Hillary’s Voice

White House sends out Christmas-themed Hanukkah invitations. (Think Progress)President and First Lady Bush recently sent Jewish community leaders invitations to a Hanukkah reception at the White House next month. But as the New York Post reports, the invitations “raised more than a few eyebrows” because the image on them was that of a “Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas fir along the snow-dappled drive to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave”:

Joe Klein’s extreme revisionism (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)Joe Klein, this week’s Time Magazine, on George Bush’s legacy: “…I’ve been searching for valedictory encomiums… [like] the bracing moment of Bush with the bullhorn in the ruins of the World Trade Center, but that was neutered in my memory by his ridiculous, preening appearance in a flight suit on the deck of the aircraft carrier beneath the ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign…” Joe Klein, Face the Nation, May 4, 2003, with Bob Schieffer — 3 days after Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech: “…[T]hat was probably the coolest presidential image since Bill Pullman played the jet fighter pilot in the movie Independence Day.”… As bad as this absence of remorse is, it is simply intolerable to watch those who cheered on many of the worst excesses try now to pretend that they were skeptical, adversarial critics all along. Journalists with influential platforms have responsibilities, the primary one of which is to be accountable for what they say and do.Commentary: Presidential campaign was awash in paradox (by J. Peder Zane, Raleigh News & Observer)The 2008 presidential campaign offered a study in contrasts.It revolutionized the political process by harnessing the power of the Internet to forge new relationships between the candidates and voters.It was also a deeply traditional campaign decided by economic fears and get-out-the-vote efforts.It was fueled by the raw power of bottom-up, grass-roots efforts.It was also one of the most tightly scripted, top-down contests in recent history.It provided voters with more information than ever before.It also generated so much misinformation that it was harder than ever to separate fact from fiction.Those were some of the paradoxical observations that four political reporters shared at a Duke University panel on media coverage of the 2008 election.Obama: Change ‘comes from me,’ not his appointees (McClatchy)WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama essentially said Wednesday that he is the change, striving to assure Americans that he’ll shake up Washington despite filling his administration with old hands from the Clinton administration and the capital’s corridors of power.I guess he’s the Decider.—CaroClick here for more politics and media news headlines.Carolyn KayMakeThemAccountable.com

In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume (The Onion)The pardon assures that Libby will not face any more repercussions for his role in the Valerie Plame scandal or be eaten on Thanksgiving.A little Thanksgiving Fool humor.—Caro

Normally I would say “So what?” (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)From Politico: “OBAMA SKIPS CHURCH, HEADS TO GYM”… Now I don’t really care if Barack Obama attends a church, temple, mosque or gym every weekend. But he’s the one who made a big deal over his religious faith… It’s the hypocrisy, stupid!He doesn’t need the South Side black churches any more. He’s made it. He can forget them.—Caro

Obama the Secret Progressive (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)From Chris Bowers: “According to [The Atlantic’s Marc] Ambinder, hiring centrists and Republicans for top positions in the Obama administration actually means that Obama intends to govern in a clearly progressive direction…” Put down your sippy-kup Marc, and check this out: “A senior Obama campaign official shared with The Washington Note that in July 2008, the McCain and Obama camps began to work secretly behind the scenes to assemble large rosters of potential personnel for the administration that only one of the candidates would lead.” WE TOLD YOU SO!Bacevich: ‘I want to see President Obama explicitly abrogate the doctrine of preventive war.’ (Think Progress)Earlier today, ThinkProgress interviewed Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University who has been one of the most astute foreign policy critics of the Bush administration. (Bacevich’s son died while serving in Iraq.) In his new book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, Bacevich challenges Obama to “go beyond merely pointing out the folly of the Iraq war” and “demonstrate that Iraq represents the truest manifestation of an approach to national security that is fundamentally flawed… I would want to see a President Obama explicitly abrogate the doctrine of preventive war and to question fundamentally whether global war — open-ended global war — really provides the proper framework in which to address the threat posed by violent Islamic radicalism.”Click through to listen.—CaroWhy Obama should end the “war on terror” (by Gary Kamiya) Bush’s infantile response to 9/11 has harmed our national interests for too long. It’s time to declare it dead.Click here for more politics and media news headlines.Carolyn KayMakeThemAccountable.com

Tracking the center-right nation meme (County Fair, Media Matters for America)[W]ithin hours of the Democrat’s White House victory, the “center-right” faucet was turned on.

MSNBC’s Phill Griffin answers his own question (County Fair, Media Matters for America)Addressing students at Vassar College, the cabler chief bemoaned “the parlous condition of traditional news media,” according to a local newspaper account. Griffin also informed the students that, looking back on the historic 2008 campaign, Sarah Palin “”made this election.” We’re pretty sure there’s a connection between those two points.The Agony of the Women of 2008 (video, thanks to InsightAnalytical)Men pontificate on the role of women in the 2008 presidential election.—Caro

Obama calls on his Internet campaign army to march again (McClatchy)WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama’s 3 million campaign volunteers got re-enlistment notices this week. Campaign manager David Plouffe, in a mass e-mail sent Wednesday to former workers, asked how much time they can spare for four missions integral to Obama’s effort to transform his victory into a broader political movement.. “Obama’s building a political machine,” said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a center-left Washington research group.Trust Obama on Clinton (by Joan Walsh, Salon)If he believes she can contribute to his foreign policy, but most important, carry it out; that she can represent him well and inform his worldview; that she can improve our standing abroad, well, then, I believe she can, too. This choice is neither a popularity contest nor a meritocracy; it’s all about the person the president believes can best represent his foreign policy and America’s interests in the world. He has to deeply trust the man or woman in that role.Oh, Joan, you are so sweetly naïve. You obviously don’t know anything about Chicago hardball politics. He offered her the Secretary of State position to force her to give up the organization of a million donors and activists that she built during the primary. He wants HIS organization to be the only force to be reckoned with. And it won’t necessarily be tied to the Democratic Party. It might be the Obama Party.—CaroClinton set to be nominated secretary of state after Nov. 27Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Senator Hillary Clinton is likely to be nominated for secretary of state after the Nov. 27 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, according to an aide to President-elect Barack Obama. Potential hurdles related to the financial disclosures of Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, have been worked out, said the aide, who asked not to be named. The appointment, should the New York Democrat accept the post, would make her Obama’s highest-ranking Cabinet official. Backers say the popularity of both Hillary and Bill Clinton overseas would be a boon to the U.S.’s global reputation.See? By making this announcement he tried to force her to say yes. For those who haven’t noticed the thuggery, it’s time you did. As Booman, who refused to listen to me when I tried to tell him about Chicago politics, said, “People would do well to heed Emanuel’s message [about health care], lest they get a fist in the mouth or a dead fish in the mail” (thanks, Lambert).—CaroAnd she has decided to accept, I’m sorry to say.Clinton Decides to Accept Post at State Dept., Confidants Say (New York Time)WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state, making her the public face around the world for the administration of the man who beat her for the Democratic presidential nomination, two confidants said Friday.Click here for more politics and media news headlines.Carolyn KayMakeThemAccountable.com

The Song of Our New ObamaNation: The Bitch Deserved It (by madamab at The Confluence)

The Black Agenda Report

Three weeks without a computer has provided a much needed respite from the soul-shattering experience that has been this year’s election. I spent a lifetime under the misapprehension that people wanted to know the unvarnished truth about current events, and thirsted for access to that information. I was wrong. Dead wrong. What I have found out is that, in reality,

Most of the peopleWANT TO BE FOOLEDmost of the time.