Obama campaigned on change. He wanted to change the way Washington works. He wanted to make a clean break from the past. He wanted to change American policy and change the way people see America itself. I would say that in these first few days in office he’s done so. He’s gone from the corruption of the right to the corruption of the left.

Obama criticized Bush for relying on insiders and upon questionable advisors. Obama’s cabinet is full of career politicians and bureaucrats, tax cheats, and under qualified people. The change has been from right to left, not bad to good.

He’s announced the closing of Guantanamo Bay, but the prisoners held there will simply be moved and all Bush policies regarding their legal status and how they are handled will remain the same. Why bother closing Gitmo? Seriously, it’s a perfectly fine base. I haven’t heard about any escapes. If you’re not changing anything, why bother moving them?

Obama has put strict limits on lobbyists and how they can operate in his administration. Then he promptly gave the one’s he liked exemptions from the new rules in a clear case of “do what I say, not what I do.”

Obama’s changed the name of Bush’s faith-based initiatives program. So.. there’s that, I guess.

Obama wants to work with Iran and Russia, both of whom have basically told him to go to hell. How do you work with people like that? Does he really expect to get anything? His policies are taking the first baby steps from unilateralism to appeasement. I will say this: that definitely qualifies as real change.

The Bush Administration started the bloated socialization of our banking system to get us out of this recession, and Obama continues it. The only change has been who receives the money.

Bush came into office promising bi-partisan cooperation between parties. Given an overwhelming Republican majority in congress, he promptly began ramming Republican legislation down the throats of the Democrats. Obama came into office promising the end of partisan politics. He abandoned that idea in less that two weeks and has decided that it’s okay to cram a Democratic stimulus down Republican throats.

Look, I’m a conservative. I have problems with both parties. I’m trying to give Obama the benefit of the doubt because he’s new, and because he’s our Presdient, and because our President deserves respect, but this isn’t change. It’s turnabout. If you want to make government more transparent, I support you – but don’t talk about it, do it. If you want to help the economy, I support you – but this is pork. If you want to be bipartisan, then I support you – but 3 votes is not bipartisanship. If you want to get rid of the Gitmo detainies.. well, you’re wrong.. but moving them doesn’t solve the bloody problem. If you want to restore America’s tarnished image abroad, I support you – but you have to make it clear America is the one nation on earth that is both capable and willing to solve some really difficult problems and if they want our help they have to, at minimum, respect us.

Conservatives asked this question during the campaign.  As someone who runs a conservative blog, I’ll ask it again: Change to what? Right to left? Conservative to liberal?  Is that really change? If that’s the “change” you’re bringing to Washington, Mr. Obama, that pedestal you’ve climbed up on has set you up for a very, very long fall.