That Didn't Take Long

While there have been grumblings about President-Elect Barack Obama from the angry left almost from the day he was elected, it took a matter of true importance to them, i.e. their "right" to steal music off the Internet, to jerk them back into characteristic full-blown rage. That has just happened. From cnet:

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama won applause from legal adversaries of the recording industry. Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, the doyen of the "free culture" movement, endorsed the Illinois senator, as did Google CEO Eric Schmidt and even the Pirate Party.

That was then. As president-elect, one of Obama's first tech-related decisions has been to select the Recording Industry Association of America's favorite lawyer to be the third in command at the Justice Department. And Obama's pick as deputy attorney general, the second most senior position, is the lawyer who oversaw the defense of the Copyright Term Extension Act--the same law that Lessig and his allies unsuccessfully sued to overturn.

Those appointments have not gone over well with the cerebral folks over at slashdot.org. Blogger Ben Scheffner has thoughtfully compiled a selection of some the choicer comments found there, replete with the colorful language lefties employ with such deft facility.

* Congratulations on electing a politician. Please enjoy the next 8 years of corporate whoring.

* Obama wants to change the system. But in order to do that, he needs insiders, clinton retreads, lobbyists, and big corporate stooges that know how to get shit done. Once he's surrounded by them, he'll be able to change the system.

* Now I'm laughing at all the drones here that fell for the Messiah's clever PR campaign.

* It could be, that like most lawyers, he doesn't actually believe in the RIAA cause and just wants their money. Murderers and rapists need lawyers that just have to be advocates in court and not true believers in their client's innocence. That being said, when you set your expectations higher than the gutter (especially in politics) there is a chance you'll be disappointed.

* Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

* Between that and this pick [time.com], will all the Slashdot Obama koolaid drinkers who thought he was supposedly pro-tech please stand up and be heard now!

* If Chimpy McBushitler had done this, it'd be business as usual on /. But now that his O'ness has done it, I'm looking forward to a really entertaining read.

* I can't wait to watch all the hardcore supporters roll back expectations, deny all the claims they made about change, and finally blame the system itself for any failures on the chosen ones part.

* And the rest of us who maybe had a little hope for change are just going to be disappointed with more "new boss".

* I'm laughing to myself, because anyone who thought there was going to be serious change in DC was only deluding themselves. Now the truth is becoming apparent, Obama is no different then any other politician except he has a greater personal charisma.

* His picks for the Justice Department are pretty fucking scary. He picks a pro-gun control/pro-war on drugs person to lead it and a former RIAA lawyer for #3? Unless John Ashcroft is #2 I don't really see how this could be any worse.

We have to remind ourselves this is the One at whom these unhappy souls fulminate. It is with certain satisfaction, then, your Bloviator recalls back on November 5th, the day after the election, he predicted Barack Obama's honeymoon with the left would be a brief one. For once, he got one right.

(h/t the Instapundit)