Obama Transition: Meet the New Team, Same as the Old Team

Progressives and others who backed Barack Obama for president are pulling their hair out a bit as the Obama presidency begins to take shape as … the Clinton presidency.

Here’s what we know and what we think we know:

• White House CoS - Rahm Emanuel - Clinton Alumni
• Secretary of State - Hillary Clinton - Former First Lady
• Secretary of HHS - Tom Daschle - Former Senate Leader from Clinton Era
• Secretary of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano - Actual Newcomer
• Secretary of the Treasury - Larry Summers - Clinton Alumni
• Attorney General - Eric Holder - Clinton Alumni

Now some are looking at this list and wondering where the change is coming for the top cabinet spots.  Here’s where the benefit of the doubt has to come in.

If you voted for Barack Obama and believe that he means what he says and that he’ll work toward a different Washington, one more responsive to the needs of regular folks and less so to the special interests - remember that he’s not even in office yet. 

When these prospective Cabinet members worked for or in the Clinton administration it was in the heady days when the Democratic Party first fell in love with Wall Street and its money.  They were smitten.  These smart people were tired of ceding the “business” argument to the Republican Party.  Except for perhaps Robert Reich and James Carville every Democrat in Washington during the nineties bent over backwards to deregulate and tear down firewalls because Goldman Sachs and their favorite Republican, Alan Greenspan, said it was good for business.

Here’s what’s different: Obama.  Despite all the crap that John McCain and the Republican Party threw at Barack Obama during the campaign, he stayed on message.  That’s integrity.  That’s steadiness and steel.  I believe the guy when he says things are going to change.

As for the retreads - other things have changed.  The Democratic Party is still heavily funded by the investment class and its economic brainpower is still a little too tied to Wall Street for my comfort, but these people aren’t stupid.  They got caught up in the same high flying economy so many did during the nineties.  The difference was they were in power and we can trace some of today’s financial crisis to the policies they pursued back then.  We can only hope they’ve learned their lesson and the great talent of people like Rahm Emanuel and Tom Daschle will be fully aligned with Barack Obama’s world view and public policy.

One thing I do wish they’d try again from the nineties.  Remember when they deregulated cable TV?  I’m still waiting for the “competition” to lower my cable bills.

Indian Navy Destroys Pirate Ship - Is This How Far U.S. Has Slipped?

WTF? 21st Century Pirates - Opportunity for Bush or Obama

Ahoy!

There be pirates about the seven seas and they are the real deal.

A couple of months ago I remember a story about pirates taking control of a Ukranian ship laden with arms.  It seemed silly that there are pirates capable of doing such things in the 21st century - and getting away with it - and I didn’t write about it. 

In the last two days however there have been more spectacular pirate attacks.  The Sirius Star, a 1000 foot-long oil supertanker carrying $100 million worth of Saudi crude oil lies at anchor off the Somali coast after being hijacked.  There are reports that the pirates are negotiating with U.K.-based lawyers on a ransom.  A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship was seized by pirates off the coast of Yemen this morning.  It’s carrying thousands of tons of wheat to Iran.

The problem is Somalia.  The country has been without a legitimate government since 1991.  It’s essentially lawless.  A review of news reports shows most contemporary pirates are considered to be Somali.  The problem is also the governments and businesses who own the ships.  I was pretty surprised to find out that it is de rigeur to negotiate with pirates and essentially pay ransoms to secure the crews and cargoes taken. It pays to be a Somali pirate.

Political Opportunity?

If you think about it, it’s just ridiculous in 2008, with all of the resources, large navies and technology in the world that we have pirates.  Aaargh!

The opportunity for George W. Bush is apparent.  He is the black and white thinking president of modern times.  This pirate stuff is just that: good versus evil - black and white.  Bush is unpopular at home and abroad.  What a great way for him to go out than by declaring a war on pirates!  This one would actually be a winner.  We’re not pissing on anyone’s sovereignty, we’re going after those who are already doing that.  And, what could be a more true-blue American move than to rid the world of an evil menace.

I think if Bush captures or kills pirates on his way out, he moves the old legacy bar up a notch.  This shouldn’t be a hard sell for the president.  Pirates bad!

How about the Obama play?  If Bush demurs, there’s still a winner - the next president. 

Can you imagine the political and public relations capital Barack Obama will gain with the public and media if he goes after pirates?  Obama hasn’t taken his first steps as president and the media have already annointed him Franklin Delano Obama.  Can you imagine if this guy goes out and kicks some pirate ass?  The sky’s the limit for him then.

Somebody needs to do something about these pirates.  The whole notion of pirates who are so well resourced, trained, and lawyered up that they can ransom a supertanker is just incongruous with a civil world society.

Video: Barack and Michelle Obama on ‘60 Minutes’ | Entire Interview | November 16, 2008

Watch CBS Videos Online

Transcript: President-Elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama on ‘60 Minutes’ | November 16

(Source: CBS News)

(Narration) Steve Kroft:Since Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States 12 days ago, he has largely remained out of sight, getting high-level government briefings and conferring with his transition team. But he surfaced on Friday afternoon in Chicago, alongside his wife Michelle to give 60 Minutes his first post-election interview.

It covers a wide range of subjects including the economy, the ailing automobile industry, the government’s $700 billion bailout program, their visit to the White House, the emotions of election night and the quest for a family dog. You’ll hear all of it. But we begin with the president-elect and his thoughts about the new job.

Steve Kroft: So here we are.

President-elect Barack Obama: Here we are.

Kroft: How’s your life changed in the last ten days?

Mr. Obama: Well, I tell you what, there seem to be more people hovering around me. That’s for sure. And, on the other hand, I’m sleeping in my own bed over the last ten days, which is quite a treat. Michelle always wakes up earlier than I do. So listen to her roaming around and having the girls come in and, you know, jump in your bed. It’s a great feeling. Yeah. Read more

Obama Transition: Obama Team Taking a Page From Strickland Playbook

Here in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland made a statement in the opening hours of his term in January 2007. 

His first official act was not an executive order undoing some GOP policy an interest group was clamoring for; his first act was to make good on a promise made during the campaign to change the culture on Capitol Square.  President-elect Barack Obama’s transition is sounding a similar note this week in Chicago.

On January 8, 2007 - just hours after taking office - Strickland signed his first executive order which tightened ethics rules on his own administration.  Strickland had run a campaign to “Turnaround Ohio.” Part of that turn around was to run an administration which was grounded in service and the public’s interest.  This meant taking measures to set the tone to avoid the ethics issues and scandals of past state governments.  His rules are the tightest of any other Ohio governor and cover areas such as the ‘revolving door’ and gifts.

Two articles caught my eye this morning and had me thinking about those initial actions taken by Strickland. From the Washington Post is a piece about Obama’s efforts to control the influence of lobbyists during the transition. And Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Tribune focuses on the issue of transparency in how the Obama team will fund the transition. Read more

With DHL Leaving, Who Other Than Ted Strickland Would You Want in the Governor’s Office?

During a Tuesday trip to Wilmington, Gov. Ted Strickland told the Southwest Ohio community, “We will get through this, and we will do it together.”

Strickland was of course talking about the planned closure of DHL’s operations at the Wilmington Air Park.  According to a story in the Dayton Daily News, DHL employs between 7,400 and 7,800 people there.  The city of Wilmington itself has a population of around 12,000, but the Air Park employs people from a several county area.

For folks faced with the prospect of losing their jobs, there doesn’t seem to be much room for hope in the current economy.  One thing people in Clinton and other area counties may glean some measure of hope in is who they have advocating for them.

Governor Ted Strickland represented Wilmington and Clinton County when it was part of the old Sixth Congressional District.  He knows the area well and has bonds with members of the area’s business and political communities.  He’s advocated for them before, he’s advocated for them as Governor and with things looking grim, it’s a given he’ll redouble his efforts.

Strickland has talked about seeking assistance from the federal government for extended unemployment and other benefits to get workers through the interim and help them get back on their feet.  It’s one thing to say Strickland cares and he’ll work hard to get results.  It’s another thing to say that Strickland’s political organization just delivered the White House for the first Democratic president in eight years.

If there’s any governor better positioned to advocate for federal help in turning around an economic crisis within their state, it’s Strickland.  That doesn’t mean Southwest Ohio will receive a get out of recession free card.  There’s a whole nation of people hurting out there and President-elect Barack Obama’s administration will be under intense pressure from every conceivable direction from day one.  Still, it can’t hurt having Strickland on our side.

Stop the Madness: Right Wing Nutjob Still Tilting at Marxist Windmills

From the Anals of Congressman Paul Broun

No, that’s not a typo.  U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-GA, is talking out of his ass. 

Like the lone Japanese soldier left behind on a remote Pacific atoll, Broun doesn’t know the war is over.  In an AP story today, this supposed public servant continues to insinuate President-elect Barack Obama has “marxist” or “socialist” tendencies.  What’s worse, he trots out the age old crutch of the brain-addled in a political argument: the “H” word:

“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”

Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.

“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun said. “When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

Yeah, that “H” word, ‘Hitler.’ 

First let’s deal with the obvious - Broun’s misguided sense of history and political ideology. To conflate an alleged national security force proposal with “… what Hitler did in Nazi Germany …” and call it “signs of being Marxist,” is stupid.  Hitler was as anti-communist and anti-Marxist as he was antisemitic.  As part of his climb to dictatorship, Adolph Hitler used a dutch communist/Marxist sympathizer, Marinus van der Lubbe as a patsy in the burning of the Reichstag.  Hitler was not yet supreme leader in Germany and the drama ensuing from the Reichstag “plot” led to a emergency decree which greatly increased his powers.

Second, there is a growing rumbling in the bowels of the internet about whether or not Obama plans to begin some sort of national security force.  From Obama’s campaign website, here’s a bullet point from his “Service” policy page:

Expand AmeriCorps from its current 75,000 slots to 250,000 slots, enabling the program to establish five new Corps that address some of America’s most pressing challenges: Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps, and Homeland Security Corps.

Now if you know what AmeriCorps is, these other “corps” sound like auxilliary groups.  Nothing about “Homeland Security Corps” screams out Brownshirt or Gestapo to me.  To the perpetually paranoid, maybe, but perpetual paranoia is a mental disorder.

Right-wingers on the Internet are pointing to comments made by Obama on the campaign trail, where according to the Associated Press story linked above, he said a civilian force may be able to handle some of the domestic security duties of the military.  Well, I’m sorry, but I think we’ve just gone through a pretty thourough vetting and parsing of every word uttered by both candidates in the 2008 presidential race.  If Barack Obama said anything that even resembled instituting a secret police, Obama Youth or Brownshirts he would’ve been called on it and his candidacy severely wounded.

Intellectually, the right wing is a blunt instrument incapable of nuanced thought or honest argument.  It appears that what Obama said was not clear enough for them so they’ve ascribed their own dark worldview to his words. 

Broun, who I guess we’ll call a poster boy now for this scary constituency said he equates what he believes are Obama’s intentions with “Marxism.”  Let’s correct the record here as well.  If any president instituted what the right fears most in this regard, it would be fascism, not Marxism or socialism.  Broun is mixing his demagog’s vocabulary.

Finally - does any rational American believe that a movement with lofty principles - from beginning to end - and built on voluteerism, free expression and inclusion is capable of fascism - in this country with this Constitution?

Could someone please tell Congressman Broun the war is over?

Ohio Sunday Papers - November 9, 2008

Politics & Elections News

• Obama’s focus on rural and urban Ohio paid off - Dayton Daily News
• Budish will focus on economy as Speaker - The Plain Dealer
• Voters more likely to mess up without machines - Columbus Dispatch
• Cuyahoga Corruption probe one of many investigations - The Plain Dealer
• Out of state volunteers energized campaigns - The Plain Dealer
• Quick action on economy tops wish list - Toledo Blade
• Young people tune into Obama’s call to service - Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Working Together - Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Ohio Dems have a House of their own - The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Dems should preserve Republican school reforms - Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Republicans lost more ground than Dems gained - Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Mayor Michael Coleman: Black community’s expectations a hurdle for Obama - Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Obama, Charles Preston and History - Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Bill before Ohio Legislature bad for consumers - The Plain Dealer

Other News

• Rush to deregulate - Columbus Dispatch
• Cleveland Medical Mart threatened by NY project - The Plain Dealer
• Cleveland or NY? Advantages for Medical Mart - The Plain Dealer

Sunday Papers – November 9, 2008

New York Times Magazine

• After the Imperial Presidency– Jonathan Mahler
• Payday Lenders, Check Cashers – Redeemed?– Douglas McGray
• Deprogramming Jihadists– Katherine Zoepf

New York Times

• Obama team weighs what to take on first
• Harsh words about Obama? Never mind
• Citing workload public lawyers refuse new cases
• How Merrill fell
• Pelosi, Reid want aid for U.S. automakers
• Op-Ed, Frank Rich: It still felt good morning after
• Op-Ed, Al Gore: The climate for change
• Op-Ed, Thomas Friedman: Show me the money
• Op-Ed, Nicholas Kristof: Obama and the War on Brains
• Rice visits West Bank
• U.S. electricity project in Afghanistan
• Back home, Palin finds landscape changed
• After push for Obama, Unions seek new rules

Washington Post

• Preparing for the Obama era
• Reid, Pelosi urge Treasury to extend aid to automakers
• Self-sufficiency evades Iraqi security forces
• Obama positioned to reverse Bush actions
• Medvedev calls Obama; Kremlin describes call
• Congressional Democrats say economy first priority
• Op-Ed, Rich Lowry: The right needs to get centered
• Op-Ed, Joseph Stiglitz: More pain to come even if he’s perfect
• Op-Ed, Ron Suskind: U.S. has power – it could use authority
• Op-Ed, David Broder: Governors know best
• Op-Ed, George Will: Democratic ironies and Republican Afflictions

Los Angeles Times

• Democrats set sights on Texas
• Public works on the table once again
• Obama relies on a close-knit inner circle
• Op-Ed, Norman Ornstein: The GOP’s deep hole
• Op-Ed, James Rainey: Right-wing media feeds its post-election anger
• Political blogger be nimble, be quick
• Election leaves gay couple feeling isolated

Video: Paul Krugman on Economy and Obama’s Economic Plan | November 7

Video: President-Elect Barack Obama First Press Conference, Chicago, November 7

Transcript: President-Elect Barack Obama First Press Conference, Chicago, IL

(Source: CNN)
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a his first news conference as president-elect Friday afternoon. The following is a transcript of the conference:

Obama: Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much.

This morning, we woke up to more sobering news about the state of our economy. The 240,000 jobs lost in October marks the 10th consecutive month that our economy has shed jobs. In total, we’ve lost nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, and more than 10 million Americans are now unemployed. Read more

Will Kevin DeWine be first ORP Chairman to Switch Parties?

Kevin DeWine sounded for one day like he might be a Democrat.

In a surprisingly frank, candid interview with Joe Hallett of the Columbus Dispatch, DeWine, soon to take the helm as Ohio Republican Party chairman, nailed the reasons for Republican decline right on the head. In fact, if you were to turn around the issues he blames on GOP demise, you might end up with the current-day Democratic Party.

DeWine’s comments are the first intellectual honesty I’ve heard from any prominent Republican, locally or nationally, for months. Here’s a list to sum up what he said are the reasons the Ohio and national GOP are ailing:

• The party has become distracted and fixated on social issues.
• The GOP has drifted away from its core conservative message of fiscal responsibility and limited government.
• Republicans aren’t talking about issues that matter in people’s everyday lives.
• A tired message has turned off younger voters, ages 18-29.
• The party is not leveraging new media and fundraising opportunities on the Internet.
• Then there’s Iraq, ethics concerns and an unpopular Republican president.

Then DeWine gets to the heart of the matter:

“We have to exchange a fiscal message and economic message in for a social message that has dominated the messaging of this party for the last decade. We have to re-engage the middle class, step up with an agenda that solves problems and puts people first.”

An “agenda that solves problems and puts people first” — Hmmm, sounds like Bill Clinton, Ted Strickland or Barack Obama.

I’d like to introduce Mr. DeWine to some friends of mine I’ll just call the Democratic Party. We’re not fixated on social issues; we prefer to stay out of folks’ bedrooms and uteri. Recent history shows that the last president in a generation to achieve a budget surplus was a Democrat. Here in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland has brought accountability and efficiency to state government through regulatory reform, procurement reform and the strongest ethics policies of any governor. As for party organization and leveraging the World Wide Web for communication and fundraising, Barack Obama just finished what Howard Dean started – a new standard has been set.

If Kevin DeWine and the Ohio Republican Party are about good stewardship of public resources and putting people first in an agenda to solve problems, I’d suggest they just join the Democrats – we’re already there.

Obama Transition: News Roundup – November 6 - PM

Emanuel accepts White House job – Politico

Rahm Emanuel: Political Pit Bull– Forbes

Emanuel: Tough Guy Rep– Associated Press

The New Team– New York Times

Several early choices have Clinton pedigrees– New York Times

Bush and Obama to discuss wars, economy– Washington Post

Federal workers could face shake up– Washington Post

Op-Ed, Dan Froomkin: A different kind of White House– Washington Post

Democrats drafting list of Bush rules to change– Washington Post

Obama works phones to build Cabinet– U.S. News & World Report

Barack Obama faces tough choices during transition – The Guardian (U.K.)

Rahm Emanuel and Israel – The Atlantic

Who will fill Obama’s Senate seat? – Chicago Tribune

Keep Gates at the Pentagon– Chicago Tribune

The Transition Begins – National Public Radio

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