All of us here at The Empire of the Mind would like to wish you and your loved ones a joyous, healthy, and peaceful Thanksgiving, full of friendship, cheer, and plentiful reminders of all the many reasons we all have to be thankful on this day and throughout the year.
On a sadder note, Empire sends best wishes to anyone involved in the terror attacks yesterday in Mumbai, India. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected and their families.
Well, in the past week the biggest stirrings in politics, next to Adrian Fenty’s wild predictions of up to 5 million people coming to the Inauguration, have been Cabinet whispers. Or yells, really. The Obama team seems to be leaking names left and right, probably in an effort to avoid some of Bush’s blunders that resulted from keeping names too secret (see “Miers, Harriet” for an example).
Department of State – Hillary Clinton. A wise choice; Clinton established herself as a pseudo-diplomat during her husband’s administration and has steered a middle course in foreign policy ever since. The only question is whether she will have Obama’s full backing so she can speak with authority when dealing with foreign leaders, something Powell and Rice found difficult during the Bush years.
National Security Adviser – Jim Jones. Awesome last name aside, all reports are that this guy is considered a dream pick for NSA because of his deep experience at the Pentagon (he served as Commandant of the Marine Corps) and in Iraq, where he has been an adviser on security forces.
Department of Defense – Bob Gates. Reports are that Gates will stay on for about a year at the Pentagon. Gates has proven himself a competent Secretary of Defense since December of 2006, and was instrumental in the “surge” of U.S. forces which is at least partly responsible for the return of relative stability to Iraq. Amid all the change going on in Washington, stability in the military is key, so Gates is a great choice
Department of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano. The Governor of Arizona’s pick makes me wonder if Obama is trying to signal that an effort at immigration reform is coming by picking a border state governor for the DHS job. Immigration is, after all, one of DHS’s main roles, although counter-terror got the top billing during the Bush years.
Department of Justice – Eric Holder. I must admit that Holder’s nomination surprises me. Holder was originally appointed a DC circuit judge under Ronald Reagan before joining the Clinton DoJ, eventually rising to Deputy AG. During the Bush years, he was a leading advocate for reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, which has been a thorn in the Democratic Party’s side since it was first adopted, and said in an interview that anyone at Justice opposing the Bush security policies (wiretapping and torture?) should be fired.
These are the only positions I feel qualified to comment on. If you have any strong feelings about Bill Richardson at Commerce, Tom Daschle at HHS, etc. please comment away. The only other thing I will say is that from everything I hear, Obama’s leading economic advisers (Timothy Geithner, Paul Volcker, Austan Goulsbee, Larry Summers) seem to be moderate, thoughtful, and pragmatic economists.
Stay tuned to Empire for more coverage of the Obama transition and make sure to keep an eye out for the first installment of the “Empire in the Middle East” series coming in early February.
Well, the 2008 election is two weeks behind us, except in Minnesota and Alaska, who are still trying to figure out who their senators are going to be. But felons and comedians aside, I now plan to take a look at this marvelous ride that was this past election. (I tried to be as comprehensive as possible, which is hard to do in under 600 words so I hope y’all aren’t too disappointed.)
Barack Obama
After months of pundits and pollsters harping about the infallibility of the Clinton machine, Obama did the unthinkable by beating that machine in a head-to-head nomination fight that dragged on much longer than it needed to. With the divisions of the primary season behind him, Obama needed to prove his mettle to assume the Oval Office. Really, he had to avoid messing anything up, and he did so with a flare. Obama transformed himself from a candidate of high (and often vague) rhetoric to a nominee with a plan and an experienced sidekick to boot. In such a heavily Democratic year, it was his to lose; bucking the recent trend in the Democratic Party (you know, the “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” thing), he did an admirable job of proving to the voters that he was ready to assume the office. Though, to be candid, your author does not agree with many of his policies, certainly Obama’s election should be met with respect and admiration that a black man could be elected president in an America so recently riven with racial strife. Obama will likely be able to improve the face of America to the world at a time when such help is desperately needed, and has that contagious aura of hope that inspires so many people at a time, again, when inspiration is badly needed.
John McCain
McCain should end his campaign feeling few regrets. Perhaps alone among Republicans, he was able to fight out this race and keep it competitive, though the odds were against him from the start. His pick of Sarah Palin was intriguing, but disappointing when she was tested. Her interviews were horrendous, and her debate skills utterly lacking. McCain, a life-long public servant, was forced instead to become a politician, a change that did not suit him well. His choice to return to Washington to work on the recovery was well-intentioned, but backfired. Despite all these failings, and the inevitability of the generational shift to Obama, at his peaks – most notably his acceptance speech at the Convention and his concession speech on election night – McCain rose to a new level and spoke with an honesty few others in public office ever muster. He was not able to sell a coherent vision; this was not his moment. However, for all his faults, his loss should not detract from the greatness of the man.
In Summary
All in all, it’s good that this election has come to a close. America needs to move on, and hopefully President-elect Obama will steer the country in a positive direction. If, at the end of his term, we can look back at an administration that helped restore America’s faith in its leaders, fostered respect and friendship across the political spectrum despite differences of opinion, and acted in a way that was true to our country’s values, we will likely have experienced a successful presidency. You can check back in 2012 to see whether or not that happens. Better yet, keep checking Empire for regular (I promise!) updates. Our next item of business will be an analysis of President-elect Obama’s cabinet choices, when he picks them. Stay tuned!
Pennsylvania tonight mourns the passing of Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, the first woman to hold that position in the Commonwealth. Ms. Baker Knoll was 78 and was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of her death. A lifelong Pennsylvania public servant, Ms. Baker Knoll was respected for her many historic achievements but also had to deal with critics who accused her of unusual behavior. Joe Scarnati, Republican President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, now assumes the role of Lieutenant Governor. On a political note, the placement of a Republican as next in line for the governorship virtually eliminates Pennsylvania’s popular Democratic governor, Ed Rendell, as a contender for a Cabinet position under President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.
Empire Strikes Back
As loyal readers will have noticed, these pages have been silent for quite some time, including during the most historic presidential election of my short 20 year lifetime. Not covering the election on a political blog is, I admit, somewhat shameful, and I’ve been flogged accordingly. You can rest assured I talked about it non-stop virtually everywhere else. The reason for my silence has been the sheer amount of work I’ve had to do, which will peak sometime this weekend, I think, and then decline, so look for Empire to start clicking away more frequently in the not-so-distant future. Also, I plan to take the blog in a bit of a different direction, offering more analysis rather than mere news which you could get at a hundred other sources. On a more long-term note, I’ll be in Amman, Jordan this spring and plan to make a concentrated effort to write here regularly about politics, news, and life in the Middle East, as well as keeping abreast of the many goings-on back in the States. But that’s just a teaser of what is to come. Stay tuned!
NOTE: My next post, coming likely within the next week, will be a thorough (hopefully) analysis of the election. Make sure to check it out and give feedback, whether you agree completely, think it’s a load of manure, or anything in between.
Sorry for the prolonged silence. Not being an economist, I’ve chosen to not stick my foot in my mouth by attempting to comment on the many woes of the U.S. financial system. Rather, I’d like to draw your attention to two stories out of the Middle East today.
First, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won the centrist Kadima Party’s leadership. replacing lame duck Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It looks like Livni could soon succeed Mr. Olmert to become the country’s first female premier since Golda Meir 34 years ago. Livni now has six weeks to form a governing coalition or a national election must be called. Livni, a relative newcomer to politics, has had a major role in peace negotiations in the last year; Olmert has been more or less useless, with multiple corruption cases against him and approval ratings often in the low single digits. A Livni leadership would likely continue Ariel Sharon’s stance on negotiations, meaning a willingness to cede land if it will lead to a settlement. Livni might also leave open the possibility of partitioning Jerusalem. Success in Israeli-Palestinian dialogue also hinges on Palestinian leadership; Mahmoud Abbas must call a presidential election by early 2009 or risk a leadership vaccuum. In any case, there probably will not be much progress in the peace process until next year, much to the chagrin of the Bush Administration, which had hoped to be able to show some achievements before leaving office.
Also, in case we’ve allowed terrorism to fall under the radar, 16 people were killed when a group of heavily armed members of Islamic Jihad began firing rocket-propelled grenades into the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, and drove two vehicles containing bombs into the front gates. None of the casualities were Americans, and the American press has largely buried the story under the troubles in the financial markets, but the attack must serve as a wake-up call. Though the group that perpetrated the attack was small and seems to have only loose links to al Qaeda, the U.S. government must continue to put pressure on governments in the Middle East and North Africa to squash these groups before they recruit more followers. Yemen has largely done a good job so far, and with American support, but getting distracted may cause backsliding. To add to this recent attack, worries have been building that militant Islamist groups have been growing in North Africa, particularly Algeria. These groups have begun to move through the ill-guarded borders of Mali and Mauritania as well, and have committed acts against Westerners while conducting widespread recruiting of fighters for Iraq. Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger should follow the lead set by Morocco and Tunisia in tightening security and stepping up intelligence operations to prevent these groups from gaining strength, with the support of the U.S. government. On the bright side, none of the groups mentioned above seems yet to be well-organized or well-connected to al Qaeda. However, preparedness is key to preventing, or at least minimizing, the success of militant Islamism.
My apologies for the extended silence. Empire was off for a few days catching up on a bit of work. However, I did manage to catch Sen. McCain’s acceptance speech on Thursday night. Since I thought the speech was favorable to McCain (he looked energetic and spoke some difficult truths), I was surprised to see such negative reactions in the press. Many commentators declared the marverick in McCain dead and claimed that his speech was fairly ordinary. Really? When was the last time we heard a politician focus the most emotional aspect of his speech around the fact that he was a selfish brat who learned a love of country the hard way? McCain made an effective case for why he wants to lead, centered around the statement, “My country saved me,” describing his efforts to endure torture in North Vietnam. He proclaimed that the Republican Party had lost the country’s trust. Rather than blame globalization for job loss, he announced that some jobs would not be coming back, but that the government should help people find jobs that won’t move away. These are not statements most other politicians would dare to make, and no other Republican likely could have given this speech. For the media to claim that McCain’s maverick image is dead because they’ve found they disagree with him on policy is unfair. McCain undoubtedly hopes the honesty and humility he tried to show on Thursday night will play well against Obama’s celebrity and policy proposals that McCain would say are unrealistic. Personally, I think McCain’s vision is more likely to come true than that of his detractors in the national press. Liberals likely found little to like among McCain’s policies, but conservatives and independents may be able to sink their teeth into McCain’s new style of Republican politics. However, the burden is still on the Arizona senator to prove that after so many years in Washington he’s capable of bringing this promised change to honest, lean government that demonizes pork. Still, after a lackluster summer, McCain’s campaign house is largely back in order, he’s regained some of his old charm with the selection of Sarah Palin, and the race seems for the most part even. May the better team win.
Those of you that have been following the news for the past few days are likely aware of the top two stories at the moment: the landfall of Hurricane Gustav and the announcement by Sarah Palin that her 17-year-old daughter is 5 months pregnant.
The first of these stories is largely good news. Gustav seems to have affected the Gulf region no worse than an average hurricane; certainly a hurricane’s landfall is never a good thing, but having seen in person Katrina’s affect on New Orleans and the Gulf, we could not help but breathe a huge sigh of relief that fears of a Katrina-like mega-storm did not materialize. Of course, we have to be guarded in our assessments so soon after the storm. Still, it certainly seems that the flood prevention infrastructure in the city held up this time around and that government response on all levels was a marked improvement from the Katrina tragedy. We can only hope that the learning that has taken place since 2005 grows and expands so that a similar debacle can be avoided in the future.
As to the stories about Ms. Palin’s pregnancy, we here at Empire believe that this event is purely a family issue which has no relevance to the campaign and that it should be left out of the public eye. We wish the Palin family the best and will say no more on the matter, although other Empire contributors are free to comment if they wish.
Stay tuned for coverage of the Republican National Convention, which seems to be in the midst of a return to normal routine.
As we’ve been reporting, Joe Biden is visiting his hometown of Scranton today. The current owner of Biden’s childhood home hosted a neighborhood discussion on important issues in the campaign. According to reports, Biden spoke of the need to bring American troops home from Iraq, provide health care to those who can’t afford it, and to invest in creative solutions to the country’s current energy woes. He also referred to John McCain as out of touch with the needs of the American people while calling Barack Obama “ahead of the curve.” Following a brief press conference with reporters, Biden visited the home of Ellen Casey, wife of the late Gov. Robert P. Casey, whose son serves as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. To cap off the day, Biden briefly stopped by Scranton’s La Festa Italiana, where he appeared with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Senator Bob Casey Jr. Empire was on hand as part of a small crowd witnessing the visit (due to the relatively unpublicized nature of the visit, it seemed most La Festa patrons were unaware of Biden’s presence). Biden’s trip to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport was delayed only to receive delivery of an order of pizza and wings from one of the vendors at the festival, which he happily began to consume as the motorcade pulled away.
In Other News
As the Democratic vice presidential nominee was busy visting his hometown, Republicans on Monday were in the midst of an unprecedented situation: how to deal with Hurricane Gustav’s landfall at the beginning of the GOP convention? The first day’s proceedings have largely been scrapped, with only essential business being conducted away from the public eye. This shortened convention will likely prove beneficial for the party, because it will become more focused around a smaller amount of speakers which should help to keep the public’s attention. Also, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have canceled their appearances; it will likely prove convenient for the Republicans not to have the unpopular leaders in the spotlight, especially in the midst of a disaster which conjures memories of Katrina and the botched government relief efforts of three years ago. It seems that Republicans have decided to focus their convention on “Americans helping Americans” rather than on the political spectacle normally associated with the gatherings, which could stand in sharp contrast to the rock concert-like environment that surrounded Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Rumors are swirling that McCain’s own acceptance speech may not be in Minnesota at all, but on the ground in the Gulf region, much as FDR did in 1944 when he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination from a U.S. Naval base rather than in person. This attitude may also restore a personal and lighter touch to a party whose brand is at its weakest point in many years.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is spending Labor Day in his hometown of Scranton, PA. Official details of his visit are sketchy, but word is that he will spend time at the house where he grew up, where he’ll speak to a small gathering of people about the issues of the current campaign. Sources in the area also believe he will cap off the day at Scranton’s La Festa Italiana, an enormous festival of local flavor that draws large crowds.
On a more somber note, today also marks the landfall of Hurricane Gustav west of New Orleans, just after the third anniversary of the devastating Katrina’s similar landfall. According to news accounts, the levees are holding, but the city has been taking a beating from the strong-Category 2 storm this morning and early afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers here at Empire are with the people of the Gulf region; we’re hoping for the best.
Another Governor Acting Naughty, not Nice
Posted in Commentary, National on 9 December 2008 by theempireofthemindIf Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) thought he couldn’t have a worse Christmas, what with a scandal-ridden administration already suffering approval numbers nearing the single digits, he was sorely mistaken. Just when you thought the Republicans had the edge in the corruption game (save for Hail Marys by Elliot Spitzer and William Jefferson), the perpetually shady governor was arrested today on charges that he had tried to “sell” President-elect Obama’s vacant Senate seat. This drastically changes the dynamic of the appointment; if Blagojevich stays in office, anyone he picks will be forced to become a seat-filler until 2010 regardless of how clean their records might be. If he resigns, Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn (D) would be thrust into a first official act as governor that he is likely not prepared to make and be forced to prove his own innocence in the corruption case. Dick Durbin (D), Illinois’s senior senator, has called on the state legislature to call a special election to fill the vacancy. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. and state official Tammy Duckworth were considered frontrunners for the spot, but now the whole affair is at a standstill for the foreseeable future. After all, it’s not known whether any or all of the potential replacements could have been complicit in the governor’s illegal dealings. I expect we’ll know by week’s end whether Blagojevich will resign (I suspect he will). Illinois has not been having much luck with governors recently; you may recall that Blagojevich’s predecessor, George Ryan (R), was indicted in 2003 on corruption charges, and has since seen jail time.
On an intersting sidenote, the name of the U.S. Attorney in charge of the Blago investigation: Patrick Fitzgerald, the same prosecutor responsible for the indictment of Dick Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby.
Sorry for the lack of updates. It’s Finals Week until Friday, at which point I plan to update every other day or so, and will hopefully have assistance from several contributors. Check back for a special piece called “Barack Obama’s Christmas List” (hint: he’s not asking Santa to give him Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a member of his Cabinet).
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