11/24/2008
Obama Assembles Pragmatic Team, Tackles Economy
Here's a bit of a round-up of what's been happening in the transition...
Obama surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues: "The choices are as revealing of the new president as they are of his appointees — and suggest that, from its first days, an Obama White House will brim with big personalities and far more spirited debate than occurred among the largely like-minded advisers who populated President Bush’s first term."
Obama names economic team at press conference today: "With the financial crisis looming as a priority of his term, President-elect Barack Obama sought to put his imprint on efforts to stem the turmoil as he introduced his economic team on Monday, nominating Timothy F. Geithner as Treasury secretary and Lawrence H. Summers to head the White House Economic Council...The president-elect also announced that he had chosen Christina D. Romer to head his Council of Economic Advisers and Melody Barnes as director of his White House Domestic Policy Council. Ms. Romer is an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, while Ms. Barnes is a longtime aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts."
Obama-Bush: Split-screen presidency....
Stimulus package Obama's Republicans almost all tied to Brent Scowcroft: "Mr. Scowcroft spoke by phone with President-elect Barack Obama last week, the latest in a months-long series of conversations between the two men about defense and foreign-policy issues, according to people familiar with the discussions. The relationship between the president-elect and the Republican heavyweight suggests that Mr. Scowcroft's views, which place a premium on an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, might hold sway in the Obama White House."
Obama friend: Plain old Barack is gone.
Who will replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate? "...the most high-profile potential candidate is Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who has won praise during his two years in office. A Marist College poll had Mr. Cuomo comfortably leading a field of five potential replacements. Representatives Nydia M. Velázquez, Steve Israel, Nita M. Lowey and Gregory W. Meeks were all in single digits, while 43 percent of respondents favored Mr. Cuomo; 42 percent were unsure." But could it be Christine Quinn?
Robert Gibbs named as White House press secretary: "The director of communications will be Ellen Moran, the current executive director of the Washington group EMILY's List, an active supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary. Moran will join a team of longtime close advisers who will work closely with Obama on a daily basis."
The Obama transition as reality TV?
Obama's weekly YouTube address announcing he has directed his economic team to assemble an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 7:46 PM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Christine Quinn, Democratic Party, News | Permalink
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Not surprised but totally sickened that turd Robert Gibbs remains floating at the top of Obama’s reflecting pool. Gays should expect nothing from anything he comes near unless they remain in rigid Zeig Heil mode.
Here's what an Ohio gay paper reporter wrote about him during the primaries:
"In my 12 years as a reporter, I have never experienced anything quite like Obama's national communication director Robert Gibbs. I wasn't biting on the crap he tried to feed me, and he got offended. When I stood there not writing any of it down, Gibbs said to me, 'Let me tell you how this works. I talk and you write down what I say'. 'I'll write down what you say when you answer the question', I responded, adding that 'I'm no campaign's stenographer'. Gibbs actually took the pen and pad out of my hands and wrote his own answer! Would Gibbs treat a New York Times reporter this way? How about a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter?"
And, here's how "Daily Kos" creator and huge Obama supporter Markos Moulitsas Zuniga once described Gibbs: "a smear-meister best known for his work trashing other Democrats. Obama clearly dipped into the slimiest corners of DC to pluck out Gibbs."
Let's hope fellow turds and certified homohaters Gen. Rectum Powell and Sam Georgia Cracker Nunn don't also float to the top of Obama's administration.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Nov 24, 2008 8:13:14 PM
This is not a team of unknowns, so I suspect this is Clinton/Gore II with a twist, more than a complete change. The point about Scowcroft is that he is a "realist", Bush I adviser who opposed the Iraq war--the anti-neoconservative conservative.
It would almost serve "I don't need no stinkin' term limits Quinn" right to get bumped into the Senate. After the stunt she pulled for career protection, being proved wrong has a pleasant ring. The voters shouldn't need to revote a third time on the issue.
Posted by: anon | Nov 25, 2008 8:56:38 AM
That's just idle speculation by a stupid reporter. No one is taking it seriously. Quinn's career is toast, not for being gay, but for being corrupt, lying to her constituents too many times and helping NYC landlords to evict tenants in her district. She's an embarrassment to the gay community.
Posted by: Quinn constituent | Nov 26, 2008 1:17:44 AM