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To my Conservative Friends: Do you remember about a year ago today leading up to the first primaries and caucuses? Hillary Rotten was ahead by double digits in every poll against her obviously unqualified, wet behind-his-BIG-ears, novice challenger Barack Hussein Obama... It was a foregone conclusion, the nomination for the Democruds was her destiny, her birthright. She was on top of the mountain singing: I am woman, hear me Shrill!!!!!! Look at her now - after having her pantsuit handed to her by this "kid" from the south side, she crawled away in shame..... I tell ya - that Barry...

Sen. Bill Clinton has an interesting ring to it, doesn’t it? While no one is certain if this is a creation of the press or an actuality, certainly there are many models for post-presidential life and a return to public office is one of them. Whether Bill Clinton is being seriously considered, or is seriously considering, a return to office via his wife Hillary's vacated New York U.S. Senate seat is certainly worth exploring. "John Quincy Adams is the most prominent instance of a return to political office" said Joel Goldstein, an expert on the presidency. "But William Howard Taft...

Less than 12 hours after George Stephanopoulos, on Good Morning America, glowed that “we have not seen this kind of combination of star power and brain power and political muscle this early in a cabinet in our lifetimes,” he popped up on World News to hail how Barack Obama's team recognized the Bush administration's “vacuum” and so decided to “step in and fill” it by showing “the President-elect taking action on the economy” day after day. Anchor Charles Gibson set up Stephanopoulos by marveling: “George, I don't think I've ever seen a President-elect getting so involved in policy so early....

President and Mrs. Bush couldn't be handling the transition more graciously. But rather than celebrating the peaceful transfer of power that is the hallmark of our democracy, Hardball has announced a new feature, "Final Daze," intended to mock W as we count down his last weeks in office. Mike Barnicle, sitting in for Chris Matthews, announced the new segment on this evening's show. MIKE BARNICLE: And that brings us to a new, regular item we're starting tonight called "Final Daze." President Bush has 57 days left in office, and many are asking "where's Dubya?" With the economy tanking and the...

For yea these last two years, the picture we have had of our president-elect has been, without exception, that of a gentleman, proud yet humble, with an inner centeredness and an outer composure that have fascinated and often mystified the nation. Where, we kept asking ourselves, did such a man come from? What elements of fate and nature merged in him to create this preternaturally poised leader? Moreover, he surrounded himself with people who seemed much like him. Never was there an argument in his campaign that saw the light of celebrity's voracious day; never did one of his assistants...

The Warren Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law is teaming up with a group of liberal philanthropists to help minorities and women win jobs in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration. The Diversity in Democracy Project, also dubbed the Talent Bank Project, has already collected about 1,000 resumes as of Friday, according to Steve Phillips, a San Francisco employment lawyer and donor to progressive causes. “The enthusiasm is off the charts,” says Phillips, who also presides over PowerPAC, a nonprofit advocacy and political organization that has also chipped in with Phillips and others to pay for...

POSTED BY ED MORRISSEY Barack Obama has selected Gregory Craig as White House counsel, a move that will recall some controversial legal cases over the last few years. Craig has plenty of experience in politics as well as the courtroom, having served as Bill Clinton’s legal counsel during the impeachment hearings. Craig flipped from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama early in the primaries, and Obama has repaid his support — but Craig’s caseload will raise a few eyebrows: Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect...

Here is complete video of the 60 Minutes Interview Segment with President-elect Barack Obama and wife Michelle that discussed their personal transition to the White House. . . . (Watch Video)

By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama tapped a major campaign bundler and a former U.S. attorney who got caught up in Bill Clinton’s 2001 pardons scandal to serve on the 14-member Justice Department review team announced Friday. Alejandro Mayorkas, a former U.S. attorney in California, drew controversy in 2001 for calling the White House on behalf of Carlos Vignali, a convicted drug dealer who was seeking a presidential commutation. Mayorkas and a host of other California elected officials responded to pleas from Vignali’s father, Horacio, a wealthy Los Angeles businessman whom federal agents had suspected of drug...

Greg Craig Selected as White House Counsel By Michael D. Shear and Anne E. Kornblut President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Washington lawyer Gregory B. Craig, who served as President Bill Clinton's lead attorney during the 1998 impeachment proceedings, to be his White House counsel, according to an individual involved with the transition. Craig has been a longtime adviser to former president Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but became a close adviser to Obama during the campaign, reportedly serving as the stand-in for Sen. John McCain during debate preparations. Transition officials declined to comment, and Craig did not return calls...

Not only did Obama name a White House chief of staff two days after the election, but he also began to fill 120,000 sq. ft. (11,000 sq m) of office space in downtown Washington with a transition operation that is ultimately expected to have a staff of 450 and a budget of $12 million, more than half of which must be raised from private funds. Obama's goal, says his old friend Valerie Jarrett, another co-chair of the transition operation, "is to be able to be organized, efficient, disciplined and transparent to the American people." More disciplined than transparent: Washington's quadrennial...

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team leaders for the State Department are both Clinton-era department officials with links to the troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Tom Donilon, a lawyer who was one of President Bill Clinton’s State Department spokesmen and its chief of staff, was a top lobbyist for Fannie Mae from 1999 to 2005. Obama’s other State Department team leader, Wendy Sherman, was president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation from 1996 to 1997, between two tours at the State Department – one as a legislative liaison for Secretary Warren Christopher and another as counselor to Secretary Madeleine Albright....

WASHINGTON – President-elect Obama's transition chief said Sunday the incoming administration is looking to reverse President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling and other matters. John Podesta said the president can use such orders to move quickly without waiting for Congress to act, highlighting the extraordinary powers a president can wield beyond signing legislation approved by Congress. Podesta said people should expect Obama to use those powers to reverse many policies of the Bush administration. "I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of areas, you see the Bush administration even...

The incoming administration is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling, and other matters, President-elect Barack Obama's transition chief said on Sunday. John Podesta said the idea is that a president can use such orders to move quickly without waiting for Congress to act. "I'm not going to preview decisions that he has yet to make. But I would say that as a candidate, Senator Obama said that he wanted all the Bush executive orders reviewed, and decide which ones should be kept, and which ones should be repealed, and which ones should be...

In his weekly radio address President Bush said, "So my Administration will work hard to ensure that the next President and his team can hit the ground running. For more than a year now, the White House and agencies throughout the Federal government have been preparing for a smooth transition. We've provided intelligence briefings to the President-Elect, and the Department of Justice has approved security clearances for members of his transition staff. In the coming weeks, we will ask Administration officials to brief the Obama team on major ongoing policy issues, ranging from the financial markets to the war in...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryNovember 8, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Transition THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, more than 120 million Americans went to the polls and voted for a new President and Congress. No matter how we cast our ballots, all Americans have reason to be proud of our democracy. Our citizens have chosen a President who represents a triumph of the American story -- a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our Nation. When I called President-Elect Obama to congratulate him...

Back to the future? Oh, say it ain’t so, Barack Obama. As the president-elect struggles to fill out his staff, there is concern among analysts and scholars of the presidency that the new president may be relying too much on the men and women who served Bill Clinton. The problem is that they are perceived as yesterday’s people and, worse, that Obama was elected on a clarion call of change. The stalwarts of the Democratic administration of the ’90s have about them the ghostly tinge of another time. In a parliamentary system of government, you know the likely players after...

Fresh off a smashing victory at the polls, President-elect Barack Obama is getting advice from across the political spectrum urging a cautious, moderate start to the new administration. That would be a huge mistake. Far from playing it safe, Obama must get early action on issues that are often dismissed as left-wing pet priorities - but are in fact vital to the well-being of working families. No. 1 on the list should be passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to organize labor unions. Few moves would help middle-class families faster than getting a million...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – President Bush warned today that terrorists could use the government transition under way as an opportunity to attack, and urged his staff to give the incoming administration the support it needs to “hit the ground running.” Bush addressed members of his Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, and executive office staffers on the South Lawn of the White House. Terrorists might be tempted to take advantage of the first U.S. wartime presidential transition in four decades, he warned. “We're in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us, and they would like...