For those of you, like me, who are lost without all the eye candy that the pre-election electoral maps represented, take heart. There's still plenty of colorful representation to go around. Mark Newman shows us what the red and blue map looks like when we account for state populations as opposed to land mass.
Not bad, eh? Makes me want to ask Jon Meacham if we're really and truly a center-right nation. Much more eye candy at the source. Thanks, Cody, for the link.
Susan Greene points up the spike in sales of the red, white and blue since Nov 5. I'll simply throw in my two cents that this is the same novel strain of patriotism that was piqued in me during the Democratic National Convention. For the first time in my life during those days in August, I heard people talk about the United States of America in ways that resonated deeply.
I'll say it without backpeddling: last August and again last Tuesday, I felt proud of my country for the first times in my life. Yeah, actually--flying a flag doesn't sound funny to me at all.
For Secretary of State. Several popular and capable names have been mentioned, including Kerry, Richardson, and Lugar. And I see pros and cons to them all. But this one stops me in my tracks for the out and out gravitas such a pick would project. Not that an Obama admin needs to prove anything in that department. The transition team, just like the campaign, appears to be moving with intent, thoughtfulness, and in Obama's own words, "deliberate haste," to attract people who are not only good at what they do but may be great for the country and the Obama legacy.
Critics might see such an appointment as too much reliance on an old Clinton hand, but Gore has with certainty risen beyond the Clinton shadow. And forget Gore as merely a steward of the environment. He would be a widely effective messenger for America and for Earth.
Anyway, just a bit of wild "what-if?" speculation to start the morning. FWIW, Obama called Lugar yesterday, and the Indiana senator's office emphatically denies that the call was about the SOS position. So that means it's Lugar, right? Or does it really mean it isn't? Ah ha ha ha ha!
Via Benen, word is that Obama wants Lieberman in the caucus. No hint as to which side of the adage that puts old Joe.
Daylight cometh, albeit not quickly enough. See here.
Just when you think you've maybe had enough of will.i.am, the Obama montage-to-music proves irresistible all over again.
Did I just connect Barack to Kevin Bacon?
Gracias, Luke, for the link.
At FOX News, John Lott tries to explain why if Al Franken ekes out a win in Minnesota it will be due to fraud.
Miriam Makeba, an African classic [make that a world treasure! --ed.], dead at 76, still doing what she loved.
I'm particularly pleased to see the Denver Post run this article pointing to the blatant poor sportsmanship exhibited by Marilyn Musgrave and her campaign. Five days after the election, Musgrave still has not conceded the race, has not congratulated her opponent, and has not returned calls for comment. This only reaffirms, in my mind, the rather unflattering opinion I hold for Musgrave's character.
The reason I'm happy to see the Post run this short piece is because the Post, much to the chagrin of readers statewide, offered Musgrave its blessing this election cycle on some mighty thin rationale.
Garrison Keillor offers up some practical advice and heartfelt thanks to the president-elect.
A lot of folks are uncertain about whether Obama has tapped the right guy as chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel has a history as a bit of a . . . pit bull, ironically. He's a highly partisan, inflammatory figure in the political world. The right has been quick to point out the blatant about-face from Obama the campaigner to Obama the president-elect. The left has been scratching heads and musing about whether we all got hoodwinked. Meanwhile, Obama himself says "No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel."
What to make of it all? Who knows. Could the honeymoon be over so quickly? Perhaps. But take this into consideration. If Obama is interested in getting hard work done quickly, if he's not interested in hearing "No," and if he's aware that his first steps in office will be embattled from the beginning no matter who his chief of staff, then maybe he's not worried about taking everybody's feelings into account on this. He has a long working relationship and friendship with Emanuel. He trusts Emanuel, and voters as of Tuesday appear to trust Obama.
It's worth pointing out that on Tuesday night, President-Elect Barack Obama did not take the stage grinning from ear to ear. He would have been forgiven had it been the glory of the win that took center stage. Instead, I was struck by the gravity of his demeanor. He smiled, yet he looked exhausted, not elated. And if he projected a single, overriding characteristic at midnight from Grant Park, it was that he appeared resolute. He appeared as a man who knows, after two years of relentless hard work, that the real challenge is just underway. To win this campaign, Obama surrounded himself with brilliant, committed people and did not get caught up in the attacks and questions from cynics and armchair quarterbacks. Today he is lauded as having run perhaps the most flawless campaign in presidential history.
If Obama is an effective president, nobody except a few historians and political geeks will be talking in the future about who his chief of staff was. And if it turns out that he is not going to be an effective president, then there will be plenty of finger pointing and bombast to go around. Let's just wait and see, shall we?
