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- Barack Obama has named former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack secretary of agriculture and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior, leaving Transportation and Labor the only remaining unfilled cabinet posts. (Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) is being considered for Transportation and Harley Shaiken for Labor.) In other transition news, California Representative Xavier Becerra has turned down an offer to be U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration.
- Like Sarah, I am utterly baffled by the Inaugural Committee's (and presumably the PEOTUS') decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration. I can understand politicians kowtowing to religious leaders during a campaign, but why continue to do so after the election? I know I'm just a godless liberal, but am I missing some sort of well-hidden influence this man possesses that needs to be cultivated lest it wither away?
- Ever since Time Magazine chose "you" as its Person of the Year I had assumed the honor would continue to explore new depths of avant-garde post-modernism. I was shocked, then, to see the magazine go out on a limb and pick Barack Obama for this year's award. Far more interesting is this 1980 photo shoot of the president-elect while he was a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
- It appears that the Illinois Supreme Court has rejected AG Lisa Madigan's argument to have Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared unfit to hold office, according to Chicago Breaking News. This effort is was distinct from impeachment proceedings in the state House.
- This upcoming New York Times Magazine piece on the Obama campaign's relationship with the press is full of wise decisions on behalf of spokesman Robert Gibbs and Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. On snubbing the WaPo editorial board: "You could go to Cedar Rapids and Waterloo and understand that people aren’t reading The Washington Post." On cocktail party journalism: "These are interviews that you agree to because you were always bumping into the reporter at cocktail parties, and they keep asking for the candidate's time. We could laugh every time our opponents would do them."
- Reports of George Tenet downing half a bottle of scotch in Prince Bandar's swimming pool and ranting about "neoconservative Jews" seem just a bit too fanciful, but I could be wrong.
--Mori Dinauer
