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No surprise here, is there? Obama is moving to the Center and changing his radical left-wing promises and the LEFT is wondering: what happened?

Let’s see:

• No Oil company Windfall Profits tax
• No immediate repeal of the Bush tax cuts
• No immediate withdrawal from Iraq

And, look at all of those centrist or right appointments to his cabinet:

• Gates at Defense
• Clinton at State

But, we all knew Obama was “hiding the ball” during the campaign, now didn’t we?

“He hasn’t had a first day in office,” said John Isaacs, the executive director for Council for Livable World. “To me it’s not as important as who’s there, than what kind of policies they carry out.”

“These aren’t out-and-out liberals on the national security team, but they may be successful implementers of what the Obama national security policy is,” Isaacs added. “We want to see what policies are carried forward, as opposed to appointments.”

Juan Cole, who runs a prominent anti-war blog called Informed Comment, said he worries Obama will get bad advice from Clinton on the Middle East, calling her too pro-Israel and “belligerent” toward Iran. “But overall, my estimation is that he has chosen competence over ideology, and I’m willing to cut him some slack,” Cole said.

Other voices of the left don’t like what they’re seeing so far and aren’t waiting for more before they speak up.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich warned that Obama’s economic team of Summers and Geithner reminded him of John F. Kennedy’s “best and the brightest” team, who blundered in Vietnam despite their blue-chip pedigrees.

David Corn, Washington bureau chief of the liberal magazine Mother Jones, wrote in Sunday’s Washington Post that he is “not yet reaching for a pitchfork.”

But the headline of his op-ed sums up his point about Obama’s Cabinet appointments so far: “This Wasn’t Quite the Change We Envisioned.”

Plus Ca Change.

• Iran tests new missile from warship
  Iran's military test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile from a warship as part of exercises along a strategic shipping route, state media reported on Sunday.

  Iran launched six days of naval war games on Tuesday in the Sea of Oman and the Gulf region amid tension with the United States and Israel, which have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end a row over Tehran's nuclear work.

  Iran has said that, if pushed, it could close the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf and through which about 40 percent of the world's traded oil passes.

  "The surface-to-surface Nasr-2 missile was tested in the (Sea of) Oman operational region," state radio reported, adding that the test took place on Saturday.

  "The Nasr-2 was fired from a warship and hit its target at a distance of 30 km (19 miles) and destroyed it," the official news agency IRNA said, adding it was the first test of the new, medium-range missile.
  ++++++++
  War with Iran would close down the Gulf – DUH

  (tags: Iran)
• Tribune Hires Advisers to Help Stave Off Bankruptcy
  Tribune has hired bankruptcy advisers as the ailing newspaper company faces a potential bankruptcy filing, people briefed on the matter said.

  The newspaper, which was taken private last year by billionaire investor Samuel Zell, has hired advisers including Lazard and Sidley Austin, one of its longtime law firms, these people said. Tribune has been hobbled by debt related to that sale last year, which has been compounded by the growing drought of advertising for newspapers.

  It is only the latest — and biggest — sign of duress for the newspaper industry yet. Several newspaper companies have struggled to cope with declining revenues and mounting debt woes. Tribune has pared back the newsrooms of many of its papers, including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun, and it sold off Newsday to Cablevision’s Dolan family earlier this year.
  +++++++
  This is not surprising. The printed newspaper as we knew it ten years ago is dead.

  (tags: media losangelestimes business)