Hillary Clinton

One "change" we're seeing in the newly forming administration is the return of expertise and a respect for academic accomplishment. George Bush loved to brag about being a C student. Somehow I don't think that approach will continue in the Obama White House. And while good leadership doesn't require an advanced degree, it doesn't hurt to have some expertise. I put together this comparison of Bush's original team and Obama's so far (source: Wikipedia). I've bolded those with more education.  read more »

I find the traditional media intolerable for its fake little dramas.  Obama for instance promised a centrist administration that took in points of view from all sides, and he is delivering on that promise.  I didn't like what he said at the time, but I understood he said it.  It is not therefore a betrayal of the left that he is doing exactly what he said he'd do.  The narrative that Obama was an ideologically progressive was nearly always in contradiction to his own statements and political choices, as Chris noted on Hardball last night.

The drama over Hillary Clinton is similarly ridiculous.  read more »

Just as an add-on to my column this week, I wanted to add one two more macro thought about Obama's appointments, and progressive unrest about those appointments.

First, I think there's a psychological aspect to what bothers progressives about Obama's refusal to appoint movement progressives to key positions. Obama won with a clear progressive mandate and thanks to huge progressive support, and there's a perception that he's delivering the spoils of that victory to those who embody what the election rejected.

In that sense, there's a Rodney Dangerfield harrumph - we progressives get no respect.  read more »

Note: I don't usually think it is cool to single out individual commenters since they don't have an equal platform with which to respond, but I was pushed on this one by multiple people in the comments. So, please consider it a respectful rebuttal rather than an angry singling out. Also, consider it a rare event. I'm not going to make a habit of this--Chris

Over the past week, I have argued on several occasions that Obama's cabinet picks have been unanimously centrist so far. Commenter devilrays disputes this, and provides the following ideological classification of the picks so far:

1. Liberals / progressives: Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, Bill Richardson, Tom Daschle, John Podesta, and Rahm Emanuel

2. Moderates / centrists: Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers

3.

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This week, Media Matters Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert wrote a brillian tour de force, "Covering new presidents: the media's double standard", which provides a detailed comparison of the vast difference between how the press savaged Bill Clinton early on and how it rolled over and played dead for GW Bush.  In particular, Boehlert makes it clear that attacks on Clinton began even before he took office:

If the past is prologue, it's important to remember two things as the new Democratic administration prepares to take up residence. First, the press in 1992 was tagged as being overly affectionate toward Clinton in the general election. By early 1993, there had been a sea change in how journalists treated the Democrat. And second, Clinton's bad press started years before impeachment and months before any kind of official scandal machinery was put in place inside the U.S. Capitol.

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WASHINGTON — She's been a mother, a lawyer and a first lady, an aggrieved wife, a U.S. senator and a nearly victorious candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Now Hillary Clinton appears set to take on a new role: secretary of state.

What do you do after a huge number of new swing-district Democrats win office promising to reform NAFTA? Apparently, if you are D.C. Democrats, you do this:

Obama May Delay Nafta Overhaul, in Victory for Caterpillar, GE

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama, who threatened during the presidential campaign to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless he could renegotiate it, may delay reworking the accord...

Nafta is a powerful symbol because of its unpopularity. More than half of American voters polled in June by Rasmussen Reports favored renegotiating the agreement...

"We saw more candidates campaigning on fair trade than in anytime in history," said Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a critic of the Bush administration's free-trade agenda.

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The vote on Senator Lieberman's chairmanship will be held tomorrow. Even though it will take place behind closed doors and without a roll call vote, you can still make your voice heard by signing the Just Say No To Joe petition at FDL. Or, you could directly call a member of the Democratic Steering committee:

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - Chairwoman (202) 224-4822
Harry Reid, Nevada (202) 224-3542
John Kerry, Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (202) 224-3934
Robert Byrd, West Virginia (202) 224-3954
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts (202) 224-4543
Joe Biden, Delaware (202) 224-5042
Patrick Leahy, Vermont (202) 224-4242
Chris Dodd, Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin, Iowa (202) 224-3254
Max Baucus, Montana (202) 224-2651
Richard Durbin, Illinois (202) 224-2152
Kent Conrad, North Dakota (202) 224-2043  read more »

Barack Obama will host Dick Cheney on Tuesday in Chicago for talks on subjects the President-elect's transition team would not reveal but sources say include covert Bush Administration policies Cheney would like to see continued.

The Obama-Cheney meeting will come on the heels of an Obama-McCain detente on Monday. Sources say Obama and McCain will discuss issues the two can work together on during the upcoming Obama administration. 

Last week Obama met with Senator Hillary Clinton about her possible appointment as Secretary of State. These meetings with former rivals underscore the approach Obama will take and the influence of his idol Abraham Lincoln. Obama has frequently mentioned Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Lincoln, "Team of Rivals," as a template for his administration.  read more »

If Hillary Clinton does not accept the Secretary of State job, then it appears Bill Richardson is next in line:

President-elect Barack Obama has interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson for secretary of state, according to Democratic officials who revealed his secret meetings with both as he weighed the decision on folding former foes into his new administration. Obama met with Richardson late Friday afternoon, a day after conferring one-on-one with Clinton at his Chicago office, said several Democratic officials.

Richardson has already proven his diplomatic mettle in places like Sudan, North Korea and Iraq. Also, it would be great to have a proponent of No Residual Forces in Iraq so high up on the power ladder.  read more »

Beyond the sheer mendacity of the 'center-right nation' meme, there lies serious discussion of whether the election we just had is, indeed a realigning election.  The mendacious meme and the serious discussion are clearly related: if this was a realignment, then we can say, "Well, maybe it was a center-right nation, but it isn't anymore."  There's just one problem: no one can quite agree on what a realigning election is.  read more »

WASHINGTON — As President-elect Barack Obama meets with former rivals John McCain and Hillary Clinton, two of his surrogates are meeting with at least 15 major world powers and key U.S. allies in Washington for the global economic summit.

Nico Pitney reports for the Huffington Post:

President-elect Barack Obama offered Sen. Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting Thursday in Chicago, according to two senior Democratic officials. She requested time to consider the offer, the officials said.

This is a high-risk, high-reward opportunity for Hillary Clinton. If she accepts, and serves out six or eight years in a popular Obama administration, then she is practically guaranteed the Presidency in 2016. Consider that the Secretary of State has been the most popular political figure in the entire nation for about twelve years running now, starting with Albright, then to Powell, then to Rice.  read more »

I'm sure you're dying to know who finished in third behind Barack Obama and John McCain.  Well it's close enough we'll have to wait until all the votes are counted, but here are the rounded totals so far, according to state-by-state data from Wikipedia and added by me:

530,200 votes: Ralph Nader

519,800 votes: Bob Barr

179,900 votes: Chuck Baldwin

147,600 votes: Cynthia McKinney

  30,800 votes: Alan Keyes (in CA)

  28,300 votes: Write-in/other

  10,500 votes: Ron Paul (in MT)  read more »

"Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators," Reid told CNN's "Late Edition."

"Joe Lieberman is not some right-wing nutcase," he said. "Joe Lieberman is one of the most progressive people ever to come from the state of Connecticut."

That's Harry Reid.  Here's Obama:

President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post.

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