On Wednesday, Obama defended his decision to surround himself with many former Clinton administration officials and other Washington insiders despite campaigning on a message of change.

President-elect Barack Obama: “What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking. But understand where the vision for change comes from first and foremost. It comes from me. That’s my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing it.”