Keith Olbermann talks to Margaret Carlson about the snub of President-elect Obama by the Bush administration with their request to stay at Blair House when their children started school. According to Carlson, they asked former Australian Prime Minister John Howard to stay there after the fact to justify it being occupied, and they cost the taxpayers a great deal of money by making the Obamas stay at another location due to the additional security needed. The hotel the Obamas are staying at did not already have the security that was in place at Blair House.
This is a small matter in the bigger scope of things, but just one more example of how Bush has managed to stay classy and never disappoint us with reinforcing what his real legacy will be right up until the end of his term. A petty man who never misses an opportunity to take a cheap shot when he has the chance and for good measure waste some taxpayer money in the process.
The Washington Post is reporting that Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Sanjay Gupta. He’s expected to accept the job, the Post says, citing two unnamed sources. Gupta declined the Post’s request for comment.
Besides his CNN gig, Gupta also appears on CBS and writes for Time Magazine. He was a White House Fellow and a special adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady. Oh, and he’s a neurosurgeon at Emory and associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital.
There’s a certain logic to picking a TV talking head to be surgeon general, because the surgeon general is largely a talking head. The top doc does oversee the 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, but the real work of the job is traveling around the country, using the title as a bully pulpit to advance a public health agenda.
Of course, it would be nice if he used that bully pulpit to advocate for Universal Health Care, which would be the single best news for public health in this country, but it doesn't appear that Dr. Gupta thinks there's a problem. Paul Krugman agrees:
I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.
What bothered me about the incident was that it was what Digby would call Village behavior: Moore is an outsider, he’s uncouth, so he gets smeared as unreliable even though he actually got it right. It’s sort of a minor-league version of the way people who pointed out in real time that Bush was misleading us into war are to this day considered less “serious” than people who waited until it was fashionable to reach that conclusion.
John Hinderaker just can't wait to get his Obama Derangement Syndromeon with this post.
So I confess to some satisfaction in seeing Obama's likeness paraded at a hate rally in Jakarta, along with those of Mubarak and Olmert. The protesters were blaming Obama for Israel's attack on Hamas, when he hasn't even been inaugurated yet!
Hinderaker once called President Bush a genius, which gives us some insight about his acuity and stability "mentally."
It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.
The Middle East is a horrible situation, as we are witnessing; for this wingnut to take pleasure in ugly scenes like this just shows the Conservative mind at its best.
It's true indeed that Obama hasn't been sworn in yet, but the world's sickness over Bush was caused by his policies. After 9/11, the world was with us like never before and it did take a true destructive genius to wreck that. By attacking a country that didn't do anything to us, Bush has created an international hatred of America like never before.
The wonder of Bush's tenure is that we actually have a country still standing after eight years of misrule. Now it's up to Obama to pick up the pieces of an economy that is in utter shambles, and a global reputation as torturers and thugs -- which inspires scenes like the ones Hinderaker seems to enjoy.
January 01, 2008 C-SPAN Washington Journal
Ana Marie Cox responded to telephone calls and e-mail about her most recent article, "Washington's Five Biggest Losers," and other news of the day.
Throughout last night’s New Year’s eve broadcast, Fox News Channel allowed viewers to send in New Year’s greetings and wishes via text message. The messages were then scrolled across the bottom of the screen, replacing Fox’s normal crawling news headlines. While most messages were cordial, Fox allowed at least one racist message directed toward President-elect Obama to be broadcast. The message referenced Rush Limbaugh’s “Barack the Magic Negro” song.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET’S HOPE THE MAGIC NEGRO DOES A GOOD JOB. LOVE JEN AND JOHN C.
So true to form Fox has managed to stay classy even on New Years Eve. Bravo Fox News.
BILLO: Impact Segment tonight, a viewer warning, there is a satire called "Barack the Magic Negro" that will offend some people, no doubt about it. But in order for us to report on this, we have to play some of the satire, so be forewarned.
The parody is by Paul Shanklin, who writes comedy material for Rush Limbaugh among others. The problem is that Chip Saltsman, a former Tennessee Republican chairman, has sent Shanklin's satire to some RNC members, and that is causing some concern. Roll the tape ...
Dave N: Yes, it deeply pains BillO to run this tape. After playing it, Larry Elder tries to pretend that liberals say similar things all the time and get away with it (right).
None of the guests seem to remember that as soon as Barack Obama was elected, the airwaves were filled with right-wingers -- from Bill Bennett to Sarah Palin to Michelle Bachmann -- talking about how Obama's election made them feel good about America and themselves because it was such a racial landmark and how it proved racism was now dead in America. Talk about a magic Negro!
For nearly two years, Steve Kroft and 60 Minutes followed Barack Obama on the long and winding road to the White House complete with interviews, never-before-seen footage, and candid moments with Obama, his family, and his closest advisors.
Steve J. at Radamisto notices that even though Barack Obama hasn't even been sworn in yet, Sean Hannity is organizing the wingnuts already into a would-be force to attempt to stop him from enacting "radical" policies:
Since the election, Hannity has described his radio show as the outpost of "the conservative underground," as if a show that's legally on over 500 stations could be underground in any real sense of that word. There is little doubt that there are many conservatives who think America will become a radical country under the Democrats and last night I heard on Mike Gallagher's show of a group that is trying to organize these people - Grassfire. They ask people to "join the resistance" and sign a petition that opposes what they mistakenly think will happen if unopposed.
They hope to have 1,000,000 signatures on the petition by Inauguration Day and right now, they are quite a bit short of that goal ...
Conservatives are expected to oppose Obama, naturally. But only wingnuts will believe every bit of garbage thrown at him and spin it into a massive belief system about the looming oppression of a socialist state, yadda yadda yadda. It probably would happen to any elected Democrat, but it will be even worse for Obama.
In the final weekly address of 2008, President-elect Barack Obama calls for the season of giving to also be a season of common purpose and shared citizenship.
This is what CNN thinks passes for "news". Let's see...repeat John McCain campaign attack ad that didn't work...check. Pretend you're concerned with Obama's security and that's the reason you're covering this story...check. Ignore important things going on that you should be covering....check. Scrutinize Obama in a way that you never even gave a thought to doing with George Bush before he took office...check. These guys are trying to compete with Fox News for who can make me want to throw a shoe at my TV more frequently.
HILL: Who cares if he smokes? The President-elect, clearly not in Chicago where it's 31 and snowing -- he is in Hawaii at the beach doing the vacationing Presidents do but with a lot less flab. The picture -- and it is everywhere, trust me -- is a reminder that it's really been a while since we've had a camera-ready President-elect and first family.
But the question tonight, just what does glamour and charisma buy you as a President? And how could it hurt?
The "Raw Politics" from Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a good hard look, a bare-chested photo that made its way around the world hours after it was taken. At first, a big question, did the photographer breach security to get the shot? Turns out, the answer is no.
But there was lots more to talk about. Here's the front page of today's New York Post. "Fit for Office" is the headline and there are plenty more lines about Ab-bama and Beach Barack. Is this just more of the so-called rock star treatment some say Obama had during the election? The celebrity McCain used against him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And during the campaign, Obama certainly used magazines like "US Weekly" and "People" which regularly features celebrities on the cover to help him win the election.
He appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine 14 times this year. Now the election is over and the questions remain. Is Obama getting great coverage because of his celebrity status?
It's not like he hasn't courted the coverage and generally the star treatment benefits a politician who can handle it.
ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's such a great gift. Reagan had it, John F. Kennedy had it. And it's become very valuable to a country when it's uncertain about its future.
How does he use it? Look at the way he's using it now; you inspire, you don't stop campaigning just because the campaign is over.
JOHNS: But on the other hand, right here in the New York Post next to the beach photos is a report that 45 percent of Americans believe either Obama or one of his top campaign aides is tied up in the Illinois governor scandal. That's no political honeymoon.
Being a celebrity President really cuts both ways. When you compare the kind of media Obama's gotten to say, Bill Clinton, his saxophone made for some sexy shots, but you'll probably find that the guy appeared on the front page of the tabloids a lot more than Obama, particularly when Monica Lewinsky surfaced.
So given all that, why did this photo generate so much fascination? Pretty simple, unlike some other Presidents or Presidents-elect, this guy is young, fit, trim, and he looks pretty good in a bathing suit.
Go figure.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Yes, but is it ever really that simple?
More on celebrity and the Presidency when we come back with Ed Henry who as the country is finding out, looks fine in shorts himself, doesn't he? David Gergen and Roland Martin also with us.
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