THURSDAY,  DECEMBER 11,  2008

BULLETIN AT 11:17 P.M. ET:  CNN is reporting that the auto bailout has died in the Senate after a compromise attempt failed. 

COMMENT:  If there is no further Congressional action this year, there may be some help possible from the Bush administration.  Stand by.

OUR GOOD GUYS, AT 7:52 P.M. ET:  The great Michael Ledeen, who has been more right on Iran than just about anyone else, passes on this gem.  A must read:

One of my regular correspondents, a serious chap, sends the following:

According to a Marine Pilot:

In addition to communicating with the local Air Traffic Control facility, all aircraft in the Persian Gulf AOR are required to give the Iranian Air Defense Radar (military) a ten minute ‘heads up’ if they will be transiting Iranian airspace.

This is a common procedure for commercial aircraft and involves giving them your call sign, transponder code, type aircraft, and points of origin and destination.

I just flew with a guy who overheard this conversation on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai. It’s too good not to pass along. The conversation went something like this…

Iranian Air Defense Radar: ‘Unknown aircraft at (location unknown), you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’

Air Defense Radar: ‘ You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter. Send ‘em up, I’ll wait!’

Air Defense Radar: (no response … total silence)

 

GOVERNOR?  WHAT GOVERNOR?

Posted at 7:43 p.m. ET

The president-elect has now issued another denial that he or his staff was involved in any way in the seat-for-sale scandal involving the governor of Illinois.  We saw nothing, absolutely nothing:

President-elect Barack Obama sought on Thursday to separate himself from the political scandal swirling around Governor Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, saying he never talked to the governor about who would replace Mr. Obama in the United States Senate.

Mr. Obama added that he was “absolutely certain” his staff was not involved in any deal-making regarding his successor.

Look, that's not the issue.  No one is charging Obama or his staff with "deal-making."  The issue is whether they knew that the seat was up for sale.  And, if they did know, why didn't they report it?

Nonetheless, Mr. Obama said he was gathering an account of any contacts between his staff and the Blagojevich administration, and promised to release those details in the next few days. But he said his staff had acted appropriately.

If he's still gathering an account, how can he issue blanket denials?  The denials come first, then the facts? 

In his first extended remarks about the unfolding scandal, Mr. Obama said he was “appalled and disappointed” by accusations that Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, tried to profit from his power to fill the Senate seat vacated by Mr. Obama after he won the presidency.

Obama has been watching "Casablanca" again.

At Thursday’s news conference, Mr. Obama took pains to divide himself and his promise for a new brand of politics from a political culture in Illinois that had been tainted by the drive for personal gain. While the two men may have lived in Chicago and served in Springfield, the state capital, Mr. Obama drew a bright line between himself and Mr. Blagojevich.

It's 2008, he's president-elect, and he's finally drawing lines?  There was no crayon available in previous years, decades?  You can go to Staples.

A near-unanimous chorus of politicians, including 50 Democratic senators and a host of Illinois leaders, has called for Mr. Blagojevich to resign immediately. The state’s General Assembly, which is out of session, is set to reconvene on Monday to draft legislation that would set up a special election to choose Mr. Obama’s replacement — overriding state law that now gives the governor the power to fill the seat — or investigate impeaching Mr. Blagojevich.

All the sudden righteousness.  Let us not forget that this governor was already under federal investigation.

A key issue here, and we've mentioned it before, is whether the press will do its job, or give Obama still one more pass.  Watch the major media.  Will news organizations redeem themselves, or go further into the tank?

December 11, 2008.      Permalink          

NO CASH FOR OIL!  PASS IT ON! - AT 5:04 P.M. ET:  Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, cut production more than traders and analysts had estimated last month, reflecting the nation’s commitment to halt the $100 plunge in crude prices.

COMMENT:  Okay.  You bring a knife, we bring a gun.  The president-elect should commit his administration to a crash program to reduce our oil consumption, retaliating against the cut in production and neutralizing it.  We cannot allow ourselves, once again, to be manipulated by these OPEC extortionists.  But Obama won't do a thing because 1) of the power of the Saudi lobby in Washington, rarely discussed in the media; and 2) because he has environmental nuts around him who think high has prices are just fine. 

BULLETIN:  NO AUTO REPAIR - AT 4:48 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:  WASHINGTON — The prospects of a $14 billion government rescue of the American auto industry seemed to vaporize Thursday as the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke out forcefully against the bill, effectively ending its chances despite the urgings of the White House.

COMMENT:  If handled correctly, this could be a great hour for the GOP.  The bailout is terribly flawed.  McConnell's state, where there are auto plants and suppliers, would benefit from it.  His opposition is principled and heroic, and he should be given credit where it's due.  Quote from McConnell:  “A lot of struggling Americans are wondering where their bailout is."

DOW DOWN - AT 4:22 P.M. ET:  The Dow closed down 196, to 8,565.

ECONOMIC FORECAST - AT 9:12 A.M. ET:   SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The "nasty" U.S. recession will tighten its grip next year as unemployment rises and weak home and stock prices imperil consumers, finance firms and debt-laden businesses, a UCLA Anderson Forecast report released on Thursday said.  Additionally, a sustained retreat in prices for goods and services is a very real possibility that would further drag on the economy, according to the forecasting unit's report.

COMMENT:  You know, even U.S. Senate seats may come down in price.

THE BOYS ARE ACTIVE - AT 8:51 A.M. ET:   From AP:  BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgian police say they have detained 14 suspected Islamic extremists with links to the Al Qaeda terror network.  Police made the arrests Thursday after searching more than a dozen locations in Brussels and Liege overnight.

COMMENT:  Progress.  At least AP uses the phrase, "the Al Qaeda terror network."

THE SCANDAL

Posted at 8:18 a.m. ET:

The words echo in our minds:  "What did the president know, and when did he know it?"  That was, of course, the famous question asked about Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigations. 

Knowledge of wrongdoing is important.  In a major political figure, it's very important.  If an officeholder knows something illegal is going on, he has an absolute moral, if not legal obligation to report it.  And that brings us to the question that is starting to emerge from the Illinois governorship scandal:  "What did Obama know and when did he know it?"

No one is claiming, yet, that Mr. Obama engaged in any illegal activity.  The question is whether he knew that the governor, Rod Blagojevich, was trying to sell the Obama Senate seat to the highest bidder.  If he knew it, and didn't report it, that's major trouble.  If one of his advisers knew it, and didn't tell Obama, that smacks of breathtaking incompetence and tolerance of a corrupt act.  If no one in the Obama camp knew that the Senate seat was for sale...well, do you believe that?

Jim Lindgren, at The Volokh Conspiracy, has drawn up an excellent timeline of the events in this scandal.  He comes to this conclusion:

From the evening of Nov. 10 until yesterday, Blagojevich, Obama, and his transition team acted in ways that are consistent with a knowledge of Blagojevich’s bribery attempt and a rejection of that attempt.

We accept that the Obama camp did not pay, or agree to pay, any bribes to the corrupt governor to have their favorite Senate candidate nominated.  But if they knew the seat was for sale, that itself is a scandal. 

It is difficult to say, at this early stage, whether the press will do its job and pursue the facts wherever they lead.  We know where the press bias lies, and it's clear that some news organizations have no problem at all with that bias.  But if the mainstream press doesn't do the job, bloggers and other alternative media will.

This can get very ugly.  The best strategy for Obama is to confront the facts head on, and not wait for an enlarged scandal to envelop his new presidency.

December 11, 2008.      Permalink          

QUESTIONS PLEASE

Posted at 7:03 A.M. ET:

We will apparently have a Nobel laureate as secretary of energy.  Ain't that grand? 

No.

I'm sure that the nominee, Steven Chu, is a fine man, and he certainly is a celebrated scientist.  But I think some real questions need to be asked about this man, nominated to a critical position:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for energy secretary, has been a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.

Chu, a Chinese-American who currently is director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, has in recent years campaigned to bring together a cross-section of scientific disciplines to find ways to counter climate change.

If action is not taken now to stop global warming, it may be too late, he argues.

An increasing number of scientists is questioning the entire premise behind the global warming scare.  Apparently, they will now be shut out by the glitter of a Nobel laureate who has made up his mind.  This is the time for real inquiry and debate about global warming, not blind acceptance of a party line.  Another Nobel laureate said just recently that he had become a skeptic. 

Chu frequently has used the bully pulpit in a campaign against global warming and the need for alternative energy and greater energy efficiency. During a lecture last summer in Washington he bemoaned the fact that people too often prefer to spend $1,000 on a granite kitchen counter top instead of improving their home's energy efficiency.

Another one who wants to tell us how to live.  If I were questioning this man, before a vote to confirm him, I'd want to know just what "alternative" energy sources he's talking about, why he's convinced they'll work, and how much good they'll do.  I'd also want to find out something basic:  How much does Chu know about the subjects he speaks about?  Winning a Nobel prize in physics doesn't make you an authority on everything scientific.

A few years ago he was one of six Nobel Prize-winning scientists who expressed their concern about global warming by sitting against and climbing into a massive tree on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley for a photograph that appeared in a special environmental issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Oh boy.  A performance artist.

Despite his broad scientific credentials, Chu has little experience inside Washington or in what occupies much of the Energy Department's business -- maintaining the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons and weapons research. Nor has he had much involvement in nuclear energy.

We are the only nuclear power that has not modernized its atomic weapons.  I've written about this before.  And now we have a man with no background in nuclear energy or weaponry.  This is great for our security.  Let him go back to the tree and learn.

Chu as energy secretary would head a department with a $25 billion budget and 14,000 employees and more than 193,000 contract workers. Two-thirds of its budget involves activities related to nuclear weapons research and maintenance.

You can be sure the elites will welcome this nomination.  Why, it's another example of Obama's superior intellect.  But why do I sense a disaster here? 

As they say in the personnel business, this just doesn't look like "a good fit."  But that Nobel prize will be waved, people will be reluctant to take on a minority, and Chu will get his department.

What will the people get?

December 11, 2008.      Permalink          

SOMETHING ELSE FOR OBAMA TO WORRY ABOUT - AT 6:34 A.M. ET:  From AP:  A US envoy says that three days of talks have failed to bridge a dispute with Pyongyang over how to have North Korea verify its past atomic activities.  Christopher Hill said Wednesday just before flying out of Beijing that North Korea would not agree to proposals made by the other countries.  North Korea is refusing to allow outside inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon - a crucial method of checking whether it has been truthful in its accounting of its nuclear programs.

COMMENT:  We await Jimmy Carter's rushing to North Korea to announce that it's all America's fault.  Once again we find that "negotiations" aren't a cure-all. 

WEDNESDAY,  DECEMBER 10,  2008

BULLETIN AT 9:09 P.M. ET:  The House has passed the auto bailout bill, 237-170.  But it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where many Republicans are determined to stop it.

AUSTRALIA VIEWS ILLINOIS

Posted at 8:36 p.m. ET

We often find that reporters for the foreign, English-speaking press have keen insights into American politics.  Here, Anne Davies of Australia's Sydney Morning Herald comments on the president elect and his connection to the uplifting politics of the state of Illinois:

THE best-case scenario for Barack Obama is that stunning corruption allegations against the Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, are a major distraction for his transition team as he attempts to convince Americans he has the right plan for a flagging US economy.

At worst, the scandal will spiral out of control, throwing up myriad questions, including the big one: How is it that Obama can be so ignorant of the political quagmire from which he hails?

You know, a lot of people are asking that question.  Maybe he was too busy thinking in grand terms about saving the human race.

Obama also said he had no knowledge of the scheme to sell his spot in the Senate.

But what about his staff and those close to him? His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, his senior adviser and close friend, Valerie Jarrett, and his senior political adviser, David Axelrod, have all swum in the murky waters of Chicago politics for years.

But not The One.  He doesn't swim in murky waters.  He walks.  Jarrett was considered a serious candidate to be appointed senator, but the governor wanted compensation in return for the appointment:

There was a long discussion, taped by the FBI on November 10, and several more on November 11, about schemes involving the State Employees Union. Blagojevich believed that a union official, with whom he talked, was acting as Jarrett's emissary.

A day later, on November 12, Jarrett pulled out of the Senate race, telling the Chicago Tribune by email she was no longer interested. Had she in fact been approached, been so horrified by Blagojevich's proposal, that she had no other option but to pull out? If so, who did she discuss this proposal with? Did she contact the FBI?

Or, did she tell Obama?

Fox News in Chicago suggested that Emanuel may have been the one who tipped off investigators about the Governor's attempts to "monetise" the Senate appointment. When did he do so, and why?

Questions like this can linger long after inauguration.  If any "bad" facts about the investigation come out, and Obama's name is dragged through, the psychological effect on a public seeking "change" can be very bad.

Obama is not close to Blagojevich, according to the local media. But the revelations about the depth of corrupt conduct in Illinois have left the public gasping. Some are now asking how Obama could have emerged so squeaky-clean, and without any knowledge of the dark side of Chicago politics.

If he didn't really know what was going on, how can he deal with tough international adversaries from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran?  Oh, I know:  Unconditional negotiations.  That takes care of everything.

December 10, 2008.      Permalink          

HITCHING A RIDE - AT 7:30 P.M. ET:   Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- A $14 billion automaker bailout measure neared a vote in the U.S. House tonight even as Republicans said the plan lacks enough support to pass in the Senate.

The legislation calls for the appointment of a so-called car czar who could force General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC into Chapter 11 bankruptcy if the companies don’t come up with a restructuring plan by March 31. GM and Chrysler have said they need the aid to keep operating through March 31.

COMMENT:  If this thing should pass, the car czar should be someone who's passionate about cars, not just numbers.  What Detroit needs is the equivalent of Steve Jobs, who concentrates on products that people love.  My fear is that they'll appoint a finance guy, which only gets us through the next month.

WHAT'S IN A WORD? - AT 6:35 P.M. ET:  Fox News reports that the three major TV networks' morning shows were rather light on identifying the governor of Illinois as a Democrat this morning.  The Today Show didn't mention that minor fact during the entire first half hour of its programming.  Other shows mentioned it only in passing.

COMMENT:  Republicans have long complained that there is a double standard when scandals are reported.  Republicans are identified clearly and frequently.  Democrats less so.  In general, I've found the complaint to be true.

A CLASSIC - AT 5:50 P.M. ET:  This is what happens when an AP headline writer is thinking about the holiday office party instead of his work:

Alaska Governor's Office Sent Suspicious Powder

It did?  Governor Palin's office sent out suspicious powder?  Well, of course the real story is that her office was sent suspicious powder.  But in a case like this, where there's confusion, the headline should have read:

Alaska Governor's Office Received Suspicious Powder

That clarifies it.  Journalism 101. 

PATHETIC, AT 4:03 P.M. ET:  From AFP:  President-elect Barack Obama wants Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to resign after his arrest in a corruption probe, a spokesman said Wednesday.  Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House press secretary, said "yes" when asked if Obama believed Blagojevich should now step down.  "The president-elect agrees with Lieutenant Governor (Pat) Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," he said.

COMMENT:   How pathetic that the president-elect didn't walk out to a bundle of microphones and make the statement himself, forcefully and unequivocally.  You don't have a spokesman say that you want a governor to resign, and say it only in reply to a question.  Not a good start to handling this scandal.

STUNNER, AT 3:48 P.M. ET --  From ABC News:  Chicago Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is the anonymous "Senate Candidate No. 5" whose emissaries Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reportedly offered up to $1 million to name him to the U.S. Senate, federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

COMMENT:  We stress that this is a news report, and there has not been official confirmation.  If true, though, this can open an entirely new, and more important, can of worms.  The name "Jesse Jackson," even with "junior" attached, is far more famous and politically consequential than the name of the governor of Illinois.  The overriding question, of course, is how close President-elect Obama or his aides got to any of this.

THE SILVER LINING?- AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  From The Politico:  Leading Illinois Democrats are moving toward holding a special election to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, to wrest the decision away from Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich — accused Tuesday in a blistering criminal complaint of trying to peddle Obama’s seat to the highest bidder.  A special election would ensure the seat remains vacant for months. Democrats also worry it could give Republicans a clear shot to pick up a vacancy they had been certain of retaining.

COMMENT:  Republicans should pounce, and put all needed resources into this.  A special election is the way to go, removing the taint from any appointment.  Republicans will probably run Mark Kirk, a great congressman from the Chicago suburbs.  He has a real shot, now that the Democratic Party in Illinois is tainted with corruption.  (What else is new?)  It would be spectacular to replace Obama with a member of the opposition.

POLITICAL WEIRDNESS - AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  From The New York Post: New York Democrats want Gov. Paterson to pick Caroline Kennedy over Andrew Cuomo to succeed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new poll released yesterday.  The Marist College survey found Dems prefer Kennedy over Cuomo by 31-21 percent.

COMMENT:  And her qualifications are..?

SPARE THE ROD?

Posted at 8:24 a.m. ET

Jake Tapper, at ABC News, probes the relationship between President-elect Obama and the illustrious governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. This is murky, but so far there's no smoking gun:

Asked what contact he'd had with the governor's office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different.

While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

(UPDATE: An Obama Transition Team aide says that Axelrod misspoke on Fox News Chicago.)

(UPDATE #2: Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying. "I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.")

Those are updates from hell.  They're troubling.  Note that Axelrod said initially, my emphasis, "I know he's talked to the governor..."

David Axelrod is one of the most careful operators in politics.  How did he know?  How convincing is his denial now?

...there are indications that Mr. Obama and his team refused to go along with the "pay to play" way Blagojevich is accused of operating, offering only "gratitude" if the governor appointed his friend Valerie Jarrett to take his U.S. Senate seat, much to the governor's chagrin.

But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat -- with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities?

Good questions, good questions.  During the campaign Tapper was one of the straight shooters.  He remains straight.

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

And he never suspected anything about Rod?

On the Chicago TV show "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz" on June 27, 2002, state Sen. Obama said, "Right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor, we..."

"You working hard for Rod?" interrupted Berkowitz.

"You betcha," said Obama.

"Hot Rod?" asked the host.

"That's exactly right," Obama said.

Not words to live by.

In the Summer of 2006, then-U.S. Sen. Obama backed Blagojevich even though there were serious questions at the time about Blago's hiring practices.

At the time, numerous state agencies had had records subpoenaed, with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald telling authorities he was looking into "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" with a "number of credible witnesses."

There have always been questions about whether Obama's ambitions blinded him to the nature of some of his connections.  These questions will now re-surface.  During the campaign, Obama partisans ridiculed as "guilt by association" any mention of some shady types in Obama's past.  It's hard to make that charge when the governor of the state is involved.  Obama's connections with Hot Rod seem to go back quite some time, were willful, and occurred even after ethical concerns about the governor made it into the public print.

Stand by.  The issue is how deeply the press is willing to probe. 

December 10, 2008.      Permalink          

MR. ELECT

Posted at 7:20 a.m. ET

Ronald Reagan was called "the Teflon president."  Criticism seemed to miss him, or roll off him.  He had the knack of emerging from crises relatively unscathed. 

Barack Obama has been the Teflon candidate, and president-elect.  However, something has happened in the last day that may change or at least affect his near-Divine image:  Mr. Obama has been reminded of where he comes from, and "I didn't know" becomes increasingly hard for the public to take.

The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, has been arrested on a variety of corruption charges.  The list of charges is likely to increase.  Obama is an Illinois senator, his transition team based in Chicago.  Mr. Obama now says he didn't have any contact with the governor, who, under law, will appoint his successor in the U.S. Senate.  But David Axelrod, one of Obama's closest aides, said several weeks ago that Obama did speak with the governor about the Senate appointment.  Now the Obama compound says that Axelrod "misspoke."  David Axelrod is not known for "misspeaking."

It's important because one of the charges against the governor is that he tried to solicit bribes in return for the Senate seat.  Is it conceivable that no one in the Obama camp got wind of any of this?  The AP notes:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama hasn't even stepped into office and already a scandal is threatening to dog him.

Obama isn't accused of anything. But the fact that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, has been charged with trying to sell Obama's now-vacant Senate post gives political opponents an opening to try to link him to the scandal. A slew of questions remain. The investigation is still under way. And the ultimate impact on Obama is far from certain.

He pointedly distanced himself from the case Tuesday, saying, "I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening" concerning any possible dealing about Blagojevich's appointment of a successor. 

We should note that Mr. Obama is not charged with anything, and that nothing the governor said on the FBI wiretap tapes that led to his arrest contains anything damaging about the president-elect.  Still, we have one more case of an association that is bound to embarrass Mr. Obama - coming after Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, and the entire Chicago political establishment. 

The serious nature of the crimes listed by federal prosecutors raises questions about the interaction with Gov. Blagojevich, President-elect Obama and other high ranking officials who will be working for the future president," said Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the new GOP House whip.

Added Robert M. "Mike" Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, "President-elect Barack Obama's comments on the matter are insufficient at best."

Chances are that Obama will weather this without too much damage.  The in-the-tank press has not crawled out of the tank.  But the imagery is awful.

And then there's something else, as reported today by Mike Allen in The Politico.  This is a beaut: 

President-elect Obama says he plans to use all three of his names when he takes the oath of office in January, giving voice to an unusual name that was rarely heard during the campaign expect by critics.

In his first post-election newspaper interview, with reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, Obama was asked: “Do you anticipate being sworn in as Barack Obama or Barack Hussein Obama?"

He replied: “I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition, not trying to make a statement one way or the other. I'll do what everybody else does.”

In fact, all presidents have not used their middle names when taking the oath of office. Jimmy Carter famously went as “Jimmy Carter.” Ronald Wilson Reagan took the oath as simply “Ronald Reagan.”

Bad move by Obama.  As Mike Allen notes, he isn't really following a tradition.  He has a choice.  During the campaign, Republicans who used Obama's middle name were called racists and fearmongers.  Obama didn't seem to have a middle name.  Now he will use it in the oath.  The hypocrisy just flows, and, while the in-the-tank crowd will give him a pass, other Americans will notice. 

Image is critical to a president.  The "governor thing" and the "name thing" are not helpful to Obama at the moment. 

The wild card here is the governor.  He's going down.  He may want to take Obama with him by making wild charges, accurate or not.  Or he may claim to "have" something on Obama.  Look, the guy is scum.  And there may be a book contract in this.

December 10, 2008.      Permalink