that Clinton pardon scandals so perhaps I have a skewed view of the flagrance of the various pardons but the Rich pardon looks very bad and Holder's excuse making about his role looks terrible. He wasn't paying attention? Seriously? That's his excuse!?

It looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that Holder pick is a bit confounding, Ezra Klein has a brief post up this morning on the topic. After the destruction of the Justice Department under Bush I think the AG pick takes on more importance than usual and the nominee should be of a higher standard than we might normally see. I simply don't think that Eric Holder meets that standard.

UPDATE: And another good liberal weighs in against Holder, Adam Serwer at TAPPED