Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Stocking the Cabinet
Posted by Noah Bonaparte Pais on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Aside from the obvious historical significance, one of the most exciting aspects of a potential Obama presidency was always the question of who would populate his Cabinet.
With that possibility now reality, and on the heels of assembling the most effective political campaign anyone’s ever seen, the Obama appointment hot stove has fired up in earnest. Politico.com reports a number of juicy details about early considerations that should have Beltway junkies salivating: Robert Kennedy Jr. for EPA? Colin Powell for Defense? Fellow Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel is in as White House chief of staff. But will the famously principled President-elect pull any fast ones in his inner circle? Could Warren Buffett head up the Treasury? Is John Edwards still fit to be Attorney General? It's doubtful they'd accept, but how about Chuck Hagel for Homeland Security or Hillary Clinton for Health?
The idea of a bipartisan all-star team advising an intellectually curious commander in chief is a refreshing change of pace in D.C., to put it mildly. And it’s light years better than thinking about a potential Cabinet under John McCain, whose selections of Sarah the Biblethumper as V.P. and Joe the Plumber as veritable campaign director portended secretaries Bob the Builder (Interior?) and Dora the Explorer (State, natch).
I'm Rich; I'm a Happy Miser
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:05 PM
Do you ever get the feeling the folks on Wall Street are kind of like this guy? Just a little manic, greedy and unstable?
Wonder what the rest of the world thinks of Obama's victory?
Posted by Jessica Bride on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 10:17 PM
From the BBC: "The United States has seen the biggest transformation in its standing in the world since the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in November 1960." Read the rest here.
Will Smith gets political
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:35 PM
Photograph by Jonathan Bachman
-
Sports and politics rarely mix on a relevant level. Fans nowadays don't really look to athletes for political advice or opinions and there aren't iconic stars like a Muhammed Ali or John Carlos and Tommy Smith to lead the way in terms of political activism.
-
So when Will Smith appeared in the Saints locker room today wearing an Barack Obama shirt, you could say I was a little bit surprised.
-
California Voters to Gay Couples: No You Can't
Posted by Noah Bonaparte Pais on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 7:58 PM
Last night was a great night for everyone except gays and Republicans. Gay Republicans, you’re particularly SOL.
Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment on the ballot in California to reverse a May ruling that had allowed same-sex marriages, passed 52-48. The stifling of civil liberties was especially ill-fitting, considering the human rights gains being shared by all Americans at the top of the ticket. No word yet on the fate of West Banker Ellen DeGeneres and the state’s other 18,000 gay married couples.
In Florida and Arizona, paranoid citizens voted to preempt the issue. And in Arkansas, a measure passed that prevented unmarried couples (no footnote necessary) from adopting. For the United States, it seems, it’s another case of so close, and yet so far away.
...That was fast
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 7:43 PM
I woke up this morning to this frequent-buyer coffee card stuck in my front door. Somebody must've been up early...
Blurry Obama supporters rejoice at the Mother-in-Law Lounge
Posted by Alison Fensterstock on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 6:42 PM
This cell-phone picture hardly does justice to the scene at Antoinette K-Doe's Mother-in-Law Lounge at about ten p.m. last night, when CNN called it for President-Elect Barack Obama. Easily over a hundred people were jammed into the bar and spilling out into the yard, festooned with Christmas lights and red-white-and-blue balloons for the occasion. Drivers leaned on their horns and waved out car windows as they sped down North Claiborne Ave.
Note bartender Jeannie's homemade "Barack Obama Bahama Mama Rama" T-shirt in the second photo (I don't get it either, but it's still cool.)
In a generation or two, kids will probably ask you where you were when America decisively elected its first African American president. So... where were you?
Za Vas!
Posted by Michael Giordano on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Hopefully no one was injured when a truck carrying a load of Taaka vodka overturned and deposited gallons of liquor on an I-10 off-ramp. Just in case, I'm heading over with plenty of ice... and olives.
As Others See Us
Posted by Ian McNulty on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 7:47 AM
The New York Times headline reads "For Many Abroad, An Ideal Renewed," and the story goes on to describe the relief and feelings of hope expressed by some non-Americans that voters here elected Barack Obama as our president.
It's usually informative and often amazing to see how much attention and analysis foreign media apply to American politics, which of course is a testament to how much influence the decisions of American voters are perceived to have on the world. Not only did The Times in London lead with the headline "'Change Has Come' – Obama Wins U.S. Election," but its news package also came with some sidebars for perspective. One ranked all U.S. presidents "in order of greatness," from George Washington to the lame duck George W. Bush.
Bush was not ranked last but does bring up the rear in The Times' assessment along with the likes of Franklin Pierce, signatory on the Kansas-Nebraska Act slavery compromise, and Martin Van Buren, described as the enforcer of the Indian Removal Act, a particularly dark piece of American history.
It's common to hear people complain about the meek impact of an individual in the vast machinery of American national politics. But yesterday millions of individuals went to the polls, cast their votes and then went on with their lives. The world over, others who truly could not make a direct impact on American politics watched and waited to see what we would do. Now they have their answer.
-- Ian McNulty
Election night thanks
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 6:20 AM
Just a note of thanks to WWL-TV (particularly human WWL nerve center Dominic Massa) for being so welcoming to Gambit Weekly tonight and allowing us to crash their excellent coverage with nothing but our laptops. They have their own excellent Web site and Twitter feed and were completely gracious about letting us blog and Gambit-Twitter from the election-news set. They set no editorial conditions and were totally chill about the entire experience. Thanks, WWL! (Can we do it again some time?)
And I've gotta brag on Gambit's political editor Clancy DuBos, who -- at 6 pm, before the polls closed -- got the exit voting numbers from some trusted source(s) and decided to stick out his neck and call the election with some very specific information in a blog post titled "It's Over -- Obama in a Landslide" in a special report for our blog readers. (The networks may have had the same info, but they didn't dole it out for hours.) I love the fact that Clancy was blogging from the set even as he was analyzing data.
And thanks to all the readers, bloggers and commenters who are supporting our efforts to move the paper from both a weekly Sunday-afternoon read to an entity that not only supplies weekly analysis, but also breaking news with a sense of fun...because y'all are the ones who bring the fun.
