►►Read about President-elect Obama's press conference this morning, and view the video or read the transcripts, here.
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►Bobby Jindal the GOP's next great hope? Ugh. Gag a maggot. Really. From the Washington Post:
“No less an aspiring kingmaker than Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of McCain's failed presidential bid, sees Jindal as the Republican Party's destiny. "The question is not whether he'll be president, but when he'll be president, because he will be elected someday." The anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist believes, too, that Jindal is a certainty to occupy the White House, and conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh has described him as "the next Ronald Reagan.".”
“The record is still evolving, like the rest of him. But social conservatives like what they have heard about the public and private Jindal: his steadfast opposition to abortion without exceptions; his disapproval of embryonic stem cell research; his and his wife Supriya's decision in 1997 to enter into a Louisiana covenant marriage that prohibits no-fault divorce in the state; and his decision in June to sign into law the Louisiana Science Education Act, a bill heartily supported by creationists that permits public school teachers to educate students about both the theory of "scientific design" and criticisms of Darwinian evolutionary concepts.”
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►Clinton's close ties and warm relationships with India could cause problems of perception (her neutrality at issue) when brokering talks between Pakistan and India.
“WASHINGTON — The close ties with India that Secretary of State-nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton forged during her years as a U.S. senator and presidential candidate could complicate diplomatic perceptions of her ability to serve as a neutral broker between India and its nuclear neighbor, Pakistan.”
Huffpo
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►A demonstration is planned to protest the passage of Amendment 2 in Florida. IPD
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►Palin's hometown paper, the Anchorage Daily News, lambasts Palin for campaigning for right-wing chicken hawk, Saxby Chambliss, the Republican senator running for re-election in Georgia.
“Gov. Palin’s eldest joined the Army and has been deployed to Iraq. As a justifiably proud military mom, she might ask herself why she is using her conservative star power to support such a reprehensible Republican chicken hawk.”
Along the same lines, and yes, about Sarah Palin, the networks barely covered her speech for Chambliss in Georgia. What a shame. Let's hope that this is more than a one-time indication that her star is dimming. I would be so bloody happy to hear the last of her horrible accent, illiterate pronunciations, and incomplete sentences. You can damn sure betcha.
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►Enamored with her own celebrity, Sarah Palin has not been back 
to the Alaska state capitol since the election, and Alaskans are angry. Alaska Dispatch
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►President-elect Obama announces his "team of rivals", and with a statement deriding "group think", he turns a page in history.
“"The time has come for a new beginning, a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century," Obama said as his Cabinet picks stood behind him on a flag-draped stage.
"We will strengthen our capacity to defeat our enemies and support our friends. We will renew old alliances and forge new and enduring partnerships."
Obama said his appointees "share my pragmatism about the use of power, and my sense of purpose about America's role as a leader in the world." ”
:: Watch the video here.
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►Israelis cheer, Arabs boo in reaction to the soon-to-be Clinton State Dept..
“Cautiously, Israelis are now applauding Clinton's all-but-certain nomination as a sign that Obama can be trusted to act firmly against Iran's nuclear ambitions and to refrain from pressing Israel to accept a weak, violence-prone Palestinian state on its borders.
Arabs and especially Palestinians, on the other hand, say the news has damped their optimism that Obama will veer from the Bush administration's hawkish policies and from what they call America's long-standing pro-Israel tilt.”
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