SUNDAY,  NOVEMBER 23,  2008

DIVINE NOTE AT 11:32 P.M. ET:  From The Politico:   President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.  On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

COMMENT:  Given the church he belonged to in Chicago, with Rev. Wright at its helm, maybe the gym is an improvement.

VENEZUELA VOTES - 3:52 P.M. ET: 

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan voters choose state and local officials today in elections President Hugo Chavez has turned into a plebiscite on his presidency.

Chavez, 54, whose coalition holds almost every seat in the National Assembly, is seeking a sweep by his Venezuelan United Socialist Party to tighten his grip on regional governments. The opposition is betting that falling oil prices, faster inflation and spiraling crime will erode support for Chavez's socialist revolution.

COMMENT:  "Holds almost every seat in the National Assembly."  I'm sure the elections are fair and honest.

OBAMA WHEELS - 3:39 P.M. ET:   From The Times of London, describing Obama's new presidential limo: 

The armour-plated car, which has a raised roof, windows up to 5in thick, extra-strength tyres and a body made of steel, aluminium, titanium and ceramics, is thought to be based on a GMC 2500 truck that gets less than 10 miles to the gallon. Three cars are believed to be in production so that two can serve as decoys.

While security is paramount - the car is built to survive roadside bombs as well as gunfire - there are hybrid four-wheel drives on the market, such as Ford’s Mercury Mariner, which some critics believe could have been adapted for the president.

COMMENT:  Watch the environmental press spin this.  After Al Gore with his huge house and private jets, they can't exactly advocate leading by example.

SLEEPER CRISIS - KOREA - AT 9:49 A.M. ET:    SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea made clear on Sunday it will not back down in mounting tensions with North Korea, which has threatened to shut their heavily armed border next week over what it sees as Seoul's antagonistic approach to relations.

COMMENT:  Watch this one.  A crisis can erupt on the Korean peninsula at any time.  South Korea now has a non-appeasement government, and the North clearly doesn't like it.  In addition, there are signs that North Korea is trying to get around its international commitments regarding its nuclear and arms-sales programs.

A KEY POST - EDUCATION - 9:38 A.M. ET:  The Washington Post, while generally praising Obama's appointments thus far, points out that a key position is unfilled:

Another selection that will merit scrutiny is Mr. Obama's education secretary: Will the choice reflect his stated commitment to reform? Will it be someone with hands-on experience in education and a proven willingness to experiment? While the new president's attention is understandably focused on the economy, not to mention the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's critical to have someone who comes to the education post with those credentials.

COMMENT:  Dead on.  Our educational system is overwhelmed with mediocrity, political correctness and careerism.  The Democratic Party is overwhelmed with the teachers' unions.  The president-elect clearly values education.  The question is whether he can overcome his party's special-interest mentality and appoint someone who reflects the needs of children, not the needs of the educational establishment.

OBAMA'S CHOICES

Posted at 8:56 a.m. ET

Reflecting on President Kennedy yesterday, on the 45th anniversary of his death, I recalled a story told in David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest."  After an early cabinet meeting in the new Kennedy administration, Vice President Lyndon Johnson took a trip up to Capitol Hill to see his old friend, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.  Johnson expressed amazement at all the Ivy League professors and Ph.D.'s in the Kennedy White House.  Rayburn leaned back, with a look of worry on his face, and replied that, while that was impressive, he wished that just one of them had run for sheriff.

The moral, of course, is that practical experience, experience close to the people, was also important in government.

The Rayburn story has special significance now, in light of the president-elect's recent and rumored appointments.  David Brooks of The New York Times commented:

This truly will be an administration that looks like America, or at least that slice of America that got double 800s on their SATs. Even more than past administrations, this will be a valedictocracy — rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes. If a foreign enemy attacks the United States during the Harvard-Yale game any time over the next four years, we’re screwed.

Over-intellectualizing a problem is always a danger.  However, so far, the Obama team does pass muster in the practical experience department.  An economic team with Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Larry Summers at the White House is sound.  Look, Obama is not going to appoint candidates from Newt Gingrich's Rolodex.  But, so far - and we reserve the right to scream loudly - I don't see any nut cases.  From our viewpoint, we're probably getting as good as can be expected. 

Concerns about Eric Holder at Justice, yes.  Concerns about Queen Hillary at State, of course.  But Cindy Sheehan will not be national security adviser and Code Pink will not have an office in the West Wing.  At least that's a cause for relief.

Now the team, and the ones to join it next, must perform.  In this they will need the help of the sub-cabinet and staff officials.  We should look as carefully at those appointments as we do at the ones at the top.  We must also look at those who are not appointed, but are called upon to give the new president advice.  Here I must express concern, as I have before, over the presence of Brent Scowcroft, Bush 41s national-security adviser, and a man Mr. Obama apparently consults fairly often.  An American security policy must always be, to satisfy the demands of this nation, a combination of idealism and realism.  Scowcroft, in my mind, is a bit too much of a realist, and, despite his military background, never seemed to believe much in the unique qualities of his own country.  But those qualities are what make us America, and I hope the new president keeps that critical notion in mind.  We are not France, and we are certainly not Germany.

November 23, 2008.      Permalink          

SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER 22, 2008

TODAY'S DATE

Posted at 8:22 p.m. ET

Today is November 22nd.  

That date may not have the resonance of December 7th, or, for the young generation, September 11th, but of course it is the date that President Kennedy was assassinated some 45 years ago. 

A vast amount has been written about that event, and President Kennedy himself.  I can add little.  But not enough has been written about the aftermath, particularly the treatment of Lyndon Johnson by the press, by the Kennedys, and by the northeast liberal establishment.  That is a subject worth mentioning.

One of the great myths about the sixties - one of many, many myths - is that Lyndon Johnson was hated because of the Vietnam War.  That is not quite correct.  Lyndon Johnson was hated from the moment he took the oath...because he wasn't Jack Kennedy.  He hadn't gone to the right schools, he wasn't eloquent, his wife didn't go to classical concerts, and, worst of all, he was from Texas.  Well, wait.  Maybe that wasn't worst of all.  Worst of all was the fact that he was an effective legislator, a dealmaker, and that didn't go down well with the pure-of-heart northeastern crowd, which had convinced themselves that the Kennedys were godlike and above mere politics.   

Johnson had always been resented by that clique, and his selection as Kennedy's running mate in 1960 had stunned them.  He wasn't "one of us."   He didn't talk like "us."  He was from south of Boston.  When Johnson became president upon Kennedy's murder, the clique loathed him, and gathered around Bobby Kennedy.  Johnson got very little credit for shepherding through the 1964 civil rights legislation that Jack Kennedy could probably not have gotten passed.  He got very little credit for anything. 

We recall these things because George W. Bush is despised by the same crowd that despised Johnson, and for the same reasons.  It's a cultural thing.  You must be a member of the club.  You can do business with a machete during the day, but, as long as you go to the Philharmonic at night, you're forgiven.  So now, as the Bush years reach their end, we might reflect on the treatment of Lyndon Johnson, and recognize that we've just seen it again.  It is hurtful to American politics, and hurtful to the country, but the practitioners of this socially acceptable form of hate never seem to care.

November 22, 2008.      Permalink          

MILITANT? - 7:51 P.M. ET:   From The New York Times:  PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A British militant who was a liaison to Al Qaeda and was a main suspect in the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners in 2006 was killed Saturday in a missile strike by an American aircraft in northern Pakistan, senior Pakistani and American officials said.

COMMENT:  I've always been baffled by this term, "militant."  It's like saying, "Japanese militants attacked Pearl Harbor yesterday..."  What, precisely, does "militant" mean?  It's a euphemism, of course, for "terrorist."  I prefer the real thing.  At any rate, the raid was a success, for which we thank our militant military.

PAYOFF - 6:43 P.M. ET:  From The Politico:  Ellen Moran, executive director of EMILY’s List, was named White House communications director by President-elect Obama on Saturday.

Moran, a well-known grassroots organizer, has also managed statewide Democratic campaigns and managed the Wal-Mart corporate accountability campaign for the AFL-CIO.

EMILY's List, one of the most important Democratic constituency groups, says it is "dedicated to building a progressive America by electing Democratic pro-choice women to office."

COMMENT:  Major political payoff, but possibly a bad move.  The communications failures of the Bush White House show the importance of this position.  Appointing a partisan with narrow, leftist experience doesn't strike me as smart. 

SARAH, TAKE TWO

Posted at 10:16 a.m. ET

For those inclined to believe that Sarah Palin would disappear into the tundra after the election, there must be crushing disappointment.  It seems that the governor is in more demand now than ever.  She has a career ahead of her.  Tina Fey has a career ahead of her.  Everybody should really be happy.  The facts:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Oprah wants her, and so do Letterman and Leno. Fresh from her political defeat, Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate that would be astonishing for most Hollywood stars, let alone a first-term governor.

The failed Republican vice presidential candidate crunched state budget numbers this week in her 17th-floor office as tumbling oil prices hit Alaska's revenues. Meanwhile, her staff fielded television requests seeking the 44-year-old Palin for late-night banter and Sunday morning Washington policy.

Agents, including those from the William Morris Agency, have come knocking. There's even been an offer to host a TV show.

I used to be a William Morris client.  Sarah will have to get used to five-foot-five-inch men named Murray. 

"Tomorrow, Governor Palin could do an interview with any news media on the planet," said her spokesman, Bill McAllister. "Tomorrow, she could probably sign any one of a dozen book deals. She could start talking to people about a documentary or a movie on her life. That's the level we are at here."

"Barbara Walters called me. George Stephanopoulos called me," McAllister said. "I've had multiple conversations with producers for Oprah, Letterman, Leno and 'The Daily Show.'"

And there's more:

Palin is considering about 800 requests for appearances from December through 2009, with 75 percent coming from out of state. A year ago, just a sprinkle of requests came from beyond Alaska's borders. They range from invitations to speak at The Chief Executives' Club of Boston to attend a 5-year-old's birthday party, from a prayer breakfast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to a business conference in Britain.

Michael Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor who wants to be the next chairman of the Republican National Committee, is seeking face time.

She has invitations to make appearances in 20 foreign countries, typically with all expenses paid, McAllister said. She has more than 200 requests for media interviews, again from around the globe.

Of course, it's legitimate to ask how many of these people will try to ambush her, and make her look bad.  But I suspect she's ready for that now.  She wasn't that ready in the first few weeks after McCain selected her.

The right book or movie deal could help Palin reintroduce herself to the nation, on terms she could dictate.

The book tour would be something to behold.  Of course, there are the party poopers:

"She has to deal with the perception that she bobbled her debut," said Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney. "She needs to stay home for a while. If she wants a future in national politics, her No. 1 job is doing a good job as governor."

Hey, guy, she has an 80-percent approval rating. 

Sarah Palin is a political phenomenon.  We cannot and should not try to project how far she can go.  No doubt, and it must be admitted, part of the fascination is her good looks.  She's the most lookable major candidate we've had in years.

But there's also a fascination with her life story, which she now has a chance to tell in her own time, and in her own way, unencumbered by campaign staffs.

With Sarah emerging, and Hillary as secretary of state, we're in for juicy times.

November 22, 2008.      Permalink          

HILLARY - AGAIN

Posted at 9:09 a.m. ET

We've said before at Urgent Agenda that some of the best writing on American politics is done by British and Australian reporters.  The best of the best is Gerard Baker of The Times of London, who examines the whole Hillary as secretary of state thing.  The Brits must be astonished: 

When the man they call No Drama Obama met the Clinton Psychodrama in the Democratic primary campaign, it was bound to produce an epic for the ages. The iron self-discipline of the long-shot pretender proved just enough in the end to overcome the front-runner whose strengths were undermined by the self-indulgent incontinence characteristic of the Clinton political machine.

And...

From the Democratic convention, the word went out that Hillary - and even Bill - was finally resigned to a late life of public service, toiling diligently in the vineyard of President Obama's America, seeking nothing more than to serve the new leadership, loyally committed to a cause greater than their own self-advancement.

Ah, but wait...

And yet, here we are, a couple of weeks after that historic election, and once again all we are talking about is - the Clintons.

Yes.  And we're not talking about another guy:

One can only guess, by the way, what Joe Biden, the man who got the vice-presidential slot over Senator Clinton, in large part because of his foreign policy credentials, now thinks about the idea of sitting quietly in his vice-presidential office suite watching Mrs Clinton strut her global stuff on television.

They will keep him in the closet and away from microphones.  Hillary might ask him to arrange room service at foreign hotels.

What's more, it is not as though there was a great range of alternatives. John Kerry, first mooted for the job a while back, famously aloof and arrogant, might have proved a diplomatic disaster. Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Governor with the colourful past, was too risky for the global stage.

The Dem bench is not deep, especially where national security is concerned.

So what's the problem? The problem is that should Senator Clinton, by any chance, be looking to make her own mark in the next four years and subtly distinguish herself from the new president, there could hardly be a better perch from which to do it. Differences between the two during the primary campaign were sharpest over foreign policy. Mrs Clinton denounced Mr Obama's pledge to meet foreign dictators without preconditions and generally mocked his inexperience.

Hmm.  Yeah.  We see his point.  The Clinton leak machine could make clear where she differs with him, even as she carries out his instructions.  And - we're dreaming here - a Clinton resignation "on principle," just before, oh, 2012, could be devastating to Obama.

What most troubles Obama loyalists is that a Clinton nomination threatens to destroy a feature of the new president's politics that has been essential to Senator Obama's success: its cohesion and unity of purpose...

And that is the risk in the Clinton nomination, should it come. You don't even have to believe that Senator Clinton will actively try to undermine the president. She's surely a loyal Democrat and a patriotic American who in any case understands that active pursuit of her own cause would do her more harm than good.

The problem is that the Clintons really can't help it. For all their protean talents, for all their political and intellectual skills, they have an unrivalled knack for making politics into very personal theatre, an unerring capacity to turn any crisis into a drama, one in which they play all the central roles.

Finally...

For President Obama the opportunity in Secretary of State Clinton is knowing that his message to the rest of the world is in capable political hands. For No Drama Obama, the danger is that American foreign policy for the next four years becomes the gaudy stage on which the latest act in the engrossing saga of Clinton Agonistes is played out.

Yeah, no doubt about it.  This is theater.  The best show in town.  Can you just see inauguration day, in two months?  The networks will give as much attention to the Clintons as to the Obamas.  Hillary, as an appointed cabinet official, will probably be sitting right behind Obama as he rises to take the oath.  She'll know she's on TV, so she won't curse.  But I'll give anything I have to see the expression on her face, and I'll give more than I have to see the expressions when her eyes meet Michelle's.

Politics is occasionally fun, even when the other guys win.

November 22,  2008.      Permalink