Often biased, always thoughtful.

Morning podcast: November 20

This morning on the podcast:

• Obama transition update
• The “Big 3″ don’t deserve a bailout, but we have to give them something
• Senate update — only 2 seats still undecided!

Listen:

Podcast intro music by Daniele Torelli

Obama: A team of (too many) rivals?

Between his support for Joe Lieberman, his post-election meeting with John McCain, and his offer of the Secretary of State job to Hillary Clinton, there’s a lot of buzz about Obama’s approach to governing. It’s been no secret that one of Obama’s favorite books is A Team of Rivals, which describes Abraham Lincoln’s decision to fill his administration with former rivals. A lot of political observers — including myself — are very excited to see Obama doing just that.

However, with the Washington Post reporting that Obama may allow Robert Gates to remain the Secretary of Defense, Obama has an increasingly fine line to walk. The Team of Rivals approach is excellent: it will contribute to a more congenial tone in Washington, and hopefully better policymaking as well. However, this is still the Obama administration, not the Clinton administration or the McCain administration. Ultimately, he needs to ensure that the administration accomplishes his goals, not his rivals’.

So far, I don’t think he’s in danger of crowding out his own voice with those of his rivals. But as he goes forward, I hope the President-elect will rememberthat he needs his own loyalists in the cabinet as well as his rivals. Judging from the way he ran his campaign, something tells me he’ll be just fine.

Morning podcast: Bipartisanship at last?

Between the potential pick of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, his meeting with John McCain, and his support of Joe Lieberman, Barack Obama is strongly signaling a new tone in Washington. Any chance that could extend into state politics?

Listen:

Podcast intro music by Daniele Torelli

This could restore my respect for John McCain

Via Marc Ambinder, a joint statement from Barack Obama and John McCain:

At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time. It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family. We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation’s security.

I think it would be absolutely fantastic if John McCain could find it within him to get past the bitterness of the 2008 election. It would be a huge victory for bipartisanship and a new tone in Washington. It would also really restore my respect for John McCain.

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Obama’s weekly “wire-side chat”

He’s not calling it that, but everyone on the interwebs sees this for what it is: a fireside chat for the internet age. Obama is putting his weekly radio address on YouTube, and it’s a brilliant idea.

Regular readers of this blog know that I think everything starts with communication and messaging. If the American people don’t know what you stand for, if they don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish, if they don’t know what you have already accomplished, you are losing. Sending his weekly address directly to the citizens is just one more piece of the puzzle that can help to make Obama our best communicator since Reagan.

The weekly presidential radio address is listened to by approximately 20 people, it seems, and every single one of those people is a newspaper reporter. Ultimately, then, the weekly address has one function: to try to get the president’s agenda into the mainstream media. With this move, Obama will spread his message far and wide each week. He may not get 100 million listeners, but he’ll get far more than any radio address has ever received.

Like a lot of other blogs, I plan to post the address each week. Here’s the first one; you can also see on on YouTube.

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Lessons from Bush: Never stop campaigning

For the entire time I’ve been paying attention to politics, George W. Bush has been in the White House. He took office when I was in 11th grade, and for better or worse, my view of politics has been largely shaped by his administration. By and large, his administration has been a lesson in what not to do, but I have learned a few good lessons from his once-top-notch political operation.

Lesson 1: Never stop campaigning

Although it didn’t always go well, Bush had a strong belief in the power of the grassroots to move Congress. He loved campaigning, and he was quick to take to the campaign trail to push his policy proposals.

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Morning podcast: Coleman running scared; Obama off to a good start

Today on the podcast:

• Norm Coleman is spinning like crazy; he’s clearly terrified that he lost
• Barack Obama’s off to a good start by rolling back Bush-era executive orders

Have a listen!

Here come the trains — will this be Bachmann’s next crusade?

Between President-elect Barack Obama, a rare President from a big city; Vice-President-elect Joe Biden, who commuted via Amtrak for 36 years; and House Transportation Chair Jim Oberstar (D-MN), we are about to see some major advances in transportation in this country. All are extremely transit-friendly. And, by sheer luck, the transportation bill is set to be renewed next year!

I’m sure we will see a major fight over the transportation bill. Most conservatives have simply never liked transit, despite the fact that, by some measures, it is actually less-heavily subsidized than roads. Expect the transit-hating to be led by Michele Bachmann, who has already complained about what she thinks transit means for America:

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Obama cabinet watch: A little patience, please

During his first press conference today, Barack Obama made it clear that he would start putting together a cabinet relatively quickly, but he would not rush into decisions. Once again, he’s showing that he has a good head on his shoulders. He can’t really do much for over 2 months right now, so he should absolutely make sure he takes the time to do things right.

I know the political chattering class and 24-hour news media types want the decisions yesterday. But over the next four years, they’re going to have to get used to a president who thinks things through.

Here’s the relevant portion of the press conference transcript, via CNN:

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History; Mandate; Unity

Absolutely incredible. The presidential race is over. Obama has won, and his electoral vote total is growing. He’s won Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and more. He has a true mandate to govern this country.

After two elections won by miniscule, nail-biting margins, this is going to be really healthy for our country. We will finally have unity, which Obama has been preaching for the past four years.

The speech that started it all, in 2004:

With an Obama win in PA, a tough road ahead for McCain

Well, McCain’s hope of taking PA from the Democrats is officially out. To win now, he’ll have to win Virginia, Ohio, and Florida… and then some.

This one’s in the bag for Obama already.

It’s hard to express just how incredible and historic this is. I’ll try to come up with the words while waiting for Obama’s acceptance speech.

An “urgent” call from the Obama campaign

A little while ago, I got a prerecorded message from the Minnesota campaign director for Barack Obama, Jeff Blodgett. The message said that early indications show the results are closer than expected in Minnesota, and asked for help doorknocking at 5 p.m.

Is this just a final effort to rally the volunteers, or does the campaign really see trouble? We’ll know in about 5 or 6 hours.

A bittersweet moment for Obama

Today, Barack Obama’s grandmother passed away. The timing, less than 36 hours before the polls close nationwide, simply couldn’t be worse. You can be sure that this will be weighing heavily on Obama’s mind on what should be one of the happiest moments of his life.

I thought Joe Klein said it beautifully:

Some politicians simply are larger than life. Their stories are the stuff of high drama. Over the past few days, I’ve been hearing about the high emotions out in the field, as volunteers flood Obama offices to help canvass–and, in some places, find they have to wait on line for a spot on a phone bank. It is almost banal at this point to say that this has been the most remarkable election I’ve ever seen. It’s been a privilege to be a small part of it, to have had a ringside seat. And now, there is a sense that tomorrow will be the sort of day none of us ever forgets, one way or another–a day of reckoning, in the purest sense, when we will suddenly see ourselves and our country differently, for good or ill.

It will also be the first day that Barack Obama lives without the presence of the woman who was his surrogate mother. How sad for him, how remarkable that it would happen this way.

For my part, I’m glad that he took the time during the closing weeks of the election to see her. A lot of pundits said that it was a mistake to take off almost two whole days to be with her, but Obama wouldn’t hear it. For him, family came first. Hopefully, having said goodbye will make the loss bearable for him.

Obama’s closing argument shows his confidence about the election

There was a time during this campaign when Barack Obama deliberately toned down his rhetorical flourishes and sought out smaller crowds, in an effort to minimize the damage of the McCain campaign’s “celebrity” attacks. At the same time, Democrats begged him to change his strategy and sharpen his attacks.

Now, entering the final week of the campaign, Obama is “summing up” his campaign with a full-fledged return to the style and themes that made him a political star. His high-flying rhetoric has returned, complete with lines that are strongly reminiscent of his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. This was the most poignant to me:

Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else - we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.

Obama’s return to the roots of his campaign indicates three things to me. First, Obama’s campaign has been a triumph of long-term strategy. The arguments Obama started making in 2006 are still powerful today, and his campaign is still making largely the same pitch to voters that it’s been making for 2 years. That’s a testament to the strategical brilliance of Obama and his campaign staff.

Second, Obama is no longer afraid of McCain and even his most sucessful attacks. The “celebrity” attack was one of the few that was actually successful, but Obama simply doesn’t seem concerned anymore. He knows he’s got a winning hand, and he’s going to try to get as much out of it as possible.

Third, Obama is already making efforts to unify the country and assemble bipartisan support for his policies. Personally, with the Democrats on the vrge of a 60-seat majority in the Senate, I think it’s a testament to Obama’s interest in governing from the center that he’s moving towards a more centrist message. In all honesty, he probably doesn’t have to; he will probably be able to pass any policies he wants without Republican cooperation. Nevertheless, he has an opportunity to use his potentially-extensive mandate to bring the country togethr, and he is trying to do just that.

Here’s the full text of the Obama speech courtesy of TPM Election Central:

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