Surely he can find a comfy place for one of the Senators from Maine, whose seat would filled by a Dem? That would be one way to increase the Senate numbers. . .

Ahh, this will make the financial sellout complete. One of the coauthors of Gramm-LEACH-Bliley inside the Administration.

Smell the Changeâ„¢!

Have four years of fun, Kool-Aid drinkers.

is expected to announce his national security team next week. It will be led by Senator Hillary Clinton

What does this say about the relationship between State and NSC?

Fly, has it never occurred to you that not everyone is locked into a rigid ideology forever? That sometimes open-minded intelligent people can learn from what goes wrong with their prior decisions? By and large Leach has a great record (and in fact, he had favored a somewhat less deregulatory version of GLB) and is an open-minded and bright guy. Heck, if Greenspan can now admit his prior views on deregulation were wrong, Leach certainly can (and likely has) learned from this as well.

Change refers to the fact that for a change we'll finally have someone running the government with an IQ well over 90--I mean, somebody who has actually read many books (and can even write them with flair and thoughtfulness!), who can think straight, who has common sense, who is psychologically well-grounded, whose heart is in the right place, who is a proven leader.

I get a little thrill every day at noon when NPR's first news announcement begins "President-elect Barack Obama..."

I finally feel safe.

How about Whitman for EPA or Interior?

Don't forget Jim Ramstead from Minnesota, he is a mortal lock for a job in HSS.

Jim Leach should be made to apologize for the Whitewater hoax he led before getting anymore assignments from Obama.

My guess is that most of the Republicans in the Obama administration will be technocrats and corporate types, not politicians.

Rahm Emanuel is surely counselling against burnishing the resumes of people like Leach, Shays and Whitman, who could be plausible GOP Senate candidates in 2010 or '12.

Powell is doing too well in the private sector to be coaxed back into government. He might be tapped for an advisory board, or special-ambassador duty, or (most likely) as the frontman for a public-service initiative.

Hagel is a tease, and not a team player, the Republican version of Bob Kerrey. (What's the matter with Nebraska?)

Big little progressive gulps...

Bringing in republicans-with-brains is smart and shrewd. For at least four reasons:

1) It keeps the witchcraft republicans shrill, off-balanced, and recalcitrant. In effect, it marginalizes them.

2) To get healthcare done the center-right is going to have come along for the ride. If they can be convinced of its necessity we will get a whole plan built from the bottom up. Not some fragmented, half-sewn, complicated monstrosity.

3) Historically people trust Republicans more on national security. Using smart republicans in key defense positions helps level the optics for Barack.

4) The 2010 midterms are nigh. The bottom must not fall out on this president. I want no Clinton 1994 deja vu. The best way to prevent that occurrence is to govern prudently from the center.

Please, not Colin Powell, the professional republican apologist and suck-up.

I'm chagrined to admit that I don't know when the confirmation hearings begin for the cabinet posts. Is it before or after Obama takes the oath of office? (My guess is before).

There will be "multiple Republicans" in the administration," Podesta said. "You'll see them spread throughout the administration."

Spread, eh? Isn't that what you do with manure?

Ah. An early sighting of the 2010 midterms talking point. I feel sort of like a birder, except for memes.

wow!

i was just thinking the other day that, in the instant information era, two and a half months between election day and inauguration day seems too long....especially with the lamest lame duck ever seen in charge....bush could start rehabilating his "legacy" by quitting today...

i think i can safely assume that an obama administration will be run like the obama campaign...with ruthless efficiency and only the occasional misstep...
ps
i'm a suspicious progressive, but i can't help to marvel what it's like to see a grown-up in charge...

Once the few foreign policy centrists (Scowcroft, Gates, Hagel) are picked off, the Republican party has only the nutty neocons left.

Those who are complaining about having Republicans in the administration are thinking of jerks like the majority of those in Congress or complete ninnyhammers like Gingrich and Norquist. There are some, however, who are regarded by the wingnutters as RINOs, who do have the capacity to think, e.g., the exsenator from Rhode Island whose name escapes me for the moment. I strongly suspect that these are the ones being considered for places in the administration, not the dopes and knotheads. Granted there aren't nearly as many as there were a generation ago, but surely there must still be some.

There was a suggestion that Obama shouldn't allow some of them to burnish their credentials in government in time for the midterm elections. It was this attitude that politics trumps everything that got the Darth Vader/Knucklehead administration into trouble, so I see absolutely no problem with letting someone like Whitman at EPA if there is no one else who would do a better job. Remember that she was doing her job well until she got trampled by the political wing at the WH.

6 hours later, and no one can tell me what date the confirmation hearings begin? What a bunch of dummies.