A Maybe From Senator No

Today's New York Times has an editorial on our own Mitch McConnell. Here's an excerpt:

...now Senator McConnell is pronouncing President-elect Barack Obama off to a good start with an opportunity “to tackle big issues and to do them in the middle.” We have heard it before. Yet the heartening twist from the minority leader, newly re-elected after a race he found too close for comfort, is that he is quoting from Mr. Obama to make his point, retrieving a bit of prophecy from 2004, when the Democrats despaired in the minority and Senator Obama observed: “Whoever’s in power is going to have to govern with some modesty and some desire to work with the other side of the aisle. That’s certainly the approach I would advise Democrats should we regain control.”

We are not quite convinced that a golden age of bipartisanship is upon the Capitol. But Mr. McConnell’s citation could help as leaders talk about putting the next Congress to work early so it can deliver an economic stimulus package in sync with the Jan. 20 inauguration.

The calendar part of the plan is easy; the hard part will be putting aside politics to really work together. If not, there is little chance that a recovery plan will gain traction. Mr. Obama’s usually sharp-elbowed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is handing out his private cellphone number to the other side of the aisle. “We’re not lip-synching bipartisanship,” Mr. Emanuel insists. The nation must hope Senator McConnell isn’t either.

Weekly Address from the President-Elect

President-elect Barack Obama addressed the nation on the occasion of Thanksgiving, nearly one hundred and fifty years after President Lincoln called for the last Thursday in November to be set aside to acknowledge our blessings. For more information, visit http://change.gov.

Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Suit

Funny stuff from The Onion:

As U.S. evolves, paranoia rises

Today's column by Jay Bookman is excellent. Here's an excerpt:

...with Democrats in control of Congress and Barack Obama about to become president, the maestros of talk radio see an opportunity. They know that the more threatened their audience feels, the higher their ratings get. And what better way to rile up their listeners than to claim that the Democrats are out to silence talk radio itself, the medium that brings conservatives the truth as they want to know it.

So for months, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others have been warning their audiences that once in power, the Democrats plan to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Politicians such as Newt Gingrich have joined the chorus, and right-wing pundits insist the issue will be part of Obama’s agenda in his first 100 days in office.

But it’s all nonsense. Obama, for example, is on the record as very clearly opposing a new Fairness Doctrine. The most recent bill calling for reinstatement of the doctrine was introduced back in 2005 and it went nowhere. In the current Congress, controlled by Democrats in both chambers, no such bills have been introduced and no Democrats have announced or even suggested an effort to resurrect the policy.

Click here to read the entire piece.

Your Weekly Address from the President-elect

President-elect Barack Obama announces he has directed his economic team to assemble an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011. For more information, visit http://change.gov.

Obama focuses on economy in radio address

President-elect Barack Obama delivered this week's Democratic radio address. CNN has the story:

First, Obama said, the country needs "a rescue plan for the middle class" that creates jobs. Then his new administration will address how the financial crisis has affected other sectors of the economy.

...In addition, he said, an Obama administration will pursue policies meant to grow the middle class and strengthen the economy.

"We can't afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle-class families," Obama said.

You can listen to Obama's entire address by clicking here.

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4th, 2008.