With the start of the Obama administration brings a renewed focus on the industry of science:
In a research milestone, the federal government will allow the world’s first test in people of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells. The clearance of the clinical trial — of a treatment for spinal cord injury — is to be announced Friday by Geron, the biotechnology company that first applied to the Food and Drug Administration to conduct the trial last March. The F.D.A. had first said no, [but reversed their decision yesterday].
One of Mr. Bush's first actions in 2001 was to halt research that utilized stem cells. It was a shout out to his uber-conservative supporters who seemed to think that microscopic goo is tantamount to a new born baby and therefore, by extension, utilizing them for medical purposes was "murder."
Reason and the appreciation of science have returned. Cooler, more reflective heads now prevail.
Word around the "inter-web" this morning is that Gov. David Paterson (Democrat-NY) will appoint Rep. Kristen Gillibrand (Democrat-NY) to the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Gillibrand, a second term congresswoman from upstate New York, doesn't sound like the most ideal candidate (she was endorsed by the NRA last year), but she isn't a Kennedy or a Cuomo.
Larry and Trevor's boy is pretty sick...problems with liver function as well as a couple of masses. Smokey is currently at the vet's office getting fluids and nourishment. The guys will be able to pick him up later today at which point they plan to "make him as comfortable as possible and to shower him with even more love."
Brent and I (and Smokey's buddy, Chloe, of course) are sending a whole bunch of love and healing thoughts Smokey's way. And big hugs to his dads.
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Frost/Nixon” Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
“Milk” Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
“The Reader” Nominees to be determined
“Slumdog Millionaire” Christian Colson, Producer
Best Actress:
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” Meryl Streep in “Doubt” Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
Best Actor:
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” Sean Penn in “Milk” Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams in “Doubt” Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” Viola Davis in “Doubt” Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”
Best Supporting Actor:
Josh Brolin in “Milk” Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”
Best Director:
David Fincher for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Ron Howard for "Frost/Nixon" Gus Van Sant for "Milk" Stephen Daldry for "The Reader" Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"
Here's one for the history books: President Obama retook the oath of office in the Map Room of the White House this evening with John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States, administering once again.
Word is it went off without a hitch this time.
Legal scholars agree that Mr. Obama constitutionally became President at exactly noon yesterday, and that the hiccup in the oath was just that...a hiccup.
But this was more than likely done to shut the mouths of the fascist wing nuts who were going to try to use yesterday's flub to argue that the President really wasn't the President.
Sigh...how nice to have a President who crosses his T's and dots his I's.
Update: The New York Times reports:
For their do-over, the two men convened in the White House Map Room at 7:35 p.m. for a brief proceeding that was not announced until it was completed successfully.
“Are you ready to take the oath?” Chief Justice Roberts said.
“I am,” Mr. Obama replied. “And we’re going to do it very slowly.”
The New York Times is reporting that Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president and niece of Sen. Ted Kennedy (Democrat-MA), has asked Gov. David Paterson (Democrat-NY) to take her name off the list of potential replacements for Hillary Clinton's senate seat.
I guess that pushes Andrew Cuomo, NY Attorney General and son of the former New York governor, to the top of the list.
Update: Kennedy family sources say the report is false.
Ugh!
Update #2: Ms. Kennedy made it official, releasing this official statement around midnight:
I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate.
OH. MY. GAWD. Contender or not, consideration of Kennedy to fill Secretary of State Clinton's seat should not be made. The drama surrounding her potential appointment is an unneeded distraction.
Before the swearing in of his White House staff earlier today, President Obama...
Issued a pay freeze for all White House staff members who make more than $100,000 a year;
Signed an executive order banning all White House staffers from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted. The President's order also bans lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration;
And announced new Executive Branch rules restricting how the White House withholds information from the American people. The Prez:
Information will not be withheld just because I say so. It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well grounded in the Constitution. Let me say it as simply as I can, transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.
By a vote of 94 to 2, Hillary Clinton was confirmed as President Obama's Secretary of State by her fellow senators late this afternoon. She is set to be sworn in between now and Friday.
The two Senators voting no? Republicans David Vitter, the hooker-loving fascist from Louisiana, and Jim DeMint of South Carolina.
Said DeMint:
We have to have a remnant of the Republican Party who are recognizable as freedom fighters. What I'm looking to do as a conservative leader in the Senate is to identify those Republicans, and even some Democrats, and put together a consensus of people who can help stop this slide toward socialism.
Because...you know...that argument went SO well for the Republicans last November.
That's a nice shot, isn't it? President Obama arrived in the Oval Office just after 8:30am this morning and got right to work. After reading the letter left for him by former president Bush, Obama met with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel regarding the day's schedule, placed phone calls to leaders in the Middle East, and then drafted an executive order that will close the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Church services with Vice-President Biden, former president Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton followed. Later this afternoon the President will officiate the swearing-in of his White House staff, followed by a meeting with his national security and economic teams.
As Paul Begala said on CNN last night, after eight years of frat-boy incompetence, our new government are going to "put on their big boy pants" and get right to work.
The international reaction to the election and inauguration of President Barack Obama is a tremendous first step in repairing our global reputation. In celebration, your Mid-Week Brain Break is an absolutely breathtaking video from Playing For Change, a group of artists who have come together to connect the world through music. In this clip, the producers traveled to several locations around the globe, recording various musicians as they performed the Ben E. King classic, "Stand By Me." The final result will give you goosebumps...
Fully aware that George W. Bush was leaving office with the lowest approval rating of any president (22% according to a CBS News poll), and of the decisiveness of his own victory last November, President Obama, in a back-handed sort of way and in the context of how he will approach his presidency, used parts of his inaugural speech to criticize the Bush administration for their incompetence and failure...while Bush sat right there!
Some highlights:
-We will restore science to its rightful place...
-What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.
-And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government...
-As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
-Our founding fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
-Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
Behold the peaceful transfer of power, from a stale and failed administration to one full of promise and competence...
Before leaving the White House, former president Bush did not issue last minute pardons to members of his administration, including himself, for war crimes committed on their watch. Either he knew such a move would have indirectly proven guilt, or he is so over-the-top clinical that he really believes all he did was legal.
Either way, he's left a tremendous opening for the Obama administration to investigate and prosecute. Anything short of that will keep us from moving forward, and America's global reputation might well remain in tatters.
Keith Olbermann's superb commentary on the issue...
Mr. President...there really is only one path to take here. And in your heart of hearts you know what you need to do. Don't flake out on us now...not on this most important issue.
Six of President Obama's cabinet choices were unanimously confirmed in the United States Senate today by voice vote:
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Secretary of Veterans Affairs Erick Shinseki Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
Hillary Clinton's confirmation for Secretary of State was to be included, but Sen. John Cronyn (Fascist-TX) objected to including her nomination, citing ethical questions surrounding donors to former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation, which has in the past accepted donations from foreign governments.
Never mind that the donor question was pretty much addressed during confirmation hearings last week, now that a Democrat is in the White House again, Cronyn and his Fascist-Republican pals apparently feel the need to fight the partisan wars of the 1990s. If there's a Clinton to kick around, they'll do it.
Pathetic.
Cronyn's objection simply moves Sen. Clinton's nomination to a roll call vote tomorrow, where she is expected to sail through without much a problem. This is just another example of the Republican Party wasting America's precious time with ridiculous partisan temper-tantrums. Keep it up guys, and 2010 will look an awful lot like 2006 and 2008.
San Francisco's infamous Bush Street got a makeover today by local artist Alex Zecca. He managed to change the name on all of the street signs from the Presidio to Grant Street...before the cops stopped him and made him change them back.
It's only 35 words long: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" (the "so help me God" part isn't constitutionally mandated)...yet Chief Justice John Roberts managed to screw it up, instructing Obama to say "that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully." That's wrong in two places - the "to" and the placement of "faithfully."
Although the oath was written on card that he held in his hand, Roberts decided that he'd administer it from memory.
Whoops! Nice way to ruin the moment, Mr. Chief Justice.
So, think about it...you know sure as the sun will come up tomorrow that the right-wing nuttery will use the flub to make a case that Barack Obama isn't really president. If the courts even go there (and I doubt they will), the problem is easily solved by having the President repeat the oath.
The transition from President Carter to Ronald Reagan was uniquely dramatic, not just because of the page turning moment it provided, but also because it presented the world with the perfect example of how our constitutionally mandated transfer of power works.
Mr. Carter lost his bid for a second term in 1980 due to his hapless and impotent handling of the Iran hostage crisis. By the time Inauguration Day rolled around, the hostages had been held captive for 444 days. However, during his last days in office, in an effort to salvage his presidency, Mr. Carter stepped up his efforts to secure their release. In fact, on January 19, 1981, the President stayed up all night negotiating on behalf of the hostages, working the phones up until the moment he had to leave the Oval Office to get dressed for the inauguration of Mr. Reagan.
I remember the day very well. Media outlets were following the inaugural events of the morning while at the same time giving updates on the status of the hostages.
As Carter and Reagan made their way to the platform at the Capitol, the hostages were placed on a plane, where they sat for the next half hour. And then, at the moment Reagan put his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office, at the moment Carter's presidency was officially over, the Iranians allowed the plane to take off.
It was a stab in the eye to the outgoing president, but it also shined the spotlight on our form of government. Carter was President of the United States until 12 noon on January 20th, and he worked his ass off until the last possible moment in order to bring 52 Americans back home.
While they weren't technically released until Mr. Reagan had become president, it was Carter who had worked non-stop for days at making sure it happened.
Much has been made these last few days of President Lincoln's second inaugural. As we approach the hour at which Barack Obama becomes the nation's 44th chief executive, I post that 1865 address here, in full:
Fellow Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'.
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
In the 1976 election, the first following the Nixon-Watergate scandal, American voters, by a slim 2-point margin, opted to remove the Republicans from the White House. The Democratic candidate was a little known former governor from Georgia, a peanut farmer and born-again christian, who ran on a platform of honesty and integrity. His name was Jimmy Carter.
Behold our awesome Constitution at work...the peaceful transfer of power, from a political party caught up in dirty dealings, to the opposition...
President Carter's inaugural speech can be viewed here.
Without a doubt, George W. Bush leaves office at noon on Tuesday forever marked as the worst president in United States history to date - his terms in office marked by two failed wars; America's global reputation in tatters; her financial house in ruin, with record-setting debt that will cripple future generations for decades to come; and let's not forget the lawlessness with which Mr. Bush and his administration ruled the country, essentially using the Constitution as toilet paper before shredding it to pieces.
Many would argue that other chief executives deserve the distinction of "worst president" much more than Mr. Bush: James Buchanan for his unwillingness to confront southern states who threatened to secede from the Union following the election of Abraham Lincoln...Herbert Hoover for his paralysis during the early years of the Great Depression...Lyndon Johnson for his mismanagement of the Vietnam War...Richard Nixon over Watergate...Jimmy Carter for his impotence on economic matters and the Iran hostage crisis.
All valid options, each of those men among the bottom tier of presidents. But the difference, in my opinion, is that none of those other presidents had the distinction of failing at every level, on just about every issue. The other members of that lower tier can at least point to some successes somewhere in their presidencies. Whether it be on the domestic front (Johnson's civil rights legislation) or in foreign policy (Carter's Camp David accords), not everything they touched turned to shit.
George W. Bush, on the other hand...
It started with his campaign and the election of 2000. Running as a "compassionate conservative," Mr. Bush promised to work with Republicans and Democrats to get things done in D.C., and to bridge the partisan divide that poisoned the waters of government during the Clinton years.
I, for one, didn't believe Mr. Bush. I didn't trust his frat-boy personality, and beneath the prerequisite centrist campaign veneer I sensed an uber-conservative partisanship that was too dangerous for America in the 21st century. Not to mention the fact that it was Bush's Republican Party that started the partisan warfare of the 90s in the first place, refusing to accept Bill Clinton's presidency as legitimate, and working to derail it from day one.
How ironic then that Mr. Bush's election in 2000 came at the hands of a Supreme Court ruling that pulled the battered Republican ticket over the finish line in the Electoral College (giving it 271 votes, 1 more than needed), despite a half-million vote loss in the national popular vote. That result is much closer to the definition of "illegitimate" than Mr. Clinton's 43% showing in 1992. (Clinton, for the record, won the popular vote in a three-way race. More over, in 1968 Richard Nixon also won the presidency with 43% of the vote in a three-way race, yet Republicans never called his election "illegitimate.")
Many thought the haywire election of 2000 would force Bush to uphold his campaign promise to govern from the center and to include Democrats in his cabinet. Indeed, a true patriot would have done just that. But Mr. Bush and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney, didn't even think about it. They took their popular vote loss and proceeded to rule as if they were handed a 20-point win, lurching a country that so obviously voted for centrist rule into a hard right trajectory.
And that wasn't the only way the new president said "fuck you" to the American voters. Shortly after being named president, Mr. Bush plucked two incumbent Senators from the ash-pile of the 2000 elections. After losing a re-election bid to a dead guy, Sen. John Ashcroft was named Attorney General; and following a narrow loss to his Democratic opponent, Sen. Spencer Abraham was named Energy Secretary.
Doris Kearns Goodwin famously wrote of Abraham Lincoln's "team of rivals." Well...with two losing Senatorial candidates joining the popular vote-losing president in the White House, one could easily call the Bush administration a "team of losers."
Talk about a symbolic beginning to an eight-year run of incompetence and failure!
To be sure, as we approached Election Day in 2000, I argued passionately that George W. Bush was nowhere near ready to take on the duties of the presidency. And today, as we look back over the last eight years, we find that I was right. The end of the Bush era finds America on her knees, battered, bruised, and bankrupt; a direct result of his incompetence, combined with a Fascist style of right-wing governance that has crippled the Republican Party for a generation.
At this point I had planned to lay out, point-by-point, the misdeeds and failures that led me to assess Mr. Bush as the worst president ever. Alas, I've blathered on and on way too much already. Thus, I post below Keith Olbermann's recent essay that showcases the last eight miserable years in eight concise minutes. He covers just about everything. Give it a look, and then I'll conclude this post below.
In his final press conference last week, Mr. Bush refused to accept responsibility for decisions made on his watch that led America to its current state. Little Boy George is still the spoiled brat who drives the family car into a tree and then refuses to accept responsibility for it, instead blaming everyone else for the accident he caused. (Eight years later, he still tries to blame shit on Clinton!)
And so, it is with a great deal of anger over the shit storm he's steered our great nation into, combined with a great deal of relief that his term in office is coming to a close, that I say goodbye to this failed chief executive. He should have never been president to begin with, let alone "re"-elected. (And don't even get me started over the fact that he was never impeached or charged with war crimes.)
The United States and the rest of the globe can now take a long overdue sigh of relief. On Monday we can celebrate the last full day of the Bush presidency and on Tuesday, the inauguration of Barack Obama. But then...the long, hard journey of righting the wrongs of the worst president in history begins in earnest.
Although it doesn't always involve a change in political party (1865 being the sole exception - Republican Lincoln's V.P. was a Democrat], the ascension of a vice-president to the presidency in the middle of a presidential term is always a highly dramatic event. Not just because such an event is the result of the death or resignation of the sitting president, but also because such a transition proves beyond a doubt that our Constitution works.
In 1973 Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned following federal criminal charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery, and conspiracy related to his days as Governor of Maryland. President Nixon, as instructed by the 25th Amendment, appointed Gerald Ford (at the time the House Minority Leader) to replace Agnew. In August of 1974, under the threat of impeachment over his involvement in the Watergate scandal, Mr. Nixon resigned the presidency, thus elevating Ford to the nation's top office.
The result: A man whose name never appeared on the Republican ballot line in the 1972 election, became President of the United States, peacefully and without incident, as laid out in the Constitution of the United States.
As I mentioned yesterday, there are a number of countries around the globe where such instability would prompt military action and coupe attempts. But not here in the United States. Our system works. And the majesty of that system should put a lump in your throat.
Nixon's resignation was effective August 9, 1974 at 12 noon, ET. While he had already said his goodbyes and was in the air well before then, he was technically still the President until that hour, when Mr. Ford took the oath of office...
...Inaugurations have taken place during times of war and peace; in Depression and prosperity. Our democracy has undergone many changes, and our people have taken many steps in pursuit of a more perfect union. What has always endured is this peaceful and orderly transition of power.
For us, it is easy to take this central aspect of our democracy for granted. But we must remember that our nation was founded at a time of Kings and Queens, and even today billions of people around the world cannot imagine their leaders giving up power without strife or bloodshed.
-President-elect Barack Obama, in his weekly radio address this morning, on the ritual "that goes to the heart of our greatness as a nation."
As we approach the inauguration of Barack Obama, USW will, over the course of the next few days, celebrate peaceful transfers of power from the recent past. It's that transfer of power, dramatic in its peaceful order, that makes America so great. Each new leader comes to power, not at gun-point or coupe, but by request of the American people via state elections.
First up, Bill Clinton's first inaugural from January 20, 1993. After twelve years of Republican rule - two terms from Ronald Reagan and one term from George H.W. Bush - the Democrats were able to win the White House following a slight economic downturn brought on by rising budget deficits and a Hoover-like resistance by Mr. Bush to put forth policies that would help the country pull out of it.
It is those inaugurations where a sitting president is defeated for a second term in which our system of government is especially dramatic. The opposition won the election, and the sitting government, respecting the majesty of American democracy, accepts their decision and takes part in the swearing in of the new chief executive before departing the White House. There aren't many countries where such a transition isn't done by coupe or military battle.
And so, behold as the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, Republican, comes to an end at 11:59:59 on January 20, 1993, and the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton, Democrat, begins at 12 noon...
From the floor of the Senate, Joe Biden bid his Senate colleagues farewell yesterday. He will be sworn in as Vice-President of the United States on Tuesday.
And after a long, solid career in the upper body of Congress, I look forward to seeing what this guy can do as Mr. Obama's right hand man.
Attorney General-designate Eric Holder confirmed to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday that waterboarding is torture and that the prison at Gitmo will be closed.
Thus, on January 20th, competence and the rule of law return to the White House. And the Justice Department will be run by a man with impeccable credentials. For the record, Bush's first AG was appointed to that post only after losing a Senate re-election contest to a dead man. (No...really.) His second AG was nowhere near qualified for the post. And the current guy is essentially a lap dog.
Rachel Maddow's report on yesterday's confirmation hearing...
So it's done, and the Senate can now move on to address the business of running our nation. But between now and the end of the year, Sen. Burris should opt not to run for a full term in the 2010 election. If he does, I would highly suggest a health primary challenge (Burris seems to have trouble winning Democratic primaries). Short of that, this seat could very well fall into Republican hands.
Side note: Dick Cheney asking someone if they'll swear to uphold the Constitution?? [Insert the slapping of my hand against my forehead here.]
The pilot of the US Airway jet that crash-landed into the Hudson River yesterday achieved the first ever non-fatal emergency water landing. This was a textbook case of perfect emergency water landing. Capt. Sullenberger and his crew did everything exactly right.
ABC's Ann Compton reports on the very dramatic, yet oh-so-American transfer of power...
Between now and 9pm tomorrow night, current White House staffers will go through the process of leaving their posts. White House IDs and security clearances will be turned in, as well as government-issued Blackberries and cell phones, among other things. Monday is a holiday and the Obamas move in on Tuesday, so all of this needs to be done by the end of business tomorrow. Three top Bush aides will remain at the White House in "on call" mode until Tuesday morning - Chief of Staff John Bolton, Adviser Ed Gillespie, and Press Secretary Dana Perino.
On Tuesday (Inauguration Day), the Obamas and the Bidens will arrive at the White House via the north entrance at around 9:30am or 10am for coffee and tea with the Bushes and the Cheneys. On the south side of the White House, two sets of moving teams will be ready to go. At about 10:30am, when both families leave for the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremonies, the Bushes' belongings will be placed into one set of moving trucks and taken back to Texas, and then the Obamas' belongings will be moved into the White House.
Secret Service Special Agent Donald White will shadow President Bush, guarding him as usual...riding in the "shot gun" seat across from the President for the drive to the Capitol, and behind him during the walk up to the inaugural platform. He will serve as Mr. Bush's lead Secret Service detail until 12 noon, ET.
At 12:00 and one second, White will take a few steps to his right and officially begin his term as Barck Obama's lead Secret Service agent.
After Mr. Obama's oath of office and inaugural speech, the new president will escort the now former president out of the Capitol to a waiting helicopter. The Bushes will be transported to Andrews Air Force base where, after greeting well-wishers, they will board an Air Force One aircraft for an afternoon flight back to Midland, Texas. Only...the aircraft will not be called "Air Force One." That is a designation for the plane only when the sitting president is on board.
In an extension of the post below, openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson talks to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Obama's campaign pledge to help heal the partisan divide that has jammed up progress in Washington D.C. for far too long:
...it appears that Barack Obama is being the person he told us...he intended to be by including all voices in this inauguration and, indeed, in his administration.
Look folks, many Americans fell for George W. Bush's 2000 campaign promise to be a "uniter, not a divider" (not me...I knew in my gut that the guy was a christian-fascist and that he was lying through his teeth). He promised to work with Republicans and Democrats to get things done. Obviously progressives balked when he started governing from the far right.
After 9/11 we ALL thought that he'd convert to a bi-partisan war time government. But even then, Mr. Bush ruled from the right. In fact, he went way far right.
We bitched and we moaned.
It would be hypocritical of us to bitch and moan that Barack Obama, a president of the left, is actually doing what Mr. Bush promised and failed to do (only in reverse).
It's time to get things done. And he needs all hands on deck.
Following Tuesday night's dinner with conservative columnists at the Maryland home of George Will, President-elect Obama met with liberal (and one libertarian) journalists in D.C. yesterday afternoon. Among the attendees: the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, National Journal's Ron Brownstein, the New York Times' Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and conservative/libertarian Andrew Sullivan, of the Atlantic.
Sullivan, on that meeting:
It was totally off the record and I'm a stickler for those rules. I can say, however, the following: it's hard to express the relief I feel that this man will be the president soon. I realize that's what I feel above all else: relief.
I may disagree with him at times, and criticize him at times, but his great gift is showing that he does not expect people to change their convictions in order to find common areas of agreement. That's the challenge he's presenting all of us with, wherever we come from ideologically. The challenge is as real for a [Paul] Krugman as for a [Bill] Kristol, for Rick Warren as well as Gene Robinson.
As I've said repeatedly for the last two years, we're lucky to have him.
That is why I'm not going bat-shit stir-crazy over some of the appointments and decisions Obama has made. If you listened to his campaign rhetoric last year, then you should not be surprised in the least at how Mr. Obama is putting together a government.
Above all else, he wants competence to get things done; people who know what they're doing to clean up the carnage that will be left behind when Dubya and Dick leave office on Tuesday. From the campaign trail, the President-elect always said, from day one, that his goal was to find common ground with those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. For that is the only way anything of substance will get done. And after eight years of incompetence and over-reach, there's a backlog of substantial things that need doing.
So, my fellow progressives, disagree with our new president and criticize him when you feel the need, but know for certain that this guy will move this great country forward, return her to previous glory as the beacon of freedom around the globe, and end an era of Republican-Fascism that will be long remembered as the worst government in our history.
Incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has confirmed Barack Obama's intent to overturn the disastrous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy put in place by President Clinton. While it may not happen immediately (the economy has to be issue # 1), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Democrat-CA) plans to draft a bill and present it to Congress before the end of the year.
A hodge-podge of thirteen tracks to help get you through your hump-day...
The playlist:
Don't Stop the Dance - Bryan Ferry Billie's Blues (Daniel Y Remix) - Billie Holiday Here's What's Left - RJD2 (featuring the Sylvers) Daulton Lee - Pat Metheny Group You're a Wolf - Sea Wolf Solar Eyes - West Indian Girl Your New Twin Sized Bed - Death Cab For Cutie Pocket Piano - DJ Mehdi Too Young - Phoenix I Can See It In Your Eyes - Everest Never Give You Up - Raphael Saadiq (with Stevie Wonder) Hare Krisna - Thievery Corporation A Woman In Love - Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers
Sen. Charles Grassley (Republican-IA) attempted to stall the confirmation hearings for Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner (pronounced "Gyt-ner") over reports that he failed to pay income taxes during a period in which he was self employed (when the oversight was noted, he paid the taxes), and that his housekeeper's immigration papers had expired during her last couple of months on the job (they were in order when she was hired in 2004, and Geithner only found out about the expiration during the Obama transition team's vetting process).
Sen. Orrin Hatch (Republican-UT) has stated these are non-issues and that he intends to support Geithner's appointment; and the Obama team, apparently in-the-know that this might become a problem, was ready with a statement:
The President-elect chose Tim Geithner to be his Treasury Secretary because he's the right person to help lead our economic recovery during these challenging times. He's dedicated his career to our country and served with honor, intelligence and distinction. That service should not be tarnished by honest mistakes, which, upon learning of them, he quickly addressed. He made a common mistake on his taxes, and was unaware that his part-time housekeeper's work authorization expired for the last three months of her employment. We hope that the Senate will confirm him with strong bipartisan support so that he can begin the important work of the country.
It seems to me that some Republicans, stinging from two consecutive decisive defeats, one of which lost them the White House (and they REALLY hate losing the presidency), are more than willing to re-fight some of the political games of the 1990s. They would do well to remember two things: 1. These aren't the 90s. While he won the popular vote by a comfortable margin in 1992, Bill Clinton still only received 43% of the vote against the first Bush and Ross Perot. Thus, with 57% of Americans voting against him, Clinton didn't enter office with any sort of mandate, and the Republicans pounced. 2. In 2009, America finds itself buried under the rubble of eight years worth of economic incompetence under Republican leadership. In overwhelming numbers, a sold majority hired Barack Obama to right the ship of state, and essentially told the GOP that they have to sit this one out. Any Republican (or Democrat, for that matter) who plays these partisan games from 1993 should be dismissed outright.
Press pool reports from last night indicate President-elect Obama spent the evening having dinner with conservative opinion columnists at the Maryland home of George Will. Also in attendance...William Kristol and David Brooks.
Apparently the pool expected lefty bloggers to get all pissy. I'm sure some will. But, as Kos put it:
Why wouldn't he talk to conservative writers? It's not as if he shied away from the other side during the campaign... Let him try to work his charm with that crowd. There's little downside.
And one of Kos' readers points out:
Basically it's a room full of people whose work over the past year and a half or so was dedicated to defeating Obama. And now they have to sit down at a table with the living, breathing proof of their total defeat.
John Berry has been nominated by President-elect Obama as Director of the Office of Personnel Management. That would make Berry the highest ranking openly gay official in the new administration to date.
Berry served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and is currently Director of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
The director of OPM is the President’s principal advisor in matters of personnel administration. The agency is responsible for planning for the needs of the Federal workforce and for helping federal agencies improve human resources management.
Osama bin Laden has reared his ugly head again, this time in audio message calling for a holy war over the current conflict in Gaza.
And so, as we countdown the last days of the Bush administration, we are reminded that the President failed to capture the man responsible for the murders of 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001. In fact, he told a reporter in 2003 that he "didn't really think about it." In my opinion, that alone should have led to the impeachment of this failed leader or, at the very least, his defeat in the 2004 election.
But, what's done is done. And now my sincerest hope is that Barack Obama's administration finds bin Laden right away. Nothing would turn the proverbial page more than that.
George W. Bush is nowhere near ready to be president. Not by a long shot.
-Yours truly, on the NY Times discussion board, just days before the 2000 presidential election.
The man then proceeded to spend the next eight years proving me, and everyone who thought similarly, right; and in the process brought millions around to our way of thinking (albeit too late to deny the man "re"-election).
However, yesterday, in a grand finale production worthy of a Broadway stage production, Mr. Bush walked into the White House press room, took the past eight years, rolled them into one big ball, and proved to each and every American that he was never worthy of the office he has held, at a time when we needed a man more than worthy to hold it.
9/11? Not his fault.
Two recessions, the second of which has mired the nation in the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression? President Clinton's fault (I shit you not).
And the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina? You remember that one, don't you? The domestic crisis that finally (FINALLY) proved to most Americans, long blind to the President's incompetence, that he made Carter look brilliant? His response to a question about that disaster was the pièce de résistance of the entire press conference.
The government response was quick and organized, he essentially claimed. Just ask the thousands who were air lifted off their roofs by "helicopter drivers," he dared. (Again...I shit you not.)
The man takes responsibility for nothing. He his your typical spoiled brat - given a huge toy that is way beyond his mental capacity, breaks it into several pieces, blames someone else for it, and, after being grounded for a week, never ever accepts responsibility or gives an apology.
This morning I keep telling myself, "one more week...one more week." But damn...can you imagine the havoc this idiot could reek between now and next Tuesday! (You almost have to wonder if John McCain is happy he lost the election last November. The mess President Obama has to clean up is bigger than any of us can fathom.)
Clips from the press conference along with superb commentary from Keith Olbermann below...
President-elect Barack Obama has indicated that he will issue an executive order closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. It is possible the the order will be signed shortly after taking office on January 20th.
While it will take some time (a few months, perhaps) to get all the logistics in place, just the signing of the order will be a HUGE first step in repairing America's standing around the globe, tattered and torn as never before under the Bush regime.
I made the decision at the end of last season but held off on announcing it until this week: US of Wayne will not post weekly reviews of "American Idol" this year. I am way over the show and don't think the changes proposed for this coming season will help. In fact, my plan is to boycott the show all together. It's run its course, and many of us former fans are burnt out.
Reverend Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, will deliver the invocation for Sunday's inaugural kick off at the Lincoln Memorial. President-elect Obama and Vice-President-elect Biden will be in attendance.
Ok...it's a step in the right direction. But I still don't see why Robinson couldn't give the invocation at the actual inaugural on January 20th, and Rick Warren the Sunday invocation.
While I eventually came down on the side of seating Roland Burris in the United States Senate, and while I'm sure just about everyone saw this coming, you have to give it to Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic leadership in that chamber for screwing this up royally.
After huffing and puffing that Burris wouldn't be seated, they've decided...
I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize. Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.
Fair enough. The new government can't shut down Gitmo on January 21st without any sort of plan on what to do with the people being jailed there. Where do we put them? How do we deal with the legal issues surrounding their imprisonment?
We should trust the new president to keep his word on this issue. But we should also give him the time to do it right.
...and touched me deep inside; he is like a mounty, he always gets his man"
I've always argued that Jesus would have been against Prop. 8, but this sappy little christian number proves it. (I mean, come on...the group calls themselves Sonseed, for crying out loud. How much more homoerotic can you get?!?)
Only one day after a state panel recommended impeachment, and after only two hours of debate this morning, the Illinois State House of Representatives impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich by a vote of 114-1. The state senate will now conduct an impeachment trial. If the Governor is found guilty by 2/3 of that body, he will be removed from office, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn will become the state's chief executive.
Here's hoping.
Note: Today's impeachment came on what would have been the 95th birthday of former President Richard Nixon. Sweet!
Chloe can be a princess in bed - head on the pillow, covers pulled up just below her chin, and she'll paw at you if you're not laying just right. But this guy's cat is sumpin' else...
The pud-fucker in the White House is leaving one hell of mess for the new president to clean up:
Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, with 1.9 million destroyed in just the past four months... It's the biggest job loss in any calendar year since 1945.
The unemployment rate [is now] 7.2%.
For the record, unemployment was 3.9% when Bush took office.
The Constitution requires that the electoral vote certificates for President and Vice-President, cast last month in state capitols around the country, be opened during a joint session of Congress with the current Vice-President of the United States presiding.
In front of all 535 members of Congress, Electoral College certificates were tallied and Dick Cheney read the results:
Barack Obama and Joe Biden 365 votes
John McCain and Sarah Palin 173 votes
And so, after the official General Election of November 4 in which voters in each state voted for either Obama's or McCain's slate of electors, which then led to the official meeting of the Electoral College on December 15 where those slates of electors cast their official ballots as instructed by the voters of their respective states, the official Certificates of Election were officially opened in Congress today, recorded in the official records of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and thus Barack Obama and Joe Biden were officially named President and Vice-President of the United States.
They will officially take office at noon (Eastern time) on Tuesday, January 20.
And that's official!
Below are highlights from today's (official) hour-long, Constitutionally required joint session...
After insisting that any appointment made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Democrat-IL) to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama not be sworn in, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat-CA) has changed course and is insisting that Roland Burris take the oath of office. (I agree with her on the issue, but bare with me here.)
And now she has her panties in a wad over Obama's choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA.
While Feinstein has broken with her party in the past, her double shot this week seems to have caught Democratic leaders off guard as they tried to show a sense of unity at the opening of the 111th Congress.
Feinstein, who turns 76 in June, is rumored as a candidate for California governor in 2010, and Democrats say privately that she may be breaking with her party to better position herself for that race. [...]
With Obama in the White House and Democrats holding a big majority in the House, Republicans may need help from centrists such as Feinstein to stop Democratic legislation from moving through the Senate.
DiFi's wig seems to be a bit too tight.
Sen. Feinstein was one of the many spineless Senate Democrats who essentially threw the Constitution under a bus by rubber-stamping many of President Bush's lawless post-9/11 policies. And now she wants to pick a fight with the incoming president of her own party?
If this is really her way of positioning for a run for governor here in California, then it would do her well to remember that Barack Obama's share of the vote here was larger than any presidential candidate since 1936:
Barack Obama 8,274,473 61.05%
John McCain 5.011,781 36.92%
The people of California - and the voters of America - voted overwhelmingly for a change in course. If Dianne Feinstein wants to try and block the new president's agenda, that is her right. But she should be warned...such moves would be detrimental in a primary campaign.
Quit telling the media you're the "junior senator from Illinois." While I agree that you should be seated (even though you have done your part to help make this process the fiasco it has become), you are NOT a United States senator.
Not yet.
You have not taken the Constitutionally mandated oath of office.
Until that occurs, you are the "Senator-designate" from Illinois.
Scott Horton on President-elect Obama's choices for CIA and National Intelligence:
Yesterday, President-elect Obama announced two key members for his national security team: former Clinton chief-of-staff Leon Panetta to be director at the CIA and Admiral Dennis Blair to be national intelligence director. The Panetta appointment drew some grumbles from incoming intelligence committee chair Dianne Feinstein and exiting chair Jay Rockefeller—both quickly suggested they had no prior knowledge of the choice and expressed some reservations.
I think the choices are not merely good, but inspired, and I see the friction with Feinstein and Rockefeller as a plus rather than a minus...
For eight years, while Rockefeller and Feinstein stood by, the agency was pressured by the [Bush administration] to validate its fairy tales. This did not serve the nation’s security interest. Sober analysis that does not fear political meddling needs to be restored.
These nominations need to go through Sen. Feinstein's committee, and she apparently told Mr. Obama that she would prefer Rep. Jane Harman (Democrat-CA).
Uhh...memo to DiFi. Barack Obama is the President-elect. Not you.
Former Republican congressman (and the 2008 Libertarian Party presidential candidate) Bob Barr of Georgia, author of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, wants the law repealed.
I was never a fan of skiing, but after watching this YouTube clip you can bet yer bippy this little homo atheist from San Francisco has sufficient reason not to head out to the slopes anytime soon.
As I said yesterday, there is no need for a showdown on the Senate floor today when the new congress is seated. The American people want the new government to tackle the enormous problems facing our great nation, and that work needs to begin without drama and without delay. Barack Obama becomes president in just 14 days and there is a lot of work to get done.
The hapless Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, should let the hapless Senator-designate, Roland Burris, take the oath of office at noon (ET) and then let the legal and electoral processes play out in Illinois.
Burris won't be around for long. His behavior this past week all but ensures his defeat in the 2010 Democratic primary.
President-elect Barack Obama launched his campaign Monday for a massive package of tax cuts and spending proposals aimed at reviving an economy mired in recession.
...[Obama] will propose roughly $300 billion in tax cuts.
It would be absolutely hypocritical of me to praise this tax cut proposal merely because it's coming from Barack Obama. I spent that last eight years calling the tax cuts enacted by George W. Bush the epitome of irresponsibility and that is what these newly proposed cuts would be.
I understand that this economic downturn is the worst since 1929. I understand that the incoming administration needs to do everything it can to change course and keep the American financial sector from driving itself over the cliff that Mr. Bush has been steering it toward. And I understand that I am no economic expert. But it seems to me that our economy can't keep running record deficits year after year after year.
Sure...deficits are acceptable when the country is fighting a war, although I was one of the few to argue back in 2001 that the current war required a tax increase or a delay in the enactment of the Bush tax cuts (after 9/11 I don't think Americans would have minded). And deficits shouldn't be ruled out when we face an economic downturn like the current one. Spend to stimulate the economy, perhaps reduce taxes for small businesses, and if it's absolutely necessary for political reasons (Republicans can still filibuster a budget bill in the Senate), then perhaps a much smaller income tax reduction could be worked out.
But a super-duper mega tax cut similar to the one being introduced by the incoming president? As our annual budget deficit nears $1 trillion??
He'd better have a way to pay for it later. Otherwise, I challenge him to sit down with Malia and Sasha and tell them why they're going to have to pay - big time - for his bone-headed and irresponsible move.
Terry McAuliffe, the obnoxious chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, is throwing his hat into the ring for governor of Virginia.
McAuliffe is a superb fundraiser and that will be his sole advantage in the primary. Let's hope the Democratic voters of Virginia overlook the money and give this nomination to someone else. This loud-mouthed blow-hole could very well be the one Democrat to hand the statehouse back to the Republicans after 8 years of Democratic rule.
After watching the Sunday talk shows and reading a bit more on the appointment of Roland Burris to the United States Senate seat in Illinois, I've come the following conclusion: The Senate should seat Burris.
Technically, Rod Blagojevich is still the governor and under the United States Constitution has the right to appoint someone to fill the slot left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama. Yes...Blagojevich should have bypassed making the appointment himself and called a special election (the Democrats, who nixed the idea out of fear they'd lose the seat, actually would have done better than they thought). Yes...by appointing Burris, the Governor has stirred up some major shit - Senate Democrats threatening not to accept the Burris appointment, the African-American community insisting that they do...ya gotta admit...Blagojevich was brilliant with this particular temper-tantrum. And yes...Burris is a hapless spotlight seeker who essentially saw this as his last chance at holding some office somewhere.
That said, in order to keep damage to a minimum and in order to keep the media frenzy from getting too wild, the Senate should allow Roland Burris to be seated. Doing so would, I think, immediately defuse a rather unnecessary political time bomb. Burris could serve until the 2010 election cycle (his record indicates he'd have a hard time winning a primary, let alone a general) and the Illinois legislature could then focus on impeaching the son-of-a-bitch Governor and removing him from office.
Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state officials said on Sunday.
Coleman is expected to take the case to the state supreme court. If they don't rule in his favor, he then has the right to ask the state to do another full recount.
