Obama selects Summers to lead National Economic Council, Gibbs as press secretary
Obama selects Summers to lead National Economic Council, Gibbs as press secretary
ABC News reports that President-elect Obama “has decided to name former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers the director of the National Economic Council, essentially the president’s senior economic adviser.” Also today, Obama named his campaign spokesperson Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary and Ellen Moran of Emily’s List as communications director.
- Comments
- 59
GM execs give up some private jets after embarassing hearing.
GM execs give up some private jets after embarassing hearing.
Earlier this week, Big Three automaker CEOs were ridiculed by members of Congress for taking private jets to Washington to plea for a federal bailout. Today, ABC reports that GM is putting two of its five corporate jets out of service allegedy “in response to the planes not being used” and not a reaction to the harsh treatment from Congress. Watch Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) criticize the auto execs:
Despite the downsizing, GM CEO Richard Wagoner “will still fly private for all business and personal travel” for “security reasons,” ABC notes.
Reports: Clinton accepts Secretary of State nomination; Geithner and Richardson also likely cabinet choices.
Reports: Clinton accepts Secretary of State nomination; Geithner and Richardson also likely cabinet choices.
The New York Times reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) “has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state.” According to MSNBC, it is “also expected Monday” that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will be named Commerce Secretary,” and New York Fed President Tim Geithner is expected to be announced as Treasury Secretary, “barring last minute changes.”
State Dept: Bush’s Record On ‘Pushing For Human Rights’ Is As Good As Any Other President Or Country
State Dept: Bush’s Record On ‘Pushing For Human Rights’ Is As Good As Any Other President Or Country
Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam. In a press briefing yesterday leading up to the meeting, reporters pressed State Dept. spokesperson Sean McCormack on whether Rice would urge Libya to release Libyan activist Fathi al-Jahmi, a political prisoner who is gravely ill.
McCormack offered a defensive response: “I have to make it very clear we are concerned not only about Mr. al-Jahmi’s case, but other human rights cases around the world.” McCormack also claimed that President Bush’s human rights record could perhaps be the best in American history:
McCORMACK: And — and one thing I do take exception to is the idea that somehow we are not attentive to pushing the issue of human rights, whether it’s in Libya or any place else around the world. I don’t think — I would put the record of this administration up against any American administration or any other government around the world in terms of promoting universal human rights and pushing for human rights.
Watch it (around 8:20):
Under the Bush administration, the world has witnessed torture, rendition, and the revocation of habeas corpus rights. Amnesty International’s 2008 report rips the United States’s human rights record, citing the following Bush policies:
– Indefinite military detention
– Torture of detainees
– Imprisoning soldiers refusing to serve in Iraq on grounds of conscience.
– Government response to Hurricane Katrina
In 2005, the Center on Democratic Performance at Binghamton University gave Bush a “D” on human rights. The “D” grade was down from a “C” in 2004, due to “reports on the use of political detention without trial, torture of political detainees, and the use of secret detention of political prisoners.” Bush’s record is nothing to be proud of.
O’Reilly surrenders to the War on Christmas: Touts his ‘holiday reading list.’
O’Reilly surrenders to the War on Christmas: Touts his ‘holiday reading list.’
For years, Bill O’Reilly has been ranting about an alleged “War on Christmas,” claiming liberals are unjustly replacing “Christmas” festivities with “Holiday” festivities. News Hounds notes that O’Reilly isn’t practicing what he preaches, as he is showing off a “holiday reading list” on his website:
House Democratic Steering Committee approves Waxman over Dingell.
House Democratic Steering Committee approves Waxman over Dingell.
The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee voted 25-22 earlier today to recommend House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) take over as chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John Dingell (D-MI). A final decision “will most likely be made by the full Democratic Caucus Thursday,” according to CongressDaily. As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson noted, Dingell was supported by the oil and coal industries. Backers of the pollution industry raised fears that Waxman would be “scary” for polluters.
Obama’s resignation letter read on Senate floor.
Obama’s resignation letter read on Senate floor.
Today, a Senate floor spokesperson read out loud Barack Obama’s resignation letter. The letter read: “To the President of the Senate: This letter is to inform you that I resign from the United States Senate effective November 16, 2008, in order to prepare for my duties as President of the United States.” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) remarked, “Wow, that was quite a letter you just read”:
I must tell you, to be here for this historic moment, my heart is just racing. This is indeed a moment of passage in the United States Senate, and in the passage for the country. … I will cherish this moment because it will be a historic moment, from ‘We need change,” and ‘Yes, we can,” to a long campaign trail, to Election Night, to a charismatic speech calling us to act like an American community, not only a country of which we’re proud, a nation we hold dear, but an American community.
Watch it:
Read Obama’s full resignation letter to Illinois residents here. (HT: The Crypt)
Perino: Obama ‘Should Want’ Bush’s Political Appointees In His Administration
Perino: Obama ‘Should Want’ Bush’s Political Appointees In His Administration
The Washington Post reported this morning that between March and November, the Bush administration has “burrowed” at least 20 political appointees into career civil service posts, initially depriving President-elect Obama of the chance to install his own appointees in key jobs.
In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended the “burrowing,” saying that Obama’s administration should want experienced Bush political appointees in his administration:
PERINO: But there are people in the federal government who — and you should want people who have worked in the administration who think that they might want to make their careers in government. We have a lot of smart people all across the government with a lot of expertise — in the financial sector, in the energy sector, in the environmental sector, the Labor Department, etc.
Watch it:
These people are political ideologues, who likely cannot be counted on to implement Obama’s agenda. Matthew McKeown of Bush’s Interior Department promoted private owners “over the public interest on issues such as grazing and logging” and sued to allow road-building in national forests. Interior’s Robert Comer used “pressure and intimidation” to produce a grazing settlement “with total disregard for the concerns raised by career field personnel.”
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has made similar efforts, replacing political appointees with hand-picked career staff. The Wall Street Journal noted that the effort may be perceived as an attempt by Chertoff “to overextend his influence” into the next administration.
In 2006, the House Oversight Committee found that the executive branch had increased the number of political appointees by 33 percent since the Clinton administration, a move that had ramifications across the federal government.
ACLU suit alleges U.S. used foreign nations to hold terror suspects without charges.
ACLU suit alleges U.S. used foreign nations to hold terror suspects without charges.
The ACLU is today filing a suit alleging that the Bush administration has asked other nations to hold terrorism suspects whom the U.S. had not yet charged. The ACLU cites the case of Naji Hamdan, an American Muslim, who has been held for nearly three months in the United Arab Emirates “without charges, access to a lawyer or contact with his family.” Said an ACLU spokesperson:
If the U.S. government is responsible for this detention and we believe it is, this is clearly illegal because our government can’t contract away the Constitution by enlisting the aid of other governments that do not adhere to the Constitution’s requirements.
According to Hamdan’s wife, he “was ‘slapped‘ while being interrogated for four days, during which he was accused alternatively of being an al Qaida member or working for Israeli or U.S. intelligence.”
Conservative Politicians Misleadingly Blame Labor Unions For Detroit’s Woes
Conservative Politicians Misleadingly Blame Labor Unions For Detroit’s Woes
Congress and the Bush administration are currently considering whether to spend $25 billion to rescue Detroit automakers. The proposal has generally been met with stiff resistance from conservatives, who have increasingly been pinning all the blame for the crisis in Detroit on labor unions:
Sen. Jim DeMint: “Some auto manufacturers are struggling because of a bad business structure with high unionized labor costs and burdensome federal regulations. Taxpayers did not create these problems and they should not be forced to pay for them.”
Sen. Jon Kyl: “For years they’ve been sick. They have a bad business model. They have contracts negotiated with the United Auto Workers that impose huge costs.The average hourly cost per worker in this country is about $28.48. For these auto makers, it’s $73. And for the Japanese auto companies working here in the United States, it’s $48.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “You know, if you pay the auto workers or the benefits and all of those things, are maybe too high. … We have, like, in America, you sell a car, and you have $2,000 of each car just goes to benefits. So I think that there’s a way of reducing all of that, make them more fiscally responsible.”
Watch a compilation:
Unions do not deserve the blame placed on them by the right wing. In fact, unions have repeatedly made concessions to auto executives over recent years. Contrary to Kyl’s claim, new auto employees earn $25.65 an hour.
Big Three automaker CEOs and executives based their business model on a future of cheap oil, fighting fuel efficiency standards despite warnings against such a strategy. Detroit manufactured, as Tom Friedman pointed out, oversized gas-guzzling SUVs that reduced their competitive edge.
Financial firms AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns did not have unionized workers but still suffered economic collapses. Frozen credit markets and a spiraling recession were major contributors to Detroit’s current state. Today, the Center for American Progress urged Congress “to support legislation to grant a $25 billion bridge loan to the U.S. auto companies to ensure that they avoid bankruptcy” provided the automakers provide health and retirement security and invest in clean technology.
CNN’s Michael Ware on Iraq withdrawal agreement: ‘Tehran was in the room.’
CNN’s Michael Ware on Iraq withdrawal agreement: ‘Tehran was in the room.’
On Sunday, Iraq’s cabinet “overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011.” Earlier today, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss spoke to CNN’s Michael Ware, who said that the agreement is testament to Iran’s influence in Iraqi politics:
WARE: Iran has a whip hand, or a key hand at least, within the political framework there. So during these negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, Tehran — whether we like it or not — was in the room. Tehran, in some ways, in some fashion, is a party to this agreement. And you’ll see that some of the sticking points and some of the nuances within the negotiations were issues that were very close to the heart of Tehran.
Watch it:
Read Ware’s full interview here.
Schwarzenegger acknowledges global boiling: California now has ‘fire season all year round.’
Schwarzenegger acknowledges global boiling: California now has ‘fire season all year round.’
Brad Johnson notes at the Wonk Room that in his interview yesterday with with ABC, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) talked of the impact of global warming on California’s wildfires. Climate change, he said, has created a constant threat of wildfires in California:
Through global warming, we have now fire season all year round. We used to have fire seasons only in the fall, but now the fire seasons start in February already, so this means that we have to really upgrade, have more resources, more fire engines, more manpower and all of this, which does cost extra money.
Watch it:
In addition to Schwarzenegger, former Bush EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have also acknowledged “global boiling.”
Iraqi cabinet approves security agreement with firm 2011 withdrawal deadline.
Iraqi cabinet approves security agreement with firm 2011 withdrawal deadline.
After nearly one year of negotiations, the Iraqi cabinet voted “overwhelmingly” Sunday to approve a security agreement requiring “coalition forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns by the summer of 2009 and from the country by the end of 2011,” the New York Times reports. “An earlier version had language giving some flexibility to that deadline…but the Iraqis managed to have the deadline set in stone, a significant negotiating victory.” Earlier this month, the Times reported that Barack Obama’s victory spurred the Iraqi political process toward finalizing a withdrawal agreement. In the words of one Iraqi politician:
“Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.”
If it’s Sunday, it’s still conservative.
If it’s Sunday, it’s still conservative.
In 2006, Media Matters conducted a study on Sunday political talk shows, finding that “Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows — in some cases, dramatically so.” From 2001 to 2005, conservative guests outnumbered progressives “by 58 percent to 42 percent.” Atrios notes that tomorrow’s shows will also be dominated by conservative guests:
7 Appearances by Republican current elected officeholders
3 Appearances by Democratic current elected officeholders.
2 Appearances by Republican former elected officeholders.
1 Appearance by a Bush Cabinet Secretary.
T. Boone Pickens
Ted Turner.
Rep. Cummings asks, ‘Is Kashkari a chump?’
Rep. Cummings asks, ‘Is Kashkari a chump?’
In a hearing today, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) excoriated “bailout czar” Neil Kashkari after reports emerged saying that AIG doled out $503 million to top executives. Noting the financial troubles in his Baltimore district, Cummings asked rhetorically whether his constituents would think Kashkari is a “chump” after learning of the AIG bonuses:
CUMMINGS: I’m just wondering how you feel about an AIG giving $503 million worth of bonuses on the one hand, and accepting $154 billion from hard-working taxpayers. You know, because I’m trying to make sure you get it. What really bothers me is all these other people who are lined up. They say, well, is Kashkari a chump?
“I wouldn’t want to be asking my friend for some money to stay afloat. … Then my friend, who can barely afford to go to McDonald’s sees me in a restaurant costing $150 a meal. There’s absolutely something wrong with that picture!” exclaimed Cummings. Watch it:
O’Reilly: Gay marriage will lead to ‘legalizing narcotics, unrestricted abortion, revocation of the Patriot Act.’
O’Reilly: Gay marriage will lead to ‘legalizing narcotics, unrestricted abortion, revocation of the Patriot Act.’
Yesterday on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly did a segment on the consternation in California over the Prop. 8 same-sex marriage ban. O’Reilly said Barack Obama’s election has “emboldened secular progressives” on issues like gay marriage. The “cultural war issues,” he said, will only get worse:
O’REILLY: So you can see the debate over gay marriage is now a full fledge national battle. As talking points said last night the election of Barack Obama has emboldened secular progressives who feel it is their time. Gay marriage just the beginning. Other cultural war issues will also be in display very shortly. These include limiting gun possession, legalizing narcotics, unrestricted abortion and the revocation of the Patriot Act.
Watch it:
Pawlenty Rips McCain’s Use Of Joe The Plumber: ‘Throwing Out A Symbol Is Not Enough’
Pawlenty Rips McCain’s Use Of Joe The Plumber: ‘Throwing Out A Symbol Is Not Enough’
During the last weeks of the campaign, “Joe the Plumber” made a splash as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) most famous surrogate. “Joe’s the man!” McCain said. Yglesias refers to Joe Wurzelbacher as the campaign’s “most annoying legacy.”
Interviewed on NPR today, however, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) — a former top McCain surrogate and VP contender — criticized how McCain relied on Joe the Plumber as a “symbol” with no sustance behind it. Pawlenty said that simply “throwing out” the “icon” of Joe the Plumber, as McCain did, was “not enough”:
MONTAGNE: Well it, certainly, during this past election, made an attempt to reach out, I would think, to that group, with the now famous character, really, Joe the Plumber. How would you see that happening if the attempt has been made and it didn’t — didn’t really work.
PAWLENTY: Well, I don’t think the attempt was made very well. I think just because you bring up the name Joe the Plumber — while people view that as a symbol — but what does that mean, in terms of what Republicans can do to make my health care more affordable, my — filling up my car more affordable? I think just throwing out a symbol or an icon is not enough.
Sure enough, hours later, in her first press conference since Tuesday’s election, Gov. Sarah Palin enthusiastically brought up Joe the Plumber. “Folks like Joe the Plumber, yes, who spoke for so many,” she said. “People who he was speaking for felt kinda comforted.” Palin then also reminisced about Tito the Builder. Watch it:
While Pawlenty criticized the use of Wurzelbacher today, he enthusiastically referenced Joe the Plumber during the campaign as a means to criticize Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
When the Obama campaign criticized McCain’s use of Joe the Plumber, Palin responded with anger. “Why the heck are you going after Joe The Plumber? … He wants to be something else. Why is that so wrong?” We await Palin’s condemnation of Pawlenty.
Cheney meets with Biden.
Cheney meets with Biden.
Today, Vice President Cheney and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met at Cheney’s residence “to discuss the upcoming handoff of the job as the nation’s second-in-command” and tour the Naval Observatory:
In the vice presidential debate, Biden said Cheney has been “the most dangerous vice president probably in American history.”
O’Hanlon: Obama needs an Iraq hawk in his cabinet.
O’Hanlon: Obama needs an Iraq hawk in his cabinet.
Today, Politico’s Arena asked several foreign policy experts, “Who should Obama consider for his foreign policy and national security team?” Brookings Institution analyst and Iraq war hawk Michael O’Hanlon said that Obama needs a cabinet member who is skeptical of a timeline for withdrawal:
It is important that Senator Obama hear from centrists on Iraq, and Susan [Rice] may not be such a person on that subject. As such, given Iraq’s relative importance, it is crucial that in addition to military officers with responsibility for the operation there, at least one key member of the cabinet not be firmly wed to Senator Obama’s ill-advised proposal for a firm and rapid withdrawal schedule from Iraq over the coming 16 to 18 months.
Foley: I’m not a pedophile because the pages were almost 18.
Foley: I’m not a pedophile because the pages were almost 18.
Today, former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) finally broke his two-year silence after the revelations about his lurid IM conversations with congressional pages. Foley conceded that his behavior was “extraordinarily stupid,” but throughout the AP interview, he stayed on the defensive:
– Says he’s not a pedophile: “The work I was doing was involving young children … You know, you hear the term ‘pedophile.’ That is prepubescent,” Foley said, noting a “huge difference” from lurid chats with teens on the brink of adulthood.
– The children didn’t say no: “There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, “Stop,” or “I’m not enjoying this,” or “This is inappropriate,” he said.
It was a “momentary lapse of judgment,” Foley claimed. But he “carried on the computer conversations for months, asking about masturbation, sex, and other details,” the AP notes.
UPDATE: Watch part an interview with a West Palm Beach television station:
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll