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Obama Introduces National Security Team
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines —
As expected, President-elect Barack Obama named Sen. Hillary Clinton as his choice for Secretary of State and gave Robert Gates the opportunity to continue his work as Secretary of Defense—and those were just two of a series of high-powered nominations Obama announced on Monday.
Clinton accepted his invitation and ...
Obama's National Security Team
Political Punch —
Previous | Main Obama's National Security Team December 01, 2008 12:42 PM President-elect Obama introduced his national security team today. Pending Senate confirmation they will be: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (already confirmed); Attorney General Eric Holder; National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones (Ret.) (confirmation not needed for this position); Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano; and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice (position will be made Cabinet rank.) My q and a (or, more accurately, q's and a's): More to come... -- ...
Open Season On "The Left"
Open Left - Front Page —
Barack Obama, seven days ago, when announcing his national security team:
"I am going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House," Obama said.
Steve Hildebrand, deputy national campaign director for Barack Obama, yesterday:
This is not a time for the left wing of our Party to draw conclusions about the Cabinet and White House appointments that President-Elect Obama is making.
Um, what? Obama himself said that he is "welcoming a vigorous debate," but one of Obama's top deputies writes that "this is not a time for the left wing of our Party to draw conclusions." Was ...
Encouraging Debate On Afghanistan
Open Left - Front Page —
An increasing number of questions, and diversity of opinions, are emerging on sending more troops to Afghanistan. Given how murky the situation is over there, this can only be taken as a good sign:
And yet, over the last few weeks, the progressive community that once pleaded for greater resources and attention to Afghanistan has begun to raise concerns about the idea that additional forces could change that country's increasingly dire situation.
Sen. Russ Feingold launched a major salvo just weeks before the election, when he penned an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor, questioning the wisdom of sending more troops to ...
What Would Obama Do?
Open Left - Front Page —
Michael Tomasky writing in the Guardian about how anyone who thought Gates was a bad pick are complete idiots:
And people who can't see that Obama needs to reassure the political establishment by doing things like re-appointing Robert Gates at the Pentagon precisely so he can have the establishment's good will, which in turn grants him the room to operate and to isolate the political opposition, understand so little about politics that it's not even worth the time it would take to spell out the argument to them.
What Tomasky apparently does not realize is that those stupid people who demonstrated total political ...
I Learned It From Watching You, Dad!
Hit & Run —
According to ABC News political correspondent Brian Ross, "Senate Candidate #5," the unnamed public official who, according to wiretaps of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, would fork over a cool million dollars to be named successor to President-elect Obama in the Senate, is Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich "stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided ROD BLAGOJEVICH" with something "tangible up front." Jackson Jr. said this morning he was contacted yesterday by federal prosecutors in Chicago who he said "asked me to come in ...
