The media today are widely reporting President-elect Barack Obama's comments about an internal investigation regarding Gov. Rod. Blagojevich and his Senate replacement. Obama said the probe cleared his aides, but noted the findings will not be released for another week. McClatchy notes Obama said the "internal review confirms that no one on his staff had any 'inappropriate' discussions with" Blagojevich. On Fox News' Special Report, reporter Major Garrett said, "I have asked" the Obama transition "to discuss with me what 'inappropriate' means. Is it a legal term, does it mean nothing unethical, nothing criminal? They won't get back to me on that."
The CBS Evening News reports the delay left "unanswered several questions in the process -- including the extent of contacts between" chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel, "other Obama aides and the Governor's office." NBC Nightly News added "most of the questions centered around...Emanuel." The Chicago Sun-Times notes Emanuel "left the news conference ignoring reporters' questions," a point also noted by WMAQ-TV Chicago. The New York Times reports Emanuel has "told associates that he believed he was captured on a court-approved wiretap discussing the Senate seat, but he also told them that he had not engaged in any deal-making with Mr. Blagojevich."
On MSNBC's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek said, "If you caught the press conference," Emanuel "had a little bit of a smile on his face, Rahm." Host David Shuster replied, "Yes. He looked like he swallowed a canary."
CNN's The Situation Room reported "a person involved close to internal deliberations" said the Obama team "insist that this is a media obsession." The Hill, the Financial Times, the AP, the Washington Times, and Roll Call also run reports on Obama's press conference.
The Wall Street Journal notes the delay in the release of the internal probe could hurt Obama, as it "virtually" guarantees "another week of speculation about who in the Obama team discussed what with Blagojevich aides." On MSNBC's Hardball, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "Frankly, what it does, from the Obama point of view, it lets all these open questions fester for another week." The Politico also reports the story. The Los Angeles Times, however, reports "political strategists said the delay would be helpful to Obama, moving the release of new information into a week when people will be more focused on Christmas." On CNN's The Situation Room, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post similarly said Fitzgerald has given the Obama team "an absolutely brilliant strategy. There's going to be a Christmas Eve dump now and nobody is going to pay any attention to this." On ABC World News, George Stephanopoulos said Fitzgerald's "request actually helps get...Obama off the hook...a little bit."
Poll Hints At Danger For Obama Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports a "new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that the fallout from the scandal in his home state could hurt Obama. Only 51 percent of Americans told pollsters that they believed Obama had said enough on the Blagojevich matter," while "thirty-four percent said he had not done enough and 14 percent were unsure."
Jackson Working With Feds Since Summer? WLS-TV Chicago reported last night that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. "may have been working behind the scenes to help authorities investigate" the Governor. "Sources" say Jackson has been working with Federal authorities since last summer regarding state corruption in an airport project." The Hill reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "said she does not believe that...Emanuel and Jesse Jackson Jr. have done anything wrong."
The Illinois House yesterday voted 113-0 to begin impeachment proceedings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Chicago Sun-Times notes Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, in a press conference in Springfield, "announced a 21-member committee of state House members -- 12 Democrats and 9 Republicans -- who will prepare a report detailing reasons the Legislature should remove Blagojevich from office." The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Roll Call, USA Today and New York Times also report on the move by the Illinois House.
But not all was bipartisanship in Springfield. The Chicago Tribune reports state House Democrats "decided against immediately considering a plan to strip the governor of his power to appoint a successor to the US Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. They adjourned until Jan. 12, without advancing a plan to hold a special election to fill the Senate seat." The Wall Street Journal also says Democrats "were quick to criticize the governor but are reluctant to risk a special election unless they have to, said longtime Chicago political consultant Don Rose."
WBBM-TV Chicago said Republicans had been "positively salivating at the prospect of a special election" and were "outraged" by the Dems' actions. WFLD-TV Chicago reported "the chances of the public voting to decide who fills...Obama's old senate seat are dimming." WMAQ-TV Chicago reported "Republicans call" the move "a cynical power play."
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Time.com's "The Page" reported yesterday that "outgoing" Time magazine Washington bureau chief Jay Carney will be "assistant to the vice president and his director of communications." The Politico adds Carney "is one of Washington's best-known talking heads." Biden "has assembled a team of heavyweights: Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to former Vice President Al Gore, as chief of staff; Mike Donilon, one of Washington's best-connected Democratic consultants, as counselor; and Tony Blinken, a longtime Biden adviser, who is expected to fill a senior role on the National Security Council or on Biden's staff."
The Washington Post reports Carney "is married to ABC correspondent Claire Shipman," and "is the second high-profile journalist to join the Obama team. Former ABC correspondent Linda Douglass became his traveling press secretary during the campaign and is now in charge of communications for the inauguration."
President-elect Barack Obama on Monday formally introduced his nominees for key energy and environmental posts. While his nominees for national security posts have drawn complaints from some in the Democratic Party, media commentators see the latest picks as more amenable to his liberal supporters. ABC World News says President-elect Obama "formally introduced his so-called energy and environment green team, including Steven Chu as his Energy Secretary and Lisa Jackson to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Former EPA director Carol Browner will be the Administration's new energy and climate czar, and Nancy Sutley will head the White House Council on Environmental Quality."
The AP reports Obama "vowed to 'move beyond our oil addiction and create a new hybrid economy.'" The Los Angeles Times says that "with this team, some environmentalists and former federal research scientists expect Obama's White House to break from what they view as the Bush administration's record of overlooking science in favor of politics."
The Politico reports that in his remarks yesterday, "Obama linked the goals of energy independence and economic growth through his campaign saying the country can move to 'clean' energy sources like wind and solar while creating green jobs in these industries to contribute to his goal of jumpstarting the economy through job growth." The Wall Street Journal reports "Obama's picks add to the growing number of Californians who will influence US energy policy."
On CNN's The Situation Room, the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes said the energy and environment appointees are "more likely to please the left side of the Democratic Party than his national security team. I mean he's got people who are veterans of the Clinton Administration, people who are well-respected in their fields and people who are, I think, sort of bullish on the things that matter to liberal environmentalists. So I think the left is going to be happy today." The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Times, The Hill and AFP, among other news outlets, also report on Obama's announcement.
President-elect Obama is expected to unveil Chicago school administrator Arne Duncan as Education secretary. The AP reports Obama "planned to announce his choice Tuesday morning." Duncan "has run the country's third-biggest school district for the past seven years. He has focused on improving struggling schools, closing those that fail."
The New York Times calls Duncan "a compromise choice in the debate that has divided Democrats in recent months over the proper course for public-school policy after the Bush years." The Wall Street Journal also reports Duncan "has straddled two competing factions of the education community: the teachers unions, who push for more funding and smaller classes, and a movement that favors accountability and free-market-style incentives and looks to hold schools and teachers more accountable for student performance." The Washington Times runs a similar story.
The Hill reports Sen. Ken Salazar "is being vetted by Barack Obama's transition team and will likely leave the Senate to become secretary of the interior, according to sources." The AP reports "Salazar has a reputation among Democrats as a maverick, once joining 13 moderate senators to block his party from a filibuster of appellate nominees by President Bush."
The Politico reports, "In Salazar, Obama sticks with the tradition of filling the interior post with a Westerner while adding a member of his team from a key electoral battleground, one that figured prominently in Obama's victory strategy." Roll Call and Los Angeles Times, among other print media outlets, also report on Salazar's selection.
The Washington Post reports that according to a new WPost-ABC News poll, " 76 percent of the 1,003 respondents contacted Thursday through Sunday said they approve of the way" President-elect Barack Obama "is handling the presidential transition. That is up from 67 percent in late November."
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Reports that Caroline Kennedy would like to be appointed to the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Hillary Clinton generated extensive media coverage last night and this morning. The news led two out of three network newscasts, which devoted a combined 9 minutes and 45 seconds to the story. ABC World News called Kennedy "the heir to America's political royalty," and noted she "made it known...that she wants New York Governor David Paterson to name her to the seat which will come open when Hillary Clinton becomes Secretary of State." Also on ABC World News, George Stephanopoulos said, "Top New York Democrats I spoke to...say it will be difficult if not impossible for the Governor to say no, but the Kennedy team isn't taking anything for granted, and the Governor is emphasizing that he hasn't made the choice." On its front page, the New York Times adds Kennedy "ended weeks of silence with a series of rapid-fire phone calls to the state's leading political figures, including...Paterson, in which she emphatically and enthusiastically declared herself interested in the seat, according to several people who received the calls." NBC Nightly News said the story "is the talk of New York, Washington and elsewhere."
On the CBS Evening News, Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield said, "She has been in our lives for nearly half a century. The little girl in the Oval Office, the survivor at a series of national mournings who lost a father, then an uncle, and a generation later, her only brother. Several of her cousins plunged into the political arena," but "she chose a different role: Raising millions for New York City schools, writing and editing books, presiding over events that honored her family. Until this year when she entered the Democratic primary wars as an early and ardent backer of Barack Obama." The Washington Post reports "the Clintonites have made it clear that they remain unhappy that Kennedy endorsed Obama during the Democratic primaries and have voiced concern that Clinton's Senate seat would be handed off to a New Yorker who did not support her presidential bid."
The AP says that "other Democrats who appear to be on Paterson's short list include New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who won't say publicly whether he's interested. One of the early front-runners, Rep. Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn, took herself out of the running Friday." The Wall Street Journal notes "a Marist poll released last week on who should fill the open seat showed Ms. Kennedy and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo tied at 25% support among registered voters in the state; just as many voters are unsure who should fill the seat. Other possible contenders registered in the single digits."
The AP reports that "in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...538 electors" yesterday "performed a constitutional process to legally elect Democrat Barack Obama the 44th president." The AP adds "Monday's voting was largely ceremonial, the results preordained by Obama's Nov. 4 victory over Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama was to win 365 electoral votes, to 173 for McCain." NBC Nightly News noted "Congress still has to officially tally the results on January 6th. So one more step." The New York Times says the "quadrennial ritual" has been "criticized by some as an outdated part of the American political system."
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Jay Leno: "Well, folks. Looks like we finally found something President Bush is good at: Dodgeball!"
Jay Leno: "President Bush was speaking at a news conference in Iraq when a journalist threw two shoes at him. ... You see what President Bush did? You see what he did to keep from being hit? Something he's never done before. Lean to the left."
Jay Leno: "Well, the interesting thing was the journalist who threw the shoe was immediately arrested, and then offered his own show on MSNBC."
Jay Leno: "A teacher in England has been fired after she told a class of 7-year-olds there was no Santa Claus, which, ironically, is the same thing Congress told the automakers."
Jay Leno: "Well, the Bush Administration said they are ready to step in now and help the auto industry. And believe you me, whenever the Bush Administration gets involved in something, it is solved immediately. So, I think we'll be fine on that front."
David Letterman: "Over the weekend, a church that Sarah Palin attended was burned. ... Very serious, disturbing," but "they are looking for a" suspect. They "think it's Joe the arsonist. That's who they are looking for."
Conan O'Brien: "The man -- this is true -- the man who threw his shoes at President Bush is being hailed as a hero in Iraq. Yeah. In fact, when he dies, he'll be greeted in heaven by 72 podiatrists."
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