This is not change

The Associated Press is reporting today that Hillary Clinton plans to hire so-called "Clinton loyalists" to run the State Department.

I could swear Barack Obama won the election on a promise of change. So what are we getting? How about more of the same Washington insiders.

Reporter Matthew Lee says Clinton is planning to surround herself with "a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration."

From Lee's story:

For her team of foreign policy experts, the nation's third female secretary of state is expected to draw heavily from the staff of the first, Madeleine Albright, who was an early supporter of Clinton's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And to deal with internal Obama administration affairs, State Department bureaucratic politics and media pressures, the former first lady appears set to tap current Senate aides and former White House "Hillaryland" stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness has already set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.

Lee says among key staff positions, Clinton is considering her 2008 presidential campaign manager Maggie Williams, attorney Cheryl Mills, personal assistant Huma Abedin, current senior adviser and spokesman Philippe Reines and Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady, Melanne Verveer.

All retreads. Welcome to the third Clinton Administration.

From Lee's story: "All are known to be fiercely loyal. The prospect of their imminent arrival in Foggy Bottom has been a hot topic of nervous corridor conversation among many in the professional diplomatic corps who fear they will be frozen out of positions of influence."