Robert Gates and Mike Mullen (Pentagon), Bernard Bernanke (Federal Reserve), and Robert Mueller (FBI) likely to stay put in their current jobs when the Obama administration takes over next year.
This is the first time in 40 years that the most famous black man in America is not an actor, musician, or professional athlete.
Elections Have Consequences
Posted: November 9, 2008 in 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Obama AdministrationTags: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Obama Administration
The Washington Post has this writeup of some of the immediate executive branch policy changes being looked at by the new administration.
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.
In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
“The kind of regulations they are looking at” are those imposed by Bush for “overtly political” reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration’s Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama’s team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush’s appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.
Sarah Palin’s Wardrobe
Posted: November 8, 2008 in 2008 Elections, Sarah PalinTags: 2008 Elections, Sarah Palin
The McCain-Palin campaign is over, but Wardrobe-gate lives on. More embarrassing details have emerged about Sarah Palin’s infamous shopping sprees — including even more designer duds, plus sprayed-on tans and fancy underwear.
On top of the $150,000 first outlined in Federal Election Commission filings, Palin spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on additional clothing, makeup and jewelry for herself and her family, including $40,000 in luxury goods for her husband, Todd, our colleague Michael Shear reports. The campaign was charged for silk boxer shorts, spray tanners and 13 suitcases to carry all the designer clothes, according to two GOP insiders.
“The shopping continued after the convention in Minneapolis, it continued all around the country,” one source said. “She was still receiving shipments of custom-designed underpinnings up to her ‘Saturday Night Live’ performance” in October. Sources said expenses were put on the personal credit cards of low-level Palin staffers and discovered when they asked party officials for reimbursement.
Barack Obama Is My Homeboy
Posted: November 8, 2008 in 2008 Elections, Barack ObamaTags: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Italy, Rome
I was walking around my neighborhood in Rome the other night and found this flier from a Roman nightclub on a car windshield.
Translation:
Les Enfants Prodiges
in collaboration with
Salotto 42
present
Milkshake
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Barack Obama
Is My Homeboy
Yes We Can
Translation:
Thursday, 6 November 2008, starts 2300 hours (11 pm)
Les Enfants prodiges in collaboration with Salotto 42 are pleased to invite you on 6 November, 2008 to the special party dedicated to Senator Barack Obama.
Milkshake is proud to host this party, having been for seven years the multiethnic party par excellence on the Roman nightlife scene.
We expect many to turn out for this event, regardless of the outcome of the elections.
They Write Letters
Posted: November 7, 2008 in Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, National Security, Obama AdministrationTags: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, National Security, Obama Administration
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has written President-elect Barack Obama a letter congratulating him for his election victory, and said he hoped the new president would “choose to honor the real interests of people and justice and equity over the insatiable appetites of the selfish minority.” Ahmadinejad also said that people want “fundamental change in the American government’s policies, both foreign and domestic.”
This is an interesting development for several reasons. First, during the campaign Hillary Clinton and John McCain tried to hammer Obama over his willingness to talk to America’s adversaries without preconditions, Iran being one of the countries in question. Second, this is the first time since the Iranian revolution of 1979 that an Iranian president has congratulated an American president-elect.
You can read an English translation of the full text of the letter here.
This could be the beginning of an interesting new chapter in U.S.-Iranian diplomatic relations.
Elections Have Consequences
Posted: November 6, 2008 in 2008 Elections, SenateTags: 2008 Elections, Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, Senate
Harry Reid is calling Joe Lieberman in to have a little chat. Expect at a minimum for him to lose his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, and for him to be ineligible for any leadership positions in the Democratic caucus.
This leaves Lieberman with the worst of both worlds. If he stays with the Democrats, he will be in the majority but won’t have any input in shaping the agenda someone of his seniority normally would. If he defects to the Republicans, he will be in the minority, where he will probably have even less influence, and in all likelihood would not even get vicechairman status on a Senate subcomittee.
Icepicks and Nukes 