On track, but who's driving the train?

by Janet Crain
Personally I believe Obama wants his "team of rivals" near so he can watch them and hopefully control them. By appointing Hillary as Secretary of State, he has effectively eliminated any serious Democratic competition for his 2012 candidacy for re-election.

Obama plans to name Clinton to state

By MIKE ALLEN | 11/20/08 10:48 PM EST

President-elect Barack Obama is "on track" to name Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as his secretary of state shortly after Thanksgiving, two senior Obama aides said.

Financial disclosure issues have been worked out, aides said.

The officials said they expect her to accept. Clinton aides had no comment.

The choice unites the two rivals in the most protracted presidential primary in American history, giving Obama the Team of Rivals Cabinet he had promised.

Former President Bill Clinton authorized unprecedented disclosures about his finances to Obama's vetting team, and transition lawyers are satisfied, officials said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15843.html

NYT columnist Maureen Dowd: "What worries me, though, is that much of the media attention today is focused on the wrong relationship question. Everyone is asking how she would manage the relationship with former President Bill Clinton and his own global speaking, fund-raising and philanthropic agendas. You have to believe that they’ll do everything they can to try to figure that out — but it’s not a done deal yet. Obviously, Mr. Clinton would have to restrict some of his activities. The important question, the answer of which is not at all clear to me, is about the only relationship that matters for a secretary of state — the kind of relationship he or she would have with the new president. My question: Is Obama considering Mrs. Clinton for this job in order to get her off his back or as a prelude to protecting her back?

NYT's Thomas Friedman: "Bill has the satisfaction of seeing that he has roiled the previously serene and joyous Obamaland. It may be Obama’s very willingness to take the albatross of Bill from around Hillary’s neck and sling it around his own that impresses Bill. Obama is overlooking all his cherished dictums against drama and leaking and his lofty vetting standards to try and create a situation where the country can benefit from the talent of the Clintons while curbing their cheesy excesses, like their endless cash flow from foreigners. And in turn, Bill is doing all he can — he’s disclosing sketchy donors and business interests and figuring out how he could curb his global gallivanting to have fewer conflicts of interest — to help his wife get the job.It says it all that, at the moment Washington became obsessed with news that Hillary was a contender for State, Bill was getting a half-million for an hour’s worth of chat sponsored by the National Bank of Kuwait, delivered from behind a podium with a camel and Arabic lettering on it. Last year, Bill made $10.1 million in speaking fees."

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The Palin-bashers

Posted: November 18, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

Just who are the amorphous individuals attacking Gov. Sarah Palin as not being smart enough to have been vice president? What makes her less capable than Joe Biden? In retrospect, if Biden was such a brilliant pick, and if Michelle Obama is so intelligent, why were both kept off the main stage in the closing weeks of the presidential

race – while Sarah Palin was increasingly in public view?

I submit they are comprised of two factions – the first being those that never wanted her to be vice president – the other, those who are afraid she may succeed as a presidential candidate in 2012. Lumped into both groups are those who don't have a clue, which includes elitist Republicans who place a higher value on a person's alma mater than they do a person's ability.

The accusations now surfacing is that Gov. Palin isn't "smart enough" to even consider running for president, to which one might argue: like Al Gore and John Kerry were, and like Joe Biden is – but I digress. A pre-eminent business leader told me many years ago, "You don't have to be super smart to be successful – you just have to be smart enough to surround yourself with people who are."

To that point, Sarah Palin is not only smart enough to surround herself with smart people, but she is also both smart and capable. Her record of accomplishment in barely two years as governor of Alaska is extraordinary. She is a proven fiscal conservative who puts the best interests of the people ahead of "good ol' boy" politics and policies, and she isn't hesitant to take on malevolent factions of her own party. She holds to traditional values, not as a mace, but as a way of life.

Cont. here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81267

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Madam Secretary???

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talk after walking off his plane as they head to a campaign rally at Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty images

I wonder if Hillary will have to fill out the 7 page questionaire. I can just see her, pen in hand, pausing over; "Do you have any relatives who actions may prove to be an embarrassment?" JC

Hillary Clinton's hopes of becoming Madam President have died - at least for 2008. But could she rise again as Madam Secretary?

Anticipation that Clinton could be called to serve as secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration rose today after his aides leaked details of a secret meeting between the two former bitter primary rivals at his transition headquarters in Chicago.
Clinton made her surprise visit to Obama's transition office yesterday afternoon. The meeting was not on Clinton's official schedule, and her Senate staff had previously said she was in Chicago for personal reasons.
Today, the woman occupying the centre of the political stage, gave away nothing about her future.
"I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration. And I am going to respect his process and any inquiries should be directed to his transition team," Clinton told a conference in Albany, New York.
Others in the Clinton camp were adamant that the meeting was not a job interview or in any way decisive. But the mere fact that it occurred has fuelled speculation that Clinton is now a contender for a major cabinet post.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/14/obama-white-house-hillary-clinton

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Obama's Speechwriter Opens Eyes, Votes McCain-Palin

by Wendy Button

A speechwriter for Obama, Edwards, and Clinton on why she’s voting for McCain.

Since I started writing speeches more than ten years ago, I have always believed in the Democratic Party. Not anymore. Not after the election of 2008. This transformation has been swift and complete and since I’m a woman writing in the election of 2008, “very emotional".



The final straw came the other week when Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) asked a question about higher taxes for small businesses. Instead of celebrating his aspirations, they were mocked. He wasn’t “a real plumber,” and “They’re fighting for Joe the Hedge-Fund manager,” and the patronizing, “I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber.”
…
Not only has this party belittled working people in this campaign from Joe the Plumber to the bitter comments, it has also been part of tearing down two female candidates. At first, certain Democrats and the press called Senator Clinton “dishonest.” They went after her cleavage. They said her experience as First Lady consisted of having tea parties. There was no outrage over “Bros before Hoes” or “Iron My Shirt.” Did Senator Clinton make mistakes? Of course. She’s human.
…
Here we are discussing Governor Palin’s clothes—oh wait, now we’re on to the make-up—not what either man is going to do to save our economy. This isn’t an accident. It is part of a manufactured narrative that she is stupid.
Governor Palin and I don’t agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor. I was one of those initial skeptics and would laugh at the pictures. Not anymore. When someone takes on a corrupt political machine and a sitting governor, that is not done by someone with a low I.Q. or a moral core made of tissue paper. When someone fights her way to get scholarships and work her way through college even in a jagged line, that shows determination and humility you can’t learn from reading Reinhold Niebuhr. When a mother brings her son with special needs onto the national stage with love, honesty, and pride, that gives hope to families like mine as my older brother lives with a mental disability.
…
I can no longer justify what this party has done and can’t dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It’s wrong and someone has to say that.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-28/so-long-obama/





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Bad Economy May Hurt Obama

By Dick Morris

The conventional wisdom has it down pat: A bad economy works against the candidate from the party in power as voters take out their rage and fear on the president’s party and back the challenger, just like they did in 1992. But this is not a normal economic slowdown (or recession) and Obama is not a normal challenger. I think the conventional wisdom may be dead wrong.

It is not so much that unemployment is so high (5.7 percent) or that the economy is in the tank (1 percent growth this quarter) as it is that everything seems to be falling apart. Banks are under assault; mortgages are in default; quasi-government agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need bailouts; financial institutions go hat in hand to foreign sovereign wealth funds peddling shares of their equity in return for desperately needed cash; the cost of filling a gas tank has tripled. It is not the present circumstances that have voters freaked, it is the threats that seem to loom on the horizon.

And Obama is no ordinary challenger. Not like Bill Clinton, for example. In 1992, from the moment the campaign started, Clinton billed himself as the expert who could solve the economy’s problems. His promise to “focus like a laser beam” on the recession won him big points throughout the campaign. His 10-year record as a governor and his chairmanship of the National Governors Association bolstered his credentials. But we first met Barack Obama as an advocate of racial and partisan healing and then as an opponent of the war in Iraq. When he tried to morph into an economic expert in time for the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries, voters didn’t buy it and voted for Hillary.

So the question that hangs over the election is: Are we prepared to trust a new candidate with almost no experience and no claim to economic expertise in the middle of one of the most threatening economic situations we have ever faced?
Add to this backdrop Obama’s pledge to raise taxes and you have a combustible situation that could frighten American voters en masse. When, amid relative prosperity, Obama said he would restore fairness by raising taxes on the rich, it was well-received, particularly in the Democratic primary.

Raising the top bracket to 40 percent seemed a no-brainer. Applying the Social Security tax to more earned income, not just to the first $100,000, seemed like elemental fairness and a good way to save the pension system. Restoring the capital gains tax to 28 percent appeared to comport with the notion that those whose income derives from investment should pay a tax closer to that paid on earned income (despite the argument that it is after-tax money that they invested in the first place).

But now, with massive capital outflows crippling the public and private sectors, doubling the tax on capital seems like a very, very bad idea. And a sharp increase in taxes on the entrepreneurial class seems like a risky proposition.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/bad_economy_may_hurt_obama.html

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Liberman Calls Obama Naïve

Lieberman Calls Obama
'Naïve,' May Bolt Party in Future
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

By: Tim Collie and David Patten


Sen. Barack Obama’s “naïve” world view could embolden America’s enemies during one of the most dangerous periods for America since the 1930s, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman told Newsmax in an exclusive television sit-down interview Tuesday.

Lieberman, visiting Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also told Newsmax that he is so disappointed with the Democratic Party, he will consider whether to bolt the Democratic Senate caucus next session.

[You can see the full video broadcast on Newsmax.tv — Go Here Now].

“I believe he’s naïve to think that people like [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and Tehran will somehow become America’s friends by talking to them — a warm embrace and a cup of tea. It’s not going to work that way,” said Lieberman.
McCain’s recent decline in the polls was “unfair” and “not rational,” Lieberman said, referring to the negative economic news that has impacted the McCain campaign.

The Connecticut senator suggested that many Americans don’t realize that the global economic crisis is also a security crisis—one that will require an experienced foreign policy hand like McCain to navigate.

“Frankly, he has to convince the American people that Barack Obama is not ready for prime time, that he’s not ready to be president of the United States,’’ Lieberman said. “Particularly not now, when we’re in two wars abroad and facing the most serious economic crisis we’ve faced since the Great Depression.”
McCain’s recent drop in the polls, Lieberman said, stems from voter reaction to the subprime meltdown.

“The economy has had such a crisis the past couple of weeks, that for reasons that I don’t think are fair or rational, Senator McCain seems to be losing as a result, and Senator Obama seems to be gaining. It’s the only thing that’s really changed,” he said.

“The very fact that the American people clearly trust John McCain more in a national security crisis is exactly the reason why they should have more confidence in him in an economic security crisis than Senator Obama,” said Lieberman.

In a wide-ranging interview, Lieberman also said:

• It’s important for the political process to question Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers: “I think these are very fair questions and it’s now up to Senator Obama to answer them.”

• Barack Obama is clearly ‘not ready’ yet to be commander in chief, and the country’s adversaries, including Iran “will not fear him” if he were to become president.

• McCain needs to persuade voters that “based on his record, that he really is the one who will change Washington, and Washington truly needs to be changed.”

• McCain should tout his economic plan that will emphasize tax cuts and job creation — exactly what a troubled economy needs. He said it would be foolhardy to raise taxes in a recession, as Obama has promised.

• The Republicans must emphasize that his plan for energy independence will create “hundreds of thousands, I think millions of new jobs.”

Asked if he may leave his party and join with Senate Republicans, Lieberman said he had no immediate plans to make that move, but said he would consider it at a later date.

“The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that I joined in the '60s under my hero President Kennedy, and it’s not the Democratic Party of my dear friend Bill Clinton,” Lieberman said.

Still, Lieberman insists his main focus today is to get McCain elected president and has spent the past several months traveling the campaign trail on McCain’s behalf. On Monday night, he introduced McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, to a Boca Raton audience at an event that raised more than $1 million.

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/lieberman_obama_naive/2008/10/07/138212.html?s=al&promo_code=6C85-1


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Come on Dems, Fess Up, You know Financial Crisis Began with Clinton

UPDATED

Friday, September 26, 2008

Democrats in Denial: Financial Crisis Began with Clinton

Democrats have a short attention span, especially when it comes to confessing their political sins and owning up to their blunders.

Conveniently, it never goes beyond President George W. Bush's presidency. Everything bad has happened in the past seven-and-a-half years; anything good came about during the Clinton administration. It's pointless for them to look past 1993 because their party has such a terrible record at picking their presidential candidates the past 40 years: John Kerry, Al Gore, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey. Their one "success" was Jimmy Carter, a one-term disaster who is considered below average among the presidents by scholars and historians and continues to be a national embarrassment as an "elder statesman." I suppose you can't blame Democrats for trying to be forward thinkers rather than look back at their track record of failures.

Cont.here:

http://atnconservative.blogspot.com/2008/09/democrats-in-denial-financial-concerns.html

Bill Clinton Says McCain Not Afraid to Debate

Bill Clinton said on NBC that McCain is “looking for some way of, once again, to say to the American people, ‘Hey, I'm not a traditional Republican."' Former President Bill Clinton believes John McCain’s move to suspend his campaign and push back Friday’s scheduled debate was made in “good faith” and not “because he’s afraid” to debate Barack Obama. “I presume he did that in good faith,” Clinton said on Good Morning America, recalling that McCain had “asked for more debates to go all around the country.” “I don't think we ought to overly parse that. Just let's deal with this issue,” the former president said. “We know he didn't do it because he's afraid, because Senator McCain wanted more debates.” Clinton said on NBC’s “Today Show” that McCain is “looking for some way of, once again, to say to the American people, ‘Hey, I'm not a traditional Republican. And I do take this seriously.’ Because otherwise this makes it much, much more difficult for him to win because this is associated with lax regulation and the absence of economic activity in this period.”

Biden Dropping Out? Rumor Thrives on Internet

Sept. 24, 2008: Joe Biden addresses a campaign rally in Jeffersonville, Ind. (AP)

by Judson Berger

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It’s almost certainly just a case of the telephone game gone high-tech, but there’s an Internet rumor surging through inboxes and discussion boards that Joe Biden will drop out as Barack Obama’s running mate after his Oct. 2 debate with Sarah Palin — and that he’ll be replaced by Hillary Clinton on the Democratic presidential ticket.

The story line goes as follows: John McCain’s selection of Palin has generated so much interest in the Republican ticket that Obama needs to make a radical move to regain momentum. So in the days after the vice presidential candidates debate in Missouri, Biden will bow out, citing “health problems” (Biden underwent surgery in 1988 to repair two brain aneurysms). Enter Clinton.

Furthermore, the story goes, any damage the gaffe-prone Biden does during the debate will be erased by his abrupt exit.

It sounds like a job for Fight the Smears, the Web site the Obama campaign set up to quash damaging Internet rumors. But Fight the Smears hasn’t touched this one, perhaps out of fear that it would only further a wild rumor. The Obama campaign has not commented on it, other than to say that Biden’s medical records will be released soon.

Snopes.com, a site devoted to picking apart online rumors and urban legends, has labeled the status of the claim “undetermined.” Several online discussion boards have been loaded up with denials.

Biden has caused a few hiccups for the Obama campaign. On Monday, he had to issue a clarification after he called one of his own campaign ads “terrible” in an interview with CBS News. He also faced a rebuke from Obama after he spoke out against the government bailout of American International Group last week before Obama was ready to take a position.

On Tuesday, he said that President Franklin Roosevelt had gone on television in 1929 to discuss the Wall Street crash (Herbert Hoover was president in 1929 and the TV hadn’t been invented yet).

At one point, he even said Hillary Clinton might have been a better pick for Obama’s No. 2.

The Republican National Committee has gleefully set up a Biden “gaffe clock” to monitor his rhetorical flubs on the campaign trail.

Nonetheless, Democratic supporters dismiss outright any speculation that he might be dropped from the ticket.

“It’s crazy. … It’s just not gonna happen,” Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said.

Dropping Biden from the ticket would be a throwback to George McGovern’s shocker in 1972, when he replaced running mate Thomas Eagleton after it was learned that Eagleton had undergone electro-shock therapy for depression.

McGovern lost to President Nixon in a landslide, suggesting that seventh-inning lineup changes are not the best strategy for presidential candidates who want to shake things up.

Speaking hypothetically, Beckel said that, if it were to happen, the Democratic National Committee could feasibly call a mini-convention of sorts to confirm a new running mate. He also said “it would be so disruptive” that it would make no sense for Obama to pursue such a change.

Deadlines have passed in some states to send absentee ballots to military personnel and civilian voters overseas — meaning they would have received a ballot already with Biden (and Palin) on their parties’ tickets.

“I doubt it,” said Christopher Hull, presidential scholar and adjunct government professor at Georgetown University, when told of the Biden rumor. “Joe Biden is not that big a liability. Joe Biden was arguably the most experienced candidate in the [Democratic primary] race.”

“Joe Biden, of course, has shot off his mouth and gotten himself in trouble,” he added. “It’s Joe Biden we’re talking about.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/24/biden-dropping-out-rumor-thrives-on-internet/

Financial Crisis Was a Long Time in the Making

Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system

User Forum Topic

Submitted by Ex-SD on September 19, 2008 - 11:04am

A piece of history for those who want to blame all of this mess on Bush. I'm no Bush lover but facts are facts and here's an article from 1999.

Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system

By Martin McLaughlin
1 November 1999

An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, sets the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system.

The proposed Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 would do away with restrictions on the integration of banking, insurance and stock trading imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, one of the central pillars of Roosevelt's New Deal. Under the old law, banks, brokerages and insurance companies were effectively barred from entering each others' industries, and investment banking and commercial banking were separated.

The certain result of repeal of Glass-Steagall will be a wave of mergers surpassing even the colossal combinations of the past several years. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "With the stroke of the president's pen, investment firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. and banks like Bank of America Corp., are expected to be on the prowl for acquisitions." The financial press predicted that the most likely mergers would come from big banks acquiring insurance companies, with John Hancock, Prudential and The Hartford all expected to be targeted.

Kenneth Guenther, executive vice president of Independent Community Bankers of America, an association of small rural banks which opposed the bill, warned, "This is going to begin a wave of major mergers and acquisitions in the financial-services industry. We're moving to an oligopolistic situation."

One such merger was already carried out well before the passage of the legislation, the $72 billion deal which brought together Citibank, the biggest New York bank, and Travelers Group Inc., the huge insurance and financial services conglomerate, which owns Salomon Smith Barney, a major brokerage. That merger was negotiated despite the fact that the merged company, Citigroup, was in violation of the Glass-Steagall Act, because billionaire Travelers boss Sanford Weill and Citibank CEO John Reed were confident of bipartisan support for repeal of the 60-year-old law.

Campaign of influence-buying

They had good reason, to be sure. The banking, insurance and brokerage industry lobbyists have combined their forces over the last five years to mount the best-financed campaign of influence-buying ever seen in Washington. In 1997 and 1998 alone, the three industries spent over $300 million on the effort: $58 million in campaign contributions to Democratic and Republican candidates, $87 million in "soft money" contributions to the Democratic and Republican parties, and $163 million on lobbying of elected officials.

http://piggington.com/clinton_republicans_agree_to_deregulation_of_us_financial_system

Clinton: 'I get why Palin is hot'

September 22, 2008

Bill Clinton has described Sarah Palin as 'hot' to reporters

Times Online and agencies

Bill Clinton has said he understands why middle America thinks Sarah Palin is "hot".

The Republican vice presidential candidate appeals to the heartlands of America because people relate to her life, he told reporters yesterday.

"I come from Arkansas, I get why she's hot out there," he said. "Why she's doing well."

Speaking to reporters before his Clinton Global Initiative meeting which starts today, the former president described Palin's appeal by adding, "People look at her, and they say, 'All those kids. Something that happens in everybody's family. I'm glad she loves her daughter and she's not ashamed of her. Glad that girl's going around with her boyfriend. Glad they're going to get married.'"

Alhough John McCain's post-convention bounce in the polls appears to be over, with Barack Obama regaining the support of white women who deserted him for Mrs Palin, she still thrills the crowds with her raw power. Her family, including Trig, her Downs syndrome baby, her pregnant 17-year-old daughter Bristol and Todd, her husband the "First Dude" and four time winner of the 2000 mile Iron Dog snowmobile race still generate intense interest.

"I get this," Clinton said. "My view is ... why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don't we like them and celebrate them and be happy for her elevation to the ticket? And just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4807452.ece

Former President Clinton continues to 'Endorse' Obama with faint praise on the ‘The View’

September 22, 2008,

By Katharine Q. Seelye

Today on “The View,” where the audience was probably more diverse than the hall in Denver, Mr. Clinton was more restrained. He said Mr. Obama would win but went on to say, “I genuinely like both of them, I genuinely — I think that we make a terrible mistake believing that we have to find something wrong with the people we can’t vote for.”

He added: “If it had not been for John McCain, I’m not sure I could have normalized relations with Vietnam. I was an opponent of the Vietnam War, he spent five and a half years in a prison camp.” Mr. McCain’s support made it “a lot easier” for Mr. Clinton to act, he said.

Mr. Clinton then said that during a break, Barbara Walters, the show’s host, had reminded him that he had predicted a year ago that Mr. McCain would be the Republican nominee because he was the only Republican who could win.

Today he added to that, saying of Mr. McCain: “The American people for good and sufficient reasons admire him, and he’s given something in life that the rest of us can’t match.”

But, he added, “I think he’s ready to be president and I think McCain’s ready to be president and I think you have to decide which president you want,” not exactly a ringing endorsement for his candidate.

Mr. Clinton was also asked whether it was legitimate for people who had supported his wife in the primaries to support Mr. McCain now. He said yes, because voting is a complicated process.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/former-president-clinton-on-the-view/