For months I reassured my "Benedictines for Peace" friends that, whenever you hear a Republican in Florida talk about "the Obama freight train", or that "Mr. McCain is in many ways shouting into the roar of a locomotive", then you know "He's Gone".
Kula started our Morning Reaction locomotion, Patch Adams' Joe's Inn is the fireman, keeping it stoked while Kula vacates.
Me? I'm just holding up the train, starting off this Morning Reaction by stealing a cartoon caption: "Today we will be discussing the three branches of government-executainment, legislatainment and judiciatainment"
Did you know the B & O RR had a "President Class" locomotive series? And this includes President-elect Obama's hero-namesake, the President Lincoln:
First stop on the B & O Express -
WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney, getting ready to hand off the job as the nation's second-in-command, will sit down with Vice President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday at the Naval Observatory.
Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said Cheney and his wife, Lynne, have invited Biden and his wife, Jill, to their home at the observatory, the vice presidential residence. The meeting on the vice presidential transition follows the historic meeting President Bush had Monday with President-elect Obama.
:::::::
Last week Kula highlighted Newsweek's full meal, a 7 chapter behind the scenes campaign report. I went to New Yorker Magazine magazine for a light dessert, including an 8 pager: Battle Plans- How Obama Won by Ryan Lizza.
I remember that exact debate moment we were all agreeing that "heck yeah, we need to thaw out relations with Cuba, sell them our chicken and buy their sugar for cheaper ethanol".
Several Obama aides believe that a crucial moment came after a debate sponsored by YouTube and CNN in July of 2007. During the debate, Obama was asked, "Would you be willing to meet separately, without preconditions, during the first year of your Administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?" Obama answered simply, "I would." Hillary Clinton pounced on the remark as hopelessly naïve, and her aides prepared to emphasize what appeared to be a winning argument. Obama’s aides had much the same reaction. "We know this is going to be the issue of the day," Dan Pfeiffer, recalling a conference call the following morning, said. "We have the sense they’re going to come after us on it. And we’re all on the bus trying to figure out how to get out of it, how not to talk about it." Obama, who was listening to part of the conversation, took the telephone from an aide and instructed his staff not to back down. According to an aide, Obama said something to the effect of "This is ridiculous. We met with Stalin. We met with Mao. The idea that we can’t meet with Ahmadinejad is ridiculous. This is a bunch of Washington-insider conventional wisdom that makes no sense. We should not run from this debate. We should have it."
Screw St. Ronnie, the Cold War was supposedly "won" (before Shrub re-lost it) by selling the youth blue jeans and rock and roll music.
(No irony about where the denim was being sewn or how all the Beatles CD's were bootlegs, however.)
:::::::
If you are still all McSchaedenfreudy, there is a second New Yorker report: David Grann's "Did McCain lose more than an election" is not overly kind. Especially revealing, it tells about blowback from the friends of John, around the time of Congressman Lewis'"George Wallace" imagery.
(I know nothing of this Frank Schaeffer, some preacher character):
In 2000, some prominent Republicans came to McCain’s defense, among them Frank Schaeffer, the son of Francis Schaeffer, an evangelist and anti-abortion crusader who is credited with helping to create the religious right. Schaeffer worked closely with his father, who died in 1984, but he felt that the movement had become extreme. In 2000, Schaeffer gave McCain his family’s imprimatur, vouching for him on Christian radio shows. Six years later, Schaeffer, who had a son in the Marines, co-wrote a book, "AWOL," which spoke of the need for Americans to serve their country. McCain provided a blurb saying that the book illuminated "a more genuine and wiser patriotism."
But, in October, Schaeffer, a lifelong Republican, wrote an open letter to McCain that said, "If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as ‘not one of us,’ I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence." He went on, "You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations."
:::::::
However, I only read New Yorker for the cartoons, I stashed a few in my train-robbing bag:
:::::::
Any Prairie Home Companion fans?
Garrison Keillor wrote Monday:
We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor -- he said, "I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I’ve got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." The French junior minister for human rights said, "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.
The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He’ll be the first president in history to look really good making a jump shot. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters. He looks good in the kitchen. He can cook Indian or Chinese but for his girls he will do mac and cheese. At the same time, he knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just can’t imagine anybody cooler. Look at a photo of the latest pooh-bah conference -- the hausfrau Merkel, the big glum Scotsman, that goofball Berlusconi, Putin with his B-movie bad-boy scowl, and Sarkozy, who looks like a district manager for Avis -- you put Barack in that bunch and he will shine.
:::::::
Are you starting to see a pattern in the Obama method and the reporting? Managing the leaks is leading to ultra-speculation and is usually a report is reversed within hours.
Monday we read he is keeping some Defense and Intelligence Bushies, by Tuesday they are cleaning out the house.
Walter Shapiro in Salon writes about The elusive Team Obama:
With all these Chicagoans (aside from Rouse) creating the Obama administration, it is time to drop the Second City urban inferiority complex. If there is an ideological orientation to this team, it seems to be Democratic centrism rather than full-throated liberalism. Bill Galston, a former top domestic advisor to Clinton now at the Brookings Institution, notes that Obama "has a great respect for expertise. His instinct is that in any field, gather the leading experts and go after them." As Galston puts it, "This is not amateur hour -- this is not crony time." Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University and an expert on governmental organization, said admiringly, "Obama is extremely well-prepared. There is a lot of talk coming out of the Bush administration about a seamless transition. But in many instances, the Obama people know as much about what is happening in the Cabinet agencies as the Bush people do."
:::::::
Shapiro's hunch about the completeness of the transition is confirmed by this observation I glanced at yesterday:TPM Election Central
Obama Transition Team Staffs Up Internet Outreach Crew
By Greg Sargent - November 12, 2008, 4:55PM
Now this is a good sign: The Obama transition team has just signed up two leading Web types for the transition's Internet outreach team, a welcome indication that the Obama team is moving to transfer its astonishing online successes during the campaign over to the world of governing.
A transition source tells us that that Macon Phillips, a key Obama campaign Web official, has been tapped to head new media for the transition, and Jesse Lee, a leading Web operative who handled Rahm Emanuel's DCCC internet outreach operation during the 2006 take-back of Congress, has been hired to do online communications. Obama's transition team confirms the hires.
Elsewhere I read the Transition Team was ready to be in over 100 agencies by NEXT WEEK !
:::::::
DO WE REALLY WANT TO DISCUSS NEWS FROM THE BUSH the LAME DUCK TRAIN WRECK??
I think not, better to sing:
Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride, hot as a pistol but cool inside.
Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile,
Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!!!!
Same old, rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb,
You know better but I know him.
Like I told you, what I said,
Steal your face right off your head.
:::::::
LATE MINUTE UPDATE FROM ASHIADO via e-mail:
Hi Ghost/Bama Bike Guy,
Are you still on for today’s MR? Thought I’d pass along a tidbit: It seems like the following may have been somewhat buried in US news (not sure, I don’t see it featured prominently), but it's front page in the German news magazine Der Spiegel... Apparently a group of activists put out a fake copy of the New York Times, and distributed a million copies of the 14-page print version for free. The design, the typography, everything about this looks real except for the content (including the content of the ads). They even set up a companion website. It's pretty intense! Must read. Has this been talked about on US television news? I can imagine a variety of reasons for why the MSM would want to avoid covering it in a very visible way...
Link to the NYTimes "IRAQ WAR ENDS" spoof site
(The news tidbits are a lot more optimistic than in the real world!)
NYTimes: Pranksters spoof the Times
:::::::
In case you missed it,Brandon Friedman has analyzed the Military Vote in Election '08. I just scanned the intro, it confirms my hunch the Obama WON in the districts with the heavier uniform presence.
:::::::
Current headlines on my AP page: Not a single mention of the future Obamadog???
# Congress examines $700 billion rescue program - 1 hour ago
While the Bush administration shifts course on its $700 billion rescue plan, Congress is examining whether even bigger changes should be made in the program in light of the deteriorating economy and s...
# 21 killed in attack on US convoy in Afghanistan - 44 minutes ago
A suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S. military convoy as it was passing through a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 20 civilians and an American soldier, offici...
# US general urges Obama to keep missile defense - 1 hour ago
The Air Force general who runs the Pentagon's missile defense projects said Wednesday that American interests would be "severely hurt" if President-elect Obama decided to halt plans deve...
# Palin leaves door open for possible Senate run - 1 hour ago
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would consider serving in the Senate if God gave her the opportunity and Alaskans wanted her to take the job. The state's senior senator, Republican Ted ...
# After Calif. loss, gays get right to wed in Conn. - 1 hour ago
:::::::
Finally, in Judiciatainment, our President elect seems to have the re-making of the Department of Justice well in hand, even though the "chicken with its head cut off" press is putting out conflicting reports, as to whether or not the Bush Administration will be held to account.
This cartoon reminded me of the calmness of the Transition Team:
I hope they look to Asia for inspiration, here is a policeman who knows how it's done in the world of cronyism and insider dealios:
Police chief arrest 48 of his relatives
BEIJING (Reuters) - A police chief in a remote county of southwestern China has taken down 48 of his relatives, including brothers, cousins and a number of his wife's family, for various crimes, local media said on Tuesday.
Laobulaluo, a police chief in Heizhugou township, Sichuan province, had seen 25 relatives either jailed, sent for "re-education through labor," or punished in other ways, according to a report posted on state news portal Chinanews.com
The police chief, who is in his 30s, is a member of China's Yi ethnic minority. Over a 10-year career, He had personally arrested a brother and two cousins after finding they had beaten local teachers at a primary school while drunk.
Other family members were arrested after stealing a woman's handbag.
The policeman's sense of duty had inflamed his relatives, some of whom had taken turns threatening his parents, and had "even secretly cut off the tails and slashed the legs of their cows," the report said.
"In the first few years, I did not dare head back to my hometown to pass the New Year holiday, but now it's all right. Everyone understands and supports what I was doing at the time," the report quoted him as saying.
:::::::
Here's to Kula, Patch and Ashiado, and any future Guest Reactors.