Speechwars.com, says there are three words uttered yesterday that made their presidential inaugural address debut (h/t Marc Ambinder). See what they were after the jump.
The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08
Dedicated to Advancing the Idea That the Other Side May Have a Point
Archive for the 'Changing of the Guard' Category
A NUDGE TOWARD GOOD GOVERNMENT
January 9th, 2009, 4:52 pm by Dan Lehr
I’m happy to report Cass Sustein, the co-author of the book above, has been selected by the President-Elect to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Click here to read why that’s a good thing, & here to read why conservatives should be pleased.
& click here to read my earlier Vote08 post (from June 23rd) when I said, “For the record I like this approach, & hope whoever’s eventually president will recognize the pragmatism inherent within it.”
THE LAST TIME WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY HAPPENED
January 7th, 2009, 12:06 pm by Dan Lehr
Above: October 6th, 1981. The last time all current & former presidents met at the White House.
Read a good account of this encounter here.
It’s happening again today with President Bush, the President-Elect, & the surviving presidents having a White House lunch.
Read more about that here.
& this reminds me of one of my favorite Presidential jokes:
Q: Which 4 U.S. presidents aren’t buried on U.S. soil?
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
January 5th, 2009, 4:40 pm by Dan Lehr
“How did we transform from champions of human dignity and individual rights into a nation of armchair torturers? One word: fear.
INTERNAL BLAGO REPORT RELEASED
December 23rd, 2008, 4:43 pm by Dan Lehr
SWORN IN ON LINCOLN’s KORAN— ER, I MEAN BIBLE
December 23rd, 2008, 10:20 am by Dan Lehr
Above: a look at the Bible President Abraham Lincoln used in 1861, for the 1st time he was sworn in as President.
Barack Obama plans to become the 1st president since Lincoln to use it at an inauguration. Details here.
Sorry, couldn’t resist the headline. If you only knew how many conversations I had with NewsChannel9 callers about “whether he’d swear in using the Koran.”
To which I always said, paraphrasing Colin Powell, “he wouldn’t use a Koran, he’d use a Bible - but so what if he did?”
THE NEW MAN BEHIND THE PODIUM
December 22nd, 2008, 1:26 pm by Dan Lehr
From the New York Times Magazine, in a piece on Robert Gibbs, the new WH Press Secretary:
“Podium alums share a bipartisan kinship, signified by the ceremonial flak jacket that hangs in the closet of the press secretary’s West Wing office. It was placed there originally by Gerald Ford’s podium man, Ron Nessen. Outgoing press secretaries write notes of advice for their successors and leave them in one pocket. Every previous note remains there, neatly arranged and tied together in a ribbon. “You can’t see the jacket,” Perino told me when I visited her office a few days before Thanksgiving. It’s reserved for club members, apparently.”
The article also had this interesting nugget:
NEW FACES FOR THE CABINET
December 16th, 2008, 11:14 am by Dan Lehr
Above: The President-elect announcing his energy & environment team, yesterday. (note: Al Gore’s in the mix, too.)
Read more about the team here, & about the looming challenges they face here. Read a positive review of Nobel-winning physicist Steven Chu (Obama’s pick for Energy Secretary) here.
Read skepticism over a complete energy policy makeover here.
Obama announced his Health & Human Services Secretary in Saturday’s radio address, which you can watch here.
Also, later this week: he’s expected to name Arne Duncan as Education Secretary (background here). Click here for a piece on why he’d be a good addition & here for a piece on why he wouldn’t.
& Colorado Senator Ken Salazar (oh-oh! another Senate seat open!) as Interior Secretary later this week; read more about that here.
SHORT SHRIFT FOR SOUTHERNERS?
December 15th, 2008, 9:52 am by Dan Lehr
On this, the anniversary of the release of ‘Gone with the Wind,’ Marc Ambinder points out the dearth of southerners in the incoming Obama cabinet.
UH-OH
December 10th, 2008, 4:44 pm by Dan Lehr
“It’s quite unsettling to talk to members of Barack Obama’s transition teams these days, especially those who are helping with the economics portfolio. Without going into details, the sense I get from them is that they are very worried that the economy will get a lot worse before it gets better. Not just worse… a lot worse.
BLAGOJEVICH BLUSTER IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
December 10th, 2008, 10:25 am by Dan Lehr
BREAKING THE MOLD
December 4th, 2008, 3:30 pm by Dan Lehr
There’s a lot of ways to read into Obama’s recent choices for his cabinet; Marc Ambinder tries to find some commonalities, including this:
A WATCHED PHONE NEVER RINGS
December 3rd, 2008, 4:40 pm by Dan Lehr
Kinda sad - but kinda funny - post at the Washington Note, written by a person, according to Steve Clemons, “who really does deserve a very top spot in Obama Land but is sitting pensively waiting for a call while trying to pretend he/she is not:”
“…I wait in a state of suspended ambition. I too have the dreams featuring, in no apparent order, Vice President Elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State-designate Hilary Clinton and, yes, even the man himself, President-Elect Obama.
Sometimes in these dreams they offer me a job, and sometimes they say they can’t offer me a job because they can’t find my resume amidst the other 300,000 on www.change.gov. I wake in a cold sweat.
TWO LOCAL OBAMA TRANSITION DONORS
December 1st, 2008, 3:25 pm by Dan Lehr
It’s common to give to a presidential campaign; it’s far less common to give to a presidential transition.
Today the Obama Transition team released its list of 1776 donors on its website, & they include a pair of local folks:
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BAILOUT
November 24th, 2008, 10:30 am by Dan Lehr
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush says there could be more decisions like the government’s dramatic rescue of Citigroup if other institutions need help.
Bush also says he consulted with President-elect Barack Obama on the Citigroup rescue. Bush says “There is close cooperation” between his administration and the Obama camp.
Referring to the Citigroup rescue, Bush said “We have made these kind of decisions in the past. We made one last night and if need be we will make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future.”
He spoke outside the Treasury Department after consulting with Secretary Henry Paulson.
Read more about the Citigroup bailout here.
- Broadcast Services
- TV Listings
- Public EEO Report
- WTVC DTV Report
- Science Theatre
- Online Services
- RSS Feeds
- Advertiser Index
- Yellow Pages
- Related Sites
- Total Visual Concepts
