This is pretty cool. Someone took the time to time to make this video in which the faces of all 44 Presidents are morphed into each other. My, how far we've come.

What an interesting way to greet the incoming President.

Politico:

On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn't believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice.

According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up.

What's worse: Getting pranked (ala Sarah Palin) or hanging up on the soon-to-be most powerful man in the world?

In the first poll that I've seen since Obama won the presidency and started putting his cabinet together, USA TODAY's poll says Americans are very, very satisfied with what he's done so far.

President-elect Barack Obama gets soaring marks for his handling of the transition and his choices for the Cabinet, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, even at a time the public is downbeat over the economy.'

More than three of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, approve of the job Obama has done so far — broad-based support he'll need as he faces tough decisions ahead.By 69%-25%, those surveyed approve of his pick of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Democratic primary rival, as secretary of State.

No matter how one feels about his cabinet choices, I believe Americans are quite relieved to have a man at the helm, responding like a true leader and making decisive decisions in a time of real economic crisis.
And they also feel as I do that a major stimulus package is needed to help kick start the economy.

In the poll, Americans by more than 3-1 say they trust Obama more than Bush to handle the economy. By 58%-33%, they support Obama's plan for a huge spending package to spur economic growth.

Also Obama's team made a statement that is very reassuring about the Employee Free Choice Act. 

Asked if Obama's support for the Employee Free Choice Act remained as strong as his public proclamations suggested on the campaign trail, transition spokesman Dan Pfeiffer responded, succinctly, "Yes."

As Digby says:

With the kind of support Obama's got going in, EFCA is something that's both achievable and necessary. Despite the hysterical commentary from the right these days, the fact is that unions strengthen the economy not weaken it.

And when liberal bloggers talk, the press listens...

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President-Elect Barack Obama held a news conference this morning to announce his core group of National Security appointments. Impressive and bipartisan, the team signals a dramatic shift in American policy, or as the President-Elect put it, "a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century."

"And so, in this uncertain world, the time has come for a new beginning -- a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century, and to seize the opportunities embedded in those challenges. We will strengthen our capacity to defeat our enemies and support our friends. We will renew old alliances and forge new and enduring partnerships. We will show the world once more that America is relentless in defense of our people, steady in advancing our interests, and committed to the ideals that shine as a beacon to the world: democracy and justice; opportunity and unyielding hope -- because American values are America’s greatest export to the world."

I also included Obama's response to a question about the so-called "Team of Rivals" and how he will ensure that his team will execute his vision, despite any lingering ideological differences or high-profile personality clashes that may exist amongst them. This is exactly why I have not been among those on the left and right who are criticizing any of President-Elect Obama's choices. To me, the most important aspect of assembling a Presidential cabinet is valuing competence over anything else. As he made crystal clear, he chose this team -- and they all decided to accept his nominations -- because he believes they are best prepared to execute his policies and, echoing the phrase made famous by Harry Truman, ultimately "the buck stops with him."

Head over to Change.gov to learn more about the impressive resumés of each nominee.

Teddy at FDL reports that Rep. Danny Davis is in line to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

But if Davis really wants that seat, then he really needs to finally answer exactly why he took part in that bizarre coronation ceremony for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon back in 2002.

Davis not only took a leading part in the ceremony, he's been unapologetic about it since. All of which raises serious questions about Davis' judgment: If he so readily succumbs to the ministrations of one of the world's craziest right-wing ideologues, who else will he sucker for?

Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune is wondering the same thing. Back when this story first emerged, Zorn contacted Davis and asked if he had made a mistake.

"A mistake?" he asked, chuckling in that distinctive, friendly baritone. "No, not a mistake. This was about the promotion of peace. That's all. We were recognizing Rev. and Mrs. Moon as parents. I find it difficult to see that as far out in any way."

Yeah, except that Rev. and Mrs. Moon see themselves as the parents of the entire world. That ceremony was about crowning them as the world's rulers. Read John Gorenfeld's book, Bad Moon Rising, for the complete details.

Surely Illinois can do better than this.

Watch this for yourself and decide: Is Walters, like, checking out Obama during this interview? There's something odd about this ...

President-Elect Barack Obama held his third press conference in as many days today to announce some more of the brilliant economic minds he has chosen to surround himself with. Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker will head up the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and the board's top staff official will be Austan Goolsbee.

MSNBC:

President-elect Barack Obama named a board of economic experts from outside the government to advise him, in his latest bid to reassure nervous consumers and financial markets that he will bring swift economic relief as president.

Obama made the announcement Wednesday in Chicago at a morning news conference in which he tried to reassure Americans that "help is on the way" for the economy.

"I was elected with the charge of getting this economy back in shape," Obama said Wednesday. "We are going to implement starting Day One when I come into office."

Isn't it nice to finally have some adults in charge?

OMG, another leak.

Seeking experience in a time of war, President-elect Barack Obama will keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in that job — if only temporarily — and he has chosen a retired Marine general to be his national security adviser, officials said Tuesday. Gates and retired Gen. James Jones bring years of experience to the Cabinet of a 47-year-old commander in chief with a relatively thin foreign policy resume.

Obama, who rolled out the key components of his economic team this week, plans to announce his foreign policy braintrust after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Gates, who has served as President George W. Bush's defense chief for two years, will remain in the Cabinet for some time, probably a year, according to an official familiar with discussions between the two men. A Democratic official said Jones was Obama's pick to head the National Security Council, the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not authorized anybody to discuss the deliberations.

I think most of us expected this pick. He's got his Republican now. Hopefully, Gates will be replaced once Obama is comfortably settled in as President. And don't be fooled by the conservative talking heads that cheer on his moves. It's all designed to tweak us and I bet behind the scenes all the David Brooks types are laughing, trying so desperate to be relevant again.

Meanwhile:

John Brennan won't be CIA Director or DNI

This is really exceptional news on multiple levels -- the best political news I've heard since the election:

I'm not sure what everyone has been thinking. Obama said he'd be bipartisan, weed us off dependence on foreign oil, negotiate with the world at large instead of attacking them and never, ever torture people. He also promised to cut taxes for that plumber guy and implement a sweeping change in our health care system and also inject a much-needed stimulus package into the economy. One would hope it would be called universal health care. Bush has left Obama with a complete disaster and I'm going to at least wait until he takes office and begins trying to dig us out of the ditch before I get too upset over his picks.

If you remember, during the general election Howie and I wrote a post called:

Anatomy of a Right Wing Myth: Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator

If only! Actually there are 39 Democrats with more liberal voting records, although Obama does at least beat perennial Bush rubber stamps Holy Joe Lieberman (CT), Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA). His voting record-- however you slice it, however you dice it-- points to a solidly mainstream centrist...read on

Obama has never said anything different in his campaign. There's been some rumblings in the blogosphere about Obama's choices to fill out his Cabinet so far. I like Christopher Hayes a lot, but I think he's wrong here. When did he promise a Cabinet full of Progressives? And Chris Bowers writes:

I really don't want to be pessimistic about the new Obama administration. Rather, I much preferred my optimistic mood from last night, discussing how the House seems to be moving in a more progressive direction, and how cutting military spending was a real possibility over the next couple of years. That felt good, and I want to keep feeling that way.

However, the apparent leading contenders for several top Obama administration positions continue to worry me.

Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff, Bob Gates possibly retained at Defense, Tom Daschle at Health and Human Services and Eric Holder at Justice. With the market dropping because of more economic bad news, Obama named Timothy Geithner as the nation's next Treasury Secretary. What do you know? With a little leadership displayed, Wall Street rallied.

Continue reading »

Melber did a nice job yesterday on MSNBC of helping the hapless souls of the mainstream media understand what those dirty frigging hippies of the netroots are bringing to the national discourse -- and sticking up for the anonymous wankers who want to diss their influence.

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The Obama camp sure is leaking a lot of names out there these days. They are called trial balloons:

Here's the definition:

A trial balloon is information sent out in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It can be used by companies sending out press releases to judge reaction by customers, or it can be used by politicians who deliberately leak information on a policy change under consideration. In politics trial balloons often take the form of an intentional news leak to assess public opinion.

The newest one that NBC is reporting is that Hillary Clinton is being considered for Secretary of State.

There's talk, indeed, that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) may now be under consideration for the post. Her office referred any questions to the Obama transition; Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment.

The pick of the former presidential contender and Senate Armed Services Committee member would go a long way toward healing any remaining divisions within the Democratic Party after the divisive primaries. Also, Clinton has long been known for her work on international women's issues and human rights. The former first lady could also enhance Obama's efforts to restore U.S. standing amongst allies worldwide.

This one is very interesting indeed. She's certainly qualified for the job and it certainly would freak out the freepers.

TPM's Josh Marshall asks "Why Gates?" Tuesday.

Gareth Porter at IPS has been talking to (anonymous, as ever) Obama transition team folks who tell him that the chances of Robert Gates staying on as SecDef "are now about 10 percent".

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that two unnamed Obama advisers had said Obama was "leaning toward" asking Gates stay on, although the report added that other candidates were also in the running. The Journal said Gates was strongly opposed to any timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, and it speculated that a Gates appointment "could mean that Mr. Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010."

Some Obama advisers have been manoeuvering for a Gates nomination for months. Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig publicly raised the idea of a Gates reprise in June and again in early October. Danzig told reporters Oct. 1, however, that he had not discussed the possibility with Obama.

Obama advisers who support his Iraq withdrawal plan, however, have opposed a Gates appointment. Having a defence secretary who is not fully supportive of the 16-month timetable would make it very difficult, if not impossible for Obama to enforce it on the military.

A source close to the Obama transition team told IPS Tuesday that the chances that Gates would be nominated by Obama "are now about 10 percent".

The source said that Obama is going to stick with his 16-month withdrawal timeline, despite the pressures now being brought to bear on him. "There is no doubt about it," said the source, who refused to elaborate because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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Digby had a really interesting post up about Obama's meeting with General Petraeus in Baghdad some time ago.

[Q] I have been collecting accounts of your meeting with David Petraeus in Baghdad. And you had [inaudible] after he had made a really strong pitch [inaudible] for maximum flexibility. A lot of politicians at that moment would have said [inaudible] but from what I hear, you pushed back.

[BO] I did. I remember the conversation, pretty precisely. He made the case for maximum flexibility and I said you know what if I were in your shoes I would be making the exact same argument because your job right now is to succeed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. My job as a potential commander in chief is to view your counsel and your interests through the prism of our overall national security which includes what is happening in Afghanistan, which includes the costs to our image in the middle east, to the continued occupation, which includes the financial costs of our occupation, which includes what it is doing to our military. So I said look, I described in my mind at list an analogous situation where I am sure he has to deal with situations where the commanding officer in [inaudible] says I need more troops here now because I really think I can make progress doing x y and z. That commanding officer is doing his job in Ramadi, but Petraeus’s job is to step back and see how does it impact Iraq as a whole.

My argument was I have got to do the same thing here. And based on my strong assessment particularly having just come from Afghanistan were going to have to make a different decision. But the point is that hopefully I communicated to the press my complete respect and gratitude to him and Proder who was in the meeting for their outstanding work. Our differences don't necessarily derive from differences in sort of, or my differences with him don't derive from tactical objections to his approach. But rather from a strategic framework that is trying to take into account the challenges to our national security and the fact that we've got finite resources.

Read the full interview. I love the fact that Obama stood up to the mighty Petraeus and said if I'm the President, I make the calls in the end and not you. Bush used the good General to take the heat off himself for the disaster that is named Iraq and Afghanistan so that anyone disagreeing with Bush was actually attacking Petraues and by extension the military.

What a coward Bush is. It'll be a wonderful day when he is gone, but I think what this interview signals to me is that when the time is right, Petraeus will quit his job and turn into a full-on political machine. He's a darling of the right, and if you witnessed any of his briefings you know that he will love being in the limelight.

I think there is nearly zero chance that Petraeus is apolitical and I would bet good money that he is positioning himself for a role in shaping policy. His willingness to be used by the Bush administration proves it in my mind. in fac, his recent protestations of being above politics are actually very cunning --- if the country devolves back into angry partisanship, which it will (it always does), TMCP will be positioned to be the apolitical outsider with the leadership experience to lead us out of the darkness. There is no doubt in my mind that when he looks in the mirror he sees President Petraeus.

My suggestion to Obama: Watch your back.

I forgot to post this the other day, but I think it's important. Jon "nuclear option" Kyl shot off his mouth the other day to the Federalist Society and threatened to block Supreme Court nominees of Barack Obama only a few days after the election.

Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, warned president-elect Barack Obama that he would filibuster U.S. Supreme Court appointments if those nominees were too liberal.

Kyl, Arizona's junior senator, expects Obama to appoint judges in the mold of U.S Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and Stephen Breyer. Those justices take a liberal view on cases related to social, law and order and business issues, Kyl said.

"He believes in justices that have empathy," said Kyl, speaking at a Federalist Society meeting in Phoenix. The attorneys group promotes conservative legal principles.

Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

Steve says: "Think about that. The second highest ranking Republican in the Senate, just a few days after the election, is already talking about blocking Supreme Court nominations that haven't been named, in response to Supreme Court vacancies that don't exist."

And Howie Klein ads:

...according to CNN exit polls, those who claimed that the Supreme Court was a factor in their decision in the presidential election, broke for Obama 53-45% and voters who called future Supreme Court appointments the most important factor went for Obama even more strongly-- 57 to 41%.

The more Republicans talk, the more irrelevant they become.

The CIA is worried that Obama won't get their backs if things go wrong.

“I was with a group of intelligence officers today,” Roger Cressey, a counterterrorism official in the Clinton White House, said on MSNBC Thursday night, “and I think the most important thing for the president to say is, ‘We’ve got your back.’ That ‘we want you to take risks — risks that conform with our law and our values as a country.’

“What the intelligence community is afraid of more than anything is the game of ‘Gotcha,’” Cressey said. “Which is, if they make a mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, the White House doesn’t support them, they’re left out to dry, and Congress crushes them. And then you get into that risk-averse mentality, which we saw for awhile. So that is what they want. They want support, so they know that the president is going to be behind them. But also that he’s going to lead them.”

I agree with Digby on this one.

On torture, there can be no more blurring of definitions. There is plenty of scholarship that shows that there are better ways of obtaining reliable intelligence. Torture is not only immoral, it's lazy and counterproductive --- and is likely used most often out of some misplaced notion that being known to be brutal and ruthless is helpful to America's reputation.

That is wrong. The CIA needs to know up front that Obama will not have their back if they engage in torture --- and that the torture legal framework under Bush is no longer operative in any way. There really is no other choice on this and I expect that he will do it. He knows very well that his foreign policy will be in complete shambles the minute it is leaked --- and it will be --- that the Obama administration has sanctioned torture, either through commission or omission. His great opportunity across the world to prove that America has changed will be lost.