Political Radar: Palin, Sarah

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The Note: Obama Waits on Change for January

November 21, 2008 8:21 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Friday's Note:

Change doesn’t have to wait until January.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is gone. (A sign of a new day.)

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., is gone, partly, too. (A sign of a new order.)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., isn’t going anywhere. (But she’s gone quite a distance to get there.)

Penny Pritzker leaves before she ever even arrives.

And the auto bailout came back to life after it was declared dead, only to die again. (It may yet rise again -- though not until next month.)

As for President-elect Barack Obama -- he is, for the most part, waiting for January.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

Thus far through the transition, we’re learning that Obama remains, at his core, a cautious and patient politician -- one who can be quite stingy with his political capital.

Meanwhile, the stock market is in freefall, Detroit is near collapse, and Congress is in a stalemate. Obama has had nearly half of his Cabinet filled for him, without a single formal announcement.

(If you’re scoring at home, he’s now had more haircuts than press conferences as president-elect.)

Other than a few comments, Obama has chosen not to play in the current crisis: “With the stock market plunging and the credit market entering a new freeze, cries are being heard for a new government intervention to prop up major financial institutions before President-elect Barack Obama takes office,” Floyd Norris writes in The New York Times. “By resigning from the Senate before the current session began and allowing it to appear that a sense of drift could prevail until he is inaugurated, Mr. Obama may have missed an opportunity to exert leadership.”

“How much can go wrong in the two months before Mr. Obama takes the oath of office? The answer, unfortunately, is: a lot,” Paul Krugman writes in his column. “At minimum, the next two months will inflict serious pain on hundreds of thousands of Americans, who will lose their jobs, their homes, or both. What’s really troubling, however, is the possibility that some of the damage being done right now will be irreversible.”

“The problem is that nothing of significance can or will happen until the new President takes office in January, even though there is -- finally -- a great appetite for action in Washington. This is going to be a very frustrating few months,” Time’s Joe Klein writes.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 21, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, Inauguration, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (43)

The Note: Obama Leans on Insiders in Choosing Team

November 20, 2008 8:30 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Thursday's Note:

Call it change Washington can believe in.

The Cabinet that is emerging (still unofficially -- President-elect Barack Obama has yet to make a single formal announcement) looks so very . . . practical, maybe typical.

The faces are like the folks at a college reunion -- you knew these people once before, when there were a little younger, and sort of always had the feeling you’d see them again.

And -- surprise -- Obama picks top aides the same way previous presidents have: From the ranks of elected officials, old friends and allies, and people who have done it before -- yes, in Washington.

Your latest entries for the ledger of the likely: Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, at Health and Human Services; Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz., at Homeland Security; and Penny Pritzker, an early campaign supporter and a big Obama fundraiser, at Commerce.

Made formal Wednesday: David Axelrod, to become senior advisor to the president; Greg Craig as White House counsel; Lisa Brown as White House staff secretary; and Chris Lu (not Patti Solis Doyle) as Cabinet secretary.

“President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts,” Kevin Freking writes for the AP.

“President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on the slogan of ‘change.’ But his early appointees, including two top choices that emerged Wednesday, show that experience is one of his main criteria,” Laura Meckler and Jonathan Weisman write in The Wall Street Journal.

“The latest transition news highlighted the three personnel pools supplying Mr. Obama with his picks,” they write. “Most prominent are Clinton administration veterans -- including, possibly, former first lady Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Some high-profile appointments are also long-serving members and staff from Capitol Hill. Then there are the influential Chicagoans -- a group that seems smaller than the hometown crowd that usually accompanies a new president to Washington.”

And why is it that all the Cabinet picks come with what Al Kamen is calling a “Best Buy” contingency -- a 30-day return policy?

“Reminds us of the Hamlet-like performance of former New York governor Mario Cuomo when Bill Clinton offered him a seat on the Supreme Court and he accepted, then he didn't, and back and forth,” Kamen writes in his Washington Post column. “In the end, if it doesn't work out, there was no Obama announcement, no photo op. There are no pictures of him walking out with Clinton, smiling. He's reached out to his former foe, he's been magnanimous. And of course he will be saddened that it didn't work out.”

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 20, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, Huckabee, Mike, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (78)

The Note: Clinton Drama Haunts Obama Transition

November 19, 2008 8:35 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Wednesday's Note:

Which of these items should surprise us:

- The fact that Vice-president-elect Joe Biden is still a member of the United States Senate? (Albeit one with no intentions of actually casting another vote.)

- The fact that Sen. Ted Stevens is still a member of the Republican caucus? (Albeit one with very few votes left to cast.)

- The fact that Sen. Joe Lieberman is still a member of the Democratic caucus? (Just with one fewer subcommittee chairmanship that no one knew he had.)

- The fact that it there might be more old Clinton hands in the incoming Obama administration that there would have been if Hillary Clinton had won?

- The fact that conventional wisdom on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at State has shifted from why-would-he-want-her to why-would-she-want-it? (Is this all part of a power-play dance?)

- The fact that President-elect Barack Obama hasn’t had complete, leak-proof control of any of his major appointments so far in the transition process? (All this before he names a single member of his Cabinet . . . )

Forgiveness is in the air on the Hill, and maybe in Chicago, too.

Add Eric Holder, Obama’s choice for attorney general, to two running lists: worst-kept appointment secrets, and former top Clinton administration officials filling out the Obama team.

If Holder gets the nod, this means we know there will be at least one (if not a dozen) confirmation fights that reopen the old battles of the Clinton years.

This while Sen. Clinton plays out her internal fight over whether she wants to be Secretary of State. (Sorry, did someone mention drama?)

“While Mr. Obama has yet to name any of his cabinet secretaries, his early choices for White House staff positions and the names currently at the top of the list for staff and cabinet jobs suggest that his administration could be heavily stocked with Democrats who served under Mr. Clinton,” The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau and John M. Broder report.

This storyline, again: “President-elect Barack Obama repeatedly is turning to the Clinton administration for his Cabinet and staff, the latest example coming yesterday when Eric Holder emerged as the leading candidate for attorney general,” Bloomberg’s James Rowley and Julianna Goldman write. “To be sure, some of the problems that beset the Clinton administration could follow as well.”

Obama “wants the best people for the job, and he’s willing to overcome that chatter if he determines that anyone he appoints is the best person for the job, even if they did serve in the Clinton administration,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos said on “Good Morning America” Wednesday.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 19, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (38)

The Note: Obama, McCain Could be Valuable Allies

November 17, 2008 8:24 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Monday's Note:

Questions worth pondering while you’re thinking about the prospect of a Palin-free week:

1. Who will play a bigger role in filling out President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet -- Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, or Doris Kearns Goodwin?

2. Will the Republican Party have to blow itself up to put itself back together? (Which of those directions does Mike Huckabee’s new book take the party?)

3. Will the president-elect spend more political capital getting a playoff system for college football than he will pushing a bailout package to help save Detroit? (And will he spend this much time in the gym when he’s in the White House?)

4. What does it say about the most open and transparent transition in history that Obama meets in super-secrecy with Democrats, while press releases are sent out for meetings with Republicans?

5. Who’s the more powerful Republican this week -- John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, or John McCain?

The rival reclamation tour continues Monday in Chicago, with Obama set to meet at noon ET with that other individual who almost stopped him from becoming president: McCain.

McCain is at heart a dealmaker, and his return to the Senate as part of a diminished GOP caucus enhances his opportunities to cut them. Just like he’d have to if he’d won, McCain will be forced to work with Democrats -- and, of course, there’s one Democrat in particular whose cooperation is vital if McCain wants to remain a potent force.

McCain, R-Ariz., has no more friends in the Senate (in either party) than he did before he ran. And the Senate remains the place where some of the bolder Obama ideas may go to die.

But McCain won’t be speaking for leadership in the new Congress. Even more than after his 2000 run, he is one of a handful of senators whose celebrity brings power that can’t be measured by chairmanships or seniority (Hillary Clinton is another). When an Obama measure -- any measure -- is sent to Congress, who do you think will be the first lawmaker reporters seek out for reaction?

“Both have much to gain from swift reconciliation after a bitter contest,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman and Laura Meckler write. “Mr. Obama's pledge to move beyond the partisan bickering requires Republican partners. Sen. McCain would be a potent symbol -- and one with a long history of working with Democrats on key issues on the president-elect's agenda: climate change, energy efficiency and national service. . . . Obama aides stress the opportunity the president-elect is offering Sen. McCain.”

The Palin mania that’s enveloped the past week has mostly enhanced McCain by not focusing on his missteps (other than, possibly, his selection of Sarah Palin).

So the Arizona senator returns to the Hill with the potential to be more of a power source than ever -- the one man whose reaction to an Obama proposal could immediately set the tone for debate.

“Sources close to McCain say their man wants to leave the campaign behind and return to the role he forged for himself on Capitol Hill as the leading reformer and bi-partisan legislator in the Senate,” Time’s James Carney writes. “By meeting with McCain so shortly after the election, Obama is demonstrating both magnanimity and self-confidence. But his move is also based on self-interest. Obama is keenly aware of the fact that, despite increased Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House, he cannot enact the kind of sweeping legislative overhaul he envisions without the help of Republicans.”

With two years left on his term -- why wouldn’t he want to be a player? And the choice of wingmen for Monday’s meeting -- new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for Obama, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. -- for McCain -- says that both men are serious about a potential partnership.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 17, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, Huckabee, Mike, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (114)

The Note: Clinton Makes it 3 am for Obama Transition

November 14, 2008 8:35 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Friday's Note:

So much for no drama.

Surely a certain soon-to-be-ex-senator knows this by now, but here’s the thing about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: She tends to steal the scenes she’s playing in.

Until the subject of her “private business” Thursday in Chicago is resolved -- and maybe until and even beyond the press conference announcing the new secretary who’s headed to Foggy Bottom -- it will be 3 am in the transition process.

The Hillary rumors are the first potential stumbling block for the smooth machine that is President-elect Barack Obama’s transition efforts -- and it revolves around a storyline that seems never to get old.

There’s a decent chance this is just flattery, and an almost-equal chance that Clinton doesn’t even want the job. But what does it say that no one is seriously waving off the possibility that Obama actually does want Hillary Clinton answering that ringing phone?

“Discussions about Clinton, D-N.Y., being asked to accept the post are ‘very serious,’ an Obama source says,” per ABC’s Martha Raddatz, Jake Tapper, and Z. Byron Wolf. “Asked if Hillary Clinton would consider the secretary of state job, a former official in President Clinton’s administration said, ‘I think so. What would you rather do -- be senator or secretary of state?’ ”

“She's smart, she's strong, she's experienced, she's a team player, she is usually pretty diplomatic, and she also brings some gender diversity to an Obama Team concerned about such matters,” ABC’s Tapper and Sunlen Miller report. “She brings instant stature to the job, one Democrat told me. Many world leaders have known her for almost two decades.”

“But Obama and Clinton clashed frequently on international issues during their contentious primary battle,” Tapper reported on “Good Morning America” Friday. “Clinton suggested Obama was naive on wanting to talk to Iran and reckless in discussing a willingness to strike terrorists in Pakistan without government permission.”

“There's increasing chatter in political circles that the Obama camp is not overly happy with the usual suspects for secretary of state these days,” Al Kamen writes in his Washington Post column. “And Obama could put her in his speed-dial for a 3 a.m. phone call each morning.”

(Easiest joke in town: Would Bill Clinton want to fill out those Obama job application forms? Does Hillary Clinton want to go into detail about revelations that could potentially embarrass her would-be boss?)

Obama, of course, has plenty of experience with the Clintons. But in this delicate period where he remains around the presidency but not quite of it, this is one piece of the process where a little less transparency and openness could go a long way.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 14, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, Edwards, John, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (38)

Palin Urges GOP Governors To Lead Party

November 13, 2008 12:45 PM

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala Reports: In her first public speech since she and her running mate Sen. John McCain conceded the 2008 presidential election, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin expressed disappointment in the 2008 election results. But she urged her fellow Republican governors to help lead the party back by challenging an all-Democratic leadership in Washington through implementing conservative policies in their own states.

“Of course there was disappointment. You run to win,” Palin said of the election before a panel this morning at the Republican Governors Association’s (RGA) annual meeting in Miami, Florida. “But for us, it was not our time, it was not our moment. But it is our country, and the winner will be our president, and I wish Barack Obama well as the 44th president of the United States.”

While Palin was often an attack dog on the campaign trail questioning President-Elect Obama’s readiness to be president, she praised Obama’s potential today.

“If he governs with the skill and the grace and the greatness of which he is capable, we’re gonna be just fine,” Palin said. "And as he prepares to fill the office of Washington and Lincoln, know that this is a shining moment in American history."

Palin was the featured speaker before the RGA’s morning panel entitled, “Looking Toward the Future,” which featured Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), General Tommy Franks, and conservative columnist Bill Kristol.

After widespread Republican losses across the country, Palin urged her party not to become negative, saying they should challenge Democrats in Washington on issues such as energy and health care policy through effective reform efforts in their own states.

“So now with recent elections wrapped up, yup, on the federal level we are now the minority party," Palin said. "But let us resolve not to become the negative party, too eager to find fault or unwilling to help in this time of crisis and war."

“Losing an election does not have to mean losing our way," Palin added. "And for governors, the way forward leads through our own state capitals, in reforms that we will carry on or begin anew. And I promise you, Americans will be looking to their governors for reactions, for stepped-up leadership, and for our ability to unite and to progress."

Palin dismissed speculation about her own political future -- with many now believing she will be a top candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

"Let the pundits go on with their idle talk about the next election, what happens in 2012," Palin said. "Our concern should be about our state's next great reform, our next budget, our next opportunity to progress in the states that we serve."

Palin joked about the whirlwind she has been swept up into in recent months, as she went from an obscure state governor to the national political stage through her selection as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

“Honored to be here, get to speak with and to my fellow governors,” Palin said. “It hasn’t been that long I think since we all gathered, but I don’t know about you, but I managed to fill up the time.”

“Let’s see, I had a baby, I did some traveling. I very briefly expanded my wardrobe,” Palin jokingly added, referring to the flap over the $150,000 in clothes purchased for Palin and her family for the campaign trail. “I made a few speeches, met a few VIPs, including those who really impact society like Tina Fey. Aside from that, it was pretty much same old, same old.”

While her running mate Sen. John McCain did not make a public appearance for a week after Election Day, Palin has been on a media blitz in the last week.

Palin spoke twice with reporters in Phoenix the day after the Republican ticket’s loss, and twice more in the days after her return to Alaska. Since Monday, Palin has participated in four national television interviews, answering the charges of anonymous critics of her role in the campaign, while hinting at her own future in national politics.

Before the panel, Palin participated in a press conference with her fellow Republican governors, giving brief remarks and answering four questions. Media interest has remained high in Palin’s future – she has been swarmed by cameras in her two days in Miami, and her remarks at the RGA conference were aired live by all three cable news networks.

When asked how she would use the “political celebrity” she’s gained since being named the Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin again dismissed questions about the campaign and her own future plans, and reiterated that she will focus on her work as Alaska governor.

“As far as we're concerned, the past is the past, it's behind us," Palin said at the press conference. "And I, like all of our governors, we're focused on the future. And the future for us is not that 2012 presidential race. Its next year, and our next budgets and the next reforms in our states.”

“We are united and we understand what it's going to take to get this economy back on the right track, national security issues, immigration issues, education reform, health care reform, those issues that we deal with every day in our states,” Palin added. “We want to reach out to the new administration and offer our assistance, our support, offer solutions and I think that we'll be sought by the new administration, by Congress, and we're here to help."

November 13, 2008 in Palin, Sarah | Permalink | User Comments (283)

The Note: Obama’s ‘Change’ Meets Reality

November 13, 2008 8:51 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Thursday's Note:

Since the most transparent presidential transition in history is translucent at the moment, while the most open process ever is continuing behind doors marked “private,” here’s some of what the president-elect is learning:

1. Being more organized than Bill Clinton and less formal than George W. Bush doesn’t make a successful White House by itself -- but may be a good start.

2. A new politics requires old faces -- and those Clinton folks really don’t look so bad when it’s time to fill out a Democratic administration. (Even Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton herself may not be so bad to have around . . . )

3. That online army he brings with him doesn’t take orders from the top.

4. Being president-elect can mean acting like a president only when you want -- but there are some crises too big to avoid.

5. There are a few campaign promises that may not be so bad to ignore for a very long while.

As the Bidens meet the Cheneys, Hank Paulson meets reality, the GOP meets to ponder a new path, Sarah Palin meets a few more cameras, John McCain meets politics again, and Alaska’s Uncle Ted meets the real fallout of his actions . . .

The various political scenes playing out all over Washington and beyond lack a major player: President-elect Barack Obama.

The no-drama edict/reality of the Obama campaign has morphed seamlessly into the transition, no leaks, no errors.

But can it last? With each new issue, and with each new name, the realities of governing threaten to clash with the rhetoric of campaigning.

Change is so hard to track -- with new faces like Rahm Emanuel, John Podesta, Larry Summers, Madeleine Albright, Ron Klain, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, James Steinberg . . . (Think the Netroots are happy about this?)

Your new players (hope you kept your old program): “The Obama transition team yesterday rolled out a new list of officials who will help guide the process, singling out the Treasury, Defense and State departments as its first three areas of focus,” Anne E. Kornblut and Michael Abramowitz write in The Washington Post. “Three policy-oriented Democrats -- Melody Barnes, Lisa Brown and Don Gips -- will serve as co-chairs of the agency review process, the office of President-elect Barack Obama said.”

The list “sheds light on the types of people his administration will lean on and what institutions may claim clout in the new Washington,” The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler and Jonathan Weisman report. “The group is filled with second-tier veterans of the Clinton administration and workers in the technology and financial sectors. It includes four former lobbyists, three top campaign fund-raisers and two former employees of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, with some overlap among them. Four people in the group have ties to the consultant McKinsey & Co. and two have experience leading high-tech start-ups.”

“16 out of 19 of these folks worked in some capacity for the administration of President Clinton, which will no doubt cause some to question just how much ‘change’ can really come of these appointments,” ABC’s Jake Tapper reports. “But on the other hand, one can't expect Democrats who can be relied upon to help run a government to just pop out fresh from thin air.”

Get used to it, says ABC’s Sam Donaldson: “Successful presidents surround themselves with experienced people. That doesn't always work out – consider the outgoing Bush administration -- but when they don't do that, it almost never works out -- consider the Carter administration.”

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 13, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Clinton, Bill, Clinton, Hillary, Edwards, John, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Romney, Mitt, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (28)

The Note: Obama Gambles on Bailout Bill

November 12, 2008 8:29 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Wednesday's Note:

Whatever the outcome of the clash between the Bush administration and the Democratic Congress over a bailout package for Detroit, know that President-elect Barack Obama placed himself at this table -- and promptly tossed some valuable chips into the pot.

He had an easy way out: the one-president-at-a-time line. He’s just a senator until Jan. 20. He didn’t have to turn his Oval Office session with President Bush into a lobbying powwow. And with just the two of them in the room, he certainly (as the Bush team reminded him with a high hard one tossed via Drudge) didn’t have to turn private talks into a public spat.

With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Harry Reid pushing a measure to help automakers during the lame-duck session, they have a partner in ownership: Obama.

It’s a quiet kind of power play by a president-elect who’s seeking a delicate balance: Obama, insisting that the economy needs more help now, is showing action, not just talking about it.

If it works, Obama would notch a legislative victory even before he’s president -- in a quick payoff for his union backers, and (just maybe) for a troubled industry and the economy as a whole.

But if it fails to pass, or if it passes and then fails to work, or even if it works but fails to impress, the president-elect owns an issue that helped get him here a bit earlier -- and more completely -- than he did before.

“Democratic leaders in Congress said Tuesday they will push legislation next week to use the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund to bail out Detroit auto makers, and President-elect Barack Obama ordered his transition team to look at ways to aid the car industry even before his inauguration,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman, Greg Hitt and John D. McKinnon report.

“For Mr. Obama, the crisis in Detroit is turning into an early test of his leadership. Organized labor, including the United Auto Workers, invested heavily in Mr. Obama's campaign,” they continue. “It's a situation Mr. Obama's team had hoped to avoid, potentially giving the president-elect responsibility for an emergency before he has any real authority to deal with it. . . . For Mr. Obama, a public intervention on behalf of Detroit puts his political capital at stake on behalf of companies that have lost the confidence of investors and many consumers -- reflected in the reluctance of banks to lend to the companies and their continuing loss of market share.”

“A senior Democratic official . . . said Ms. Pelosi had decided to challenge Mr. Bush to work with the Democrats or veto aid to the teetering auto companies -- and take the blame if one of them fails,” David M. Herszenhorn and Carl Hulse write in The New York Times. “The White House has resisted calls by Congress to use the $700 billion to help the automakers, saying that money is better spent easing the credit crunch at the heart of the economic crisis.”

Key detail: “Congressional aides said Democratic leaders were coordinating their activities with [Obama’s] transition team,” Herszenhorn and Hulse report.

What of his role? “Mr. Obama does not intend to play a leading role in the [lame-duck] session. Aides said he was focused on the economic packages he would offer as president, as well as working behind the scenes with Congressional Democratic leaders,” Herszenhorn and Hulse report. “But aides have not definitively ruled out the prospect of Mr. Obama casting his vote if it was needed. His Senate replacement will not be named by then.”

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 12, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., Clinton, Hillary, Edwards, John, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (45)

The Note: Obama Challenged to Lead Early

November 11, 2008 8:38 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Tuesday's Note:

President-elect Barack Obama might have wanted some relaxation time -- or at least some thinking time before that White House he toured Monday becomes his.

But politics is inviting Obama in at every turn: world leaders reaching out; advocacy groups growing restless (already); a Senate run-off where his pull will be tested; a Democrat-turned-independent-turned-McCain-endorser whose future is being debated on the Hill; and, most pressingly, a series of financial matters that can’t wait for Jan. 20 to be resolved.

(And Gov. Sarah Palin is inviting in politics at every turn -- what, is she running for something?)

There will be many Barack Obamas, surely, over the course of his presidency -- the one of the first 100 days, the economic healer, the wartime leader, the manager, the speaker, the relationship-builder, the one who responds to unforeseen crises, and the one who (soon enough) gears up for reelection.

All of them could be defined in part by the pre-presidential Obama we’re seeing now. Just a week past Election Day, Obama is being asked to fill leadership voids all over Washington, and as he responds -- tentatively, for now -- he knows that he’s setting the tone for when it counts.

Behind the pageantry, the makings of a presidential-level standoff: “President-elect Barack Obama yesterday urged President Bush to support immediate aid for struggling automakers and back a new stimulus package, even as congressional Democrats began drafting legislation to give the Detroit automakers quick access to $25 billion by adding them to the Treasury Department's $700 billion economic rescue program,” Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear write in The Washington Post.

“Bush, speaking privately to Obama during their first Oval Office meeting, repeated his administration's stand that he might support quick action on those bills if Democratic leaders drop their opposition to a Colombia trade agreement that Bush supports,” they report. “The discussions raised the stakes for a lame-duck session of Congress that could begin next week and came as fears about General Motors' financial condition yesterday pushed the company's stock price to its lowest level in about 60 years.”

“A week after Mr. Obama’s election, and more than two months before he takes office, the steadily weakening economy and the prospect of many more job losses are testing his effort to remain aloof from the nation’s business on the argument that ‘we only have one president at a time,’ ” Jackie Calmes writes in The New York Times.

“As the auto industry reels, rarely has an issue so quickly illustrated the differences from one White House occupant to the next,” she writes. “How Mr. Obama responds to the industry’s dire straits will indicate how much government intervention in the private sector he is willing to tolerate. It will also offer hints of how he will approach his job under pressure, testing the limits of his conciliation toward the opposition party and his willingness to stand up to the interest groups in his own.”

“Mr. Obama's focus on the auto industry came as fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill started moving on their own to help Detroit gain access to federal rescue funds allocated for the financial sector,” Jonathan Weisman and John D. McKinnon report in The Wall Street Journal. “Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said Monday that he is drafting legislation, aimed for quick passage, that would free up money from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue for Detroit auto makers careening toward seeking bankruptcy protection.”

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' Hope Ditto contributed to this report.

November 11, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Bush, George W., McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Washington, White House | Permalink | User Comments (22)

Cassoulet - Mystery Solved

November 10, 2008 4:44 PM

ABC News' Brian Hartman reports: Throughout ABC's election night coverage from New York, it was impossible to miss, amid shots of the boisterous crowd gathered in Times Square, a large banner emblazoned with the conundrum: "cassoulet."

One viewer wrote on the Dallas Morning News website, "That may well be the most confusing sign I have ever seen anywhere."

Heads also were scratching in ABC's election coverage studio.

"I want to know who 'cassoulet' is," George Stephanoulos said on-air to Charles Gibson just before a commercial break.

Many viewers were just as curious. Thousands logged onto the internet for answers, making "cassoulet" -- a French bean casserole -- one of the top 100 search terms on Google for Election Day.

The real answer, it turns out, appears to be that US election night was the backdrop for a French joke.

As seen in this video clip, a sound engineer for "Le Petit Journal" (The Little Journal), a comedy show that airs on the Canal + TV network, had been making the rounds of US live news broadcasts that day. Wherever Mathieu the engineer could find a camera, he would wave a sign with messages for his mother -- capping off the day with a massive banner that paid homage to her beloved cassoulet.

The video can be seen HERE.

November 10, 2008 in Biden, Joe, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Palin, Sarah, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (30)