Prediction: Caroline will end up finishing up Teddy’s term

New York’s Kennedy sideshow is over – albeit in some amount of confusion.

Much has been said and continues to speculated on as to whether or not New York Gov. David Paterson was disgusted with Caroline Kennedy and her attempt to serve out Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate term; or, rather was he going to annoint her at a press conference later this week.  Follow the link above and you can read the latest from the Old Grey Lady.

There are more questions than answers.  Was she so stricken by her uncle Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seizure on Inauguration Day that she could just not carry on?  If so, glad she’s out, we need steel in the Senate right now.  Did she have a household worker problem?  Who really cares?  That’s so Clinton Era.  According to the latest numbers about 5% of the U.S. population is undocumented, illegal.  Tax problems?  Caroline, you could’ve been contrite a la Timothy Geithner.  After all, if a financial genius can get away with dodging taxes, surely you could’ve charmed your way out of it.

Here’s what I think.  Hillary just had enough.  After all, it was Teddy and Caroline that annointed Barack the next Jack.  Secretary of State or not, it was just too much for these Obamaniacs to occupy that Senate seat she had carpet bagged so hard for.  I think Hillary did her in.

Caroline seems to signal that Uncle Teddy’s health has something to do with her change in plans.  Here’s how I think that figures in.  Sen. Kennedy will hang as long as he can, but it’s not likely to be another three years.  He retires and voila!  Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachussetts appoints Caroline – and the legacy continues.

President Obama: Day One News Roundup

• On First Day, Obama Quickly Sets Tone – New York Times
• Obama halts prosecutions at Guantanamo – New York Times
• Oath administered once again – New York Times
• Clinton approved, Holder delayed – New York Times
• Obama: New era of openness – Washington Post
• Lobbying rules tightened – Washington Post
• Guantanamo closure faces hurdles – Washington Post
• Inauguration head count: 1.8 million – Washington Post
• Obama asks Pentagon for responsible Iraq drawdown – Associated Press

Sanjay Gupta Would Be Another Inspired Pick

How about a U.S. Surgeon General who still practices neurosurgery from time to time, donates his time to worthy health-related causes around the world and has the media chops to liven up the staid post?  How about Dr. Sanjay Gupta?

Word out tonight is that the Obama team has approached the CNN star who was also a health care adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady.

I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea who currently holds the surgeon general’s post.  I’m not even going to expend the energy to look because whoever it is won’t be there in a month or two.

I remember Jocelyn Elders – I think she advocated something that the right wingers got all bent out of shape about.  I also remember C. Everett Koop, he was the guy who stood up to the cigarette industry.  I also remember that if you held a picture of Koop upside-down, it looked like Koop right-side up.

Read more

Another Chapter About to be Written in the Kennedy Saga?

New York Senate Seat News

• Caroline Kennedy to seek NY Senate seat – New York Times
• Kennedy will approach Paterson on Senate seat - Washington Post
• Caroline Kennedy wants Senate seat: Official - Bloomberg

Video: President-Elect Obama Announces National Security Team & News Conference

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Transcript: Obama News Conference Announcing Hillary Clinton and National Security Team | December 1

(Source: CQ Transcripts Wire)

SPEAKERS: PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA; SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, D-N.Y.; SUSAN E. RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY WORKING GROUP LEADER, OBAMA-BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM; GENERAL JIM JONES (USMC, RET.) SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT M. GATES;
GOVERNOR JANET NAPOLITANO, D-ARIZ., ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER, OBAMA-BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM; FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER; VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

[*] OBAMA: Good morning, everybody. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Last week, we announced our economic team which is working as we speak to craft an economic recovery program to create jobs and grow our struggling economy.

Today, Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce our national security team. The national security challenges we face are just as great and just as urgent as our economic crisis. We are fighting two wars. Our old conflicts remain unresolved. And newly- asserted powers have put strains on the international system. Read more

Video: Obama’s National Security Team, Face the Nation, Woodward, Zakaria, Mayer, Dyson | November 30

The following 16 minute video is well worth watching – insightful talk with Bob Woodward, Fareed Zakaria, Jane Mayer and Michael Eric Dyson regarding President-elect Barack Obama’s announcement tomorrow unveiling his national security team.  One interesting comment from Woodward:

SCHIEFFER: …the president, if all goes as expected, at 10:50 Eastern time tomorrow will
announce his new national security team, to be headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of
state.

Mr. WOODWARD: She never goes away, she and her husband. It’s an amazing national security team that Obama appears to have selected. It’s kind of like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

You’ve got too cool, which might be–or at least appropriately cool, General Jones as the national security adviser; Gates is kind of just right, in the middle; and Hillary Clinton, hot. This is going to be a whole new center of gravity for the news media, for the whole world. My assessment without having any knowledge, really, is that the economists and the economic team around Obama convinced him that the economic crisis is so deep and going to require to much time, go ahead and give Hillary and Bill the world.

Yikes.  I’m not sure that’s what I voted for, Bob.

Does High Drama Clinton Serve ‘No Drama Obama’?

 Drudge’s Headline Brings Pause for Thought

A story in the International Herald Tribune earned the following headline on Drudge Report:

Now, if you read the entire story, you find that most of the piece is about President-elect Barack Obama’s and Sen. Hillary Clinton’s relationship and how it mellowed after their primary fight.  Drudge, though has shown an uncanny ability to pull the bothersome thread from the garment in the past, many times before the rest of the media catches up.  When I saw this headline, I thought, “Oh no, shadow government, Barack’s been too magnanimous and he’s going to pay for it.”

I read the story and Drudge’s headline – and therefore judgement on what the real story is – comes down to this:

By this past Thursday, when Obama reassured Clinton that she would have direct access to him and could select her own staff as secretary of state, the wooing was complete.

In the context of the reporting, it sounds pretty innocuous.  Drudge doesn’t think so, he thinks this is the story.  We won’t know if he’s right for months. But another nugget buried further in the piece is pure Clinton politics and may support why some remain worried about Hillary Clinton as one of Barack’s closest associates:

Clinton, it should be said, was herself diligent in advertising how hard she was working for the man who defeated her. When announcing her appearances, her press office included tallies of how many events she had held for Obama, and in how many states. At some rallies, organizers would distribute “Hillary Sent Me” buttons, as if Clinton was being magnanimous by “sending” her followers to vote for Obama.

You see, Bill and Hillary Clinton have never been ones for humility.  Part of the power and appeal of Barack Obama is that he is cabable of humility.  The mere fact that he surrounds himself with strong intellects and encourages robust policy debate and divergent opinions in his decision-making process is testament to this.  At the end of the day, Obama is still a man who ran for president and won and that qualifies his ego as one of the larger among us.  The reason why he appears to be not cut from the same political cloth as so many others with presidential-sized egos is that he is even more in tune to what’s going on around him.  He is self-aware and world-aware in a way that tempers the ego.

Can the same be said for either Hillary or Bill Clinton? 

I don’t want to ignore the contributions either the former president or the current senator have made to our country.  I will be only cautiously optimistic for now on whether Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State will work for America and the world.

Along with the Clintons’ contributions came colossal drama.  Conditions are too critical and the stakes here and abroad are too high in present times for drama.  I hope the rest of the ‘No Drama Obama’ team has considered this.

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.

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

Campaign stays hot in Ohio: 2008 Elections Coverage by Ohio’s Major Dailies

Columbus Dispatch

• McCain camp sees gap tightening in battleground states
  
• Clinton talks up Obama in Youngstown
  
• In So. Ohio Hillary says Nation needs Obama
  
• Obama army blankets Ohio
  
• Editorial: Sex, Lies and Gifts
  
• The Arnold heading to Columbus
  
• GOP says sorry to House Democrat
  
• Obama likes Clinton vet to serve as CoS
  

Cleveland Plain Dealer

• Clinton, Strickland stump for Obama
  
• McCain ends bus trip with muscle
  
• Springsteen campaigns for Obama this weekend in Cleveland
  
• McCain’s third stop leaves open field
  
• McCain gives shout out to ‘Joe the Plumber’ relatives
  

Dayton Daily News

• Election Board to probe Husted’s Residency
  
• Boehner calls Obama barnyard name
  
• Biden calls McCain Bush’s Sidekick in Kettering
  
• McCain, ‘Joe the Plumber’ draw crowds across Ohio
  
• Judge throws out suit to take Obama off Ohio ballots

Video: Hillary Clinton Speech at DNC

Text: Hillary Clinton Speech Democratic National Convention, Denver 2008

The prepared remarks of Sen. Hillary Clinton in Denver at the Democratic convention.

I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.

Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines. Read more

UPDATE: Breaking News: Gov. Ted Strickland to Address Democratic Convention at 9:34 p.m.

OK, I feel a bit silly writing ‘breaking news,’ but for those of us who thought they had to be in front of their tellys at 6:30 p.m., rest easy.  Ohio’s greatest governor will be speaking at 9:45 9:34 p.m. tonight, a change in the schedule.  UPDATE: Plunderbund reporting 9:34 for Strickland’s speech.  No good Ohioan would want to miss a word of what Strickland has to say, so I’d go on ahead and get your rear end in the La Z Boy at 9:30.

“Liberal” Media Apparently Not in the Tank for Obama

Print and Electronic Media Making PUMAs Out to Be More Than What They Are

I get home from work, kiss the wife, pet the cat and check in on the Fourth Estate’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention.  I was shocked to find out that the floor fights have already begun, Hillary has chained herself to the podium, Bill is threatening self-immolation, and James Carville just decked Howard Dean.

That’s what one would think from the 4,793 headlines on Google News and a review of today’s transcripts of CNN’s coverage.  Every reporter in town is trying to find one of the two or three loud-mouthed, sore losers who are threatening to blow the place up.  CNN’s “Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzed began the program with a quote from James Carville suggesting that the Obama campaign has handled things all wrong — the transcript doesn’t point out when that sentence was uttered or in what context.

The vapid Ann Curry of NBC’s Today Show is the podium reporter tonight on MSNBC.  She literally pummeled poor Nancy Pelosi with questions about Hillary v. Barack.  Memo to Ann: This thing was won about four months ago.  Pelosi was straining so hard to smile through the barrage, she literally sweat Botox.

What’s missing from the media’s theme of discontent at the convention is — discontent.  I haven’t seen one party leader threatening insurrection.  I haven’t read one quote tonight from a party leader saying the situation is tenuous.  There are no signs of Hillary placards in the crowd among the delegates.

What the media may be missing in its attempt to create news is the real news.  Democrats are uniting in Denver this week.

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