Hillary’s Voice

Obama Named Time Person of the YearObama has made it clear that he knows how to write new playbooks and do things in new ways. Which is a compelling quality right now. His arrival on the scene feels like a step into the next century — his genome is global, his mind is innovative, his world is networked, and his spirit is democratic.

Cold Comfort Dept.: Bush Prepares Crisis Briefings to Aid Obama (New York Times)The White House has prepared more than a dozen contingency plans to help guide President-elect Barack Obama if an international crisis erupts in the opening days of his administration, part of an elaborate operation devised to smooth the first transition of power since Sept. 11, 2001.The Real Barack Obama

Wrapped in the Flag

Iraqi Journalist Throws His Shoes At Bush During Press Conference In Baghdad (Think Progress)

Blago Blogging (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)The holidays are starting to look pretty good. As Mawm said “All I got last Fitzmas was a Scooter.” Maybe this year we’ll get a pony after all.Matt Davies

The Mission of the Press Is Priceless (by Frank Harris III, Hartford Courant)If the press were bailed out by the government then we’d have a government-owned press that would seek to silence its critics and eliminate stories that questioned government on what its many members and branches were doing.As opposed to a corporate-owned press that seeks to silence government critics and eliminate stories that question government on what is many members and branches are doing. Glad to clear that up.—CaroInside Blagojevich’s tangled web (video, Hardball, MSNBC)It’s necessarily simplified, and names innocent as well as potentially guilty parties, but may help you get a grasp on some of the relationships.—Caro

“Pay To Play” Is The Chicago Way (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)

Obama’s old Senate seat for sale on eBay (Seattle Tech Report, Post-Intelligencer)

The Heretik

Obama Warns of Further Economic PainWASHINGTON — Saying that the United States economy was likely to worsen before it improves, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday pledged to pursue a recovery plan “equal to the task ahead,” including the creation of a vast public-works program not just built around bridge and highway projects, but on creating “green jobs” and disseminating new technologies.Spend, Obama, spend! And save jobs (by Joe Conason)The first thing Obama should do is use federal funds to keep public employees from joining the swelling ranks of the unemployed.Obama Pledges Massive Infrastructure Plan (Political Wire)In his Saturday radio address, President-elect Obama committed to “the largest public works construction program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago as he seeks to put together a plan to resuscitate the reeling economy… “Although he put no price tag on it, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other public utilities. He vowed to upgrade computers in schools, expand broadband Internet access, make government buildings more energy efficient and improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices.”Broadband nation (by Jeff Jarvis)If we wanted subsidy, there could be none better than assuring that the entire nation is on broadband. Then all consumers, all content, all advertisers could meet there. It would fast-forward the inevitable. It would spark innovation and jobs and trade and education. To hell with public-service broadcasting. How about public-service connectivity?Public Opinion Snapshot: Ready for Change on Jobs and Health Care (by Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress)The incoming Obama administration has some mighty ambitious plans to fix America’s problems. And Americans say they’re OK with that. A just-released Democracy Corps poll found that 66 percent of the public supports Obama’s “policies and goals for the country” as opposed to only 28 percent who do not.Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Over Obama’s Citizenship (The Caucus, New York Times)Without any comment whatsoever, the Supreme Court today declined to take up an appeal by a New Jersey man who questioned President-elect Barack Obama’s eligibility for the presidency, based on his birth to a father from Kenya and a mother who was a United States citizen. The case, brought by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., contended that Mr. Obama could not be considered a “natural-born citizen” — a constitutional ground for becoming president of the United States — because he had dual nationality at birth.This decision confirms my belief that the Republican powers that be WANT Obama in the presidency. They must think they have a better chance of discrediting him and the Democratic Party with Obama at the helm.—CaroClick here for more politics and media news headlines.Carolyn KayMakeThemAccountable.com

Obama legal team meets with anti-torture generalsWASHINGTON - A dozen retired generals met with President-elect Barack Obama’s top legal advisers Wednesday, pressing their case to overturn some of the Bush administration’s terrorism-fighting policies.Jamiol’s World