Technically, Biden was only criticizing Obama for not notifying the Senate earlier. I'd be a little more impressed if he said that choosing Panetta was a ridiculous idea from the start:
Biden said the issue was one of process, not substance, and that Panetta -- as chief of staff and as White House budget director -- had experience dealing with the CIA and the vast network of spy agencies. "He has been a consumer of intelligence for a long time," Biden said. He called Panetta "a strong figure" who would "take it on a new path."

What's the over/under on Biden primarying Obama in '12?

Nikhil Bhat is spot on. That's exactly what Biden was talking about.

I have no idea if Panetta will be a disaster or not-to be blunt, DCIA is an odd one to figure out. A pure political appointee like Bush patria was excellent at CIA. On the other hand, Porter Goss-a former Congressman and CIA agent in operations-was not quite a success at the post.

I suppose it could have been worse. He could have nominated Anthony Lake.

What exactly does "consumer of intelligence" mean, anyway?

"He has been a consumer of intelligence for a long time," Biden said

Me, too. I love to get a good bargain on intelligence. It's delicious.

I hadn't thought of Lake. My fear was that Jane Harmen would be there.

"consumer of intelligence" means that Democrats want to reform the CIA to focus more on the intelligence aspect. Appointing Panetta though? It's like making Greenspan Secretary of Defense.

"'consumer of intelligence' means that Democrats want to reform the CIA to focus more on the intelligence..."

Ah, now I see. In that spirit perhaps we should reform Detroit to focus more on manufacturing cars people want to drive.

I'm thoroughly amused that Obama is trying to appoint Panetta. You'd think the Dems would have learned from the mistake that the Bush Administration made by putting an inexperienced person at the head of FEMA, but apparently they didn't.

The D's never want an honest broker at CIA. There is too much knowledge/power there to be trusted to someone who might upset their nefarious international organized crime biz.