Barack Obama, Couch Potato?

The New York Times has an article out tonight that examines President-Elect Obama's whereabouts since he was elected. I noticed this:

After two years of daily speeches and rallies, he has retreated into an almost hermitlike seclusion, largely hidden from public view and spotted only when he drops his two daughters off for school or goes for a workout at the gymnasium in a friend’s apartment building.

Now, the press (and perhaps the world) seems to be waiting with bated breath for Obama's next move, next statement or next appointment. But, after the last several days it looks like Obama has decided to spend the next several weeks working from Chicago. He resigned his Senate seat today (effective Sunday) so apparently there will not be a valedictory appearance on the floor of the Senate as there was after he had secured the nomination.

The Times article notes that Obama may spend as little time as possible in Washington until Inauguration day. The Obama transition team has noted that appointments will be announced from Chicago and not Washington. So, for all you sooth sayers out there - keep an eye on the passengers arriving at O'Hare (anybody want to know where Hillary Clinton was today?).

Its beginning to look like this transition will be managed the same way the campaign was: no drama. Right now, it looks like Obama wants a 9 to 5, workmanlike existence. Perhaps even a bit of couch potato time (and I would expect a trip back to Hawaii around the holidays for his Grandmother's memorial service) before January 2009.

For a guy who excited all those crowds, sounds really boring. No doubt just the way Obama wants it.

Election 08: Winners & Losers

After 2 years, and too many hours in front of the computer reading the websites and blogs late at night, there are a few winners and losers to call out.

Now, I am sure there are other winners and losers, but these few stand out to someone who has been reading the political blogs from pretty much the time political blogging got its start around the 2000 election.

First, the winners:

1. President-Elect Barack Obama and his amazing New Media Team. Probably changed political campaigns forever. (with a hat tip to Howard Dean and his 2004 team)

2. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and the entire Daily Kos community. They got behind Obama early, losing a lot of Clinton supporting community members in the process, and become what was primarily the initial driving force on the net for Obama. Kos himself has a lot to crow about but one thing that might be overlooked is his book Crashing the Gate, which provided many markers along the road to victory for the Democratic party this election (sadly, his co-author finds himself in my loser list below).

3. Nate Silver. From an anonymous poster at Daily Kos to the mastermind of political simulations at FiveThirtyEight.com he both conducted a master class in political polling and interpretation and absolutely NAILED the final results of many of the primaries and the general election. With the exception of Indiana (but who is complaining) - check out his final projection map and compare it to the final election results - they are identical and, his popular vote projection is amazing. Come next election I suspect he will be fending off offers to bring his statistical models to network TV (the HDNet gig was cool, but, judging from his appearances on the big news networks, he will be somebody is sure to want him as 2012's Chuck Todd).

4. Andrew Sullivan. A journalist who seems to have become more of a blogger, Sullivan was the first conservative blogger to note that the emperor had no clothes (and, has paid a price for it among the red state bloggers) and get behind Obama in a big way (come to think of it, I can't think of another conservative blogger who supported Obama). His influence was on display after the Palin pick when the entire internet was abuzz with rumors (which were routinely shouted down at Daily Kos) about Govenor Palin's pregnancy and Bristol Palin. Sullivan was the first "big name" to mention it. The next morning Palin announced her 17 year old was pregnant, likely forced on it by a "big name" blogger addressing the issue.

5. The Huffington Post. Established itself as the left's answer to the Drudge Report rather than a community like Daily Kos or MyDD, which is its major accomplishment. Although it did have a hand in the bittergate story, I would like to see it invite more of the unknown netroots community onto its front page posts rather than Hollywood celbs and mainstream journalists.

6. Politico.com. Although I would not classify Politico as part of the netroots, it "made its bones" this election as a place for political reporting.

7. Talking Points Memo. Josh Marshall, already an established journalist, established himself and his TPM operation as a serious internet based publication.

Now, the Losers:

1. By definition, Red State and The Corner are losers, but I put them as the biggest losers for their total loss of reality as it became clear that Obama was going to win and Palin was a disaster pick for the country.

2. Drudge Report from hyping non-stories to making up crazy poll numbers looks like Matt Drudge is not ruling anyones world right now.

3. Although I hate to do it, I have to put Jerome Armstrong, founder of MyDD in my losers column. He backed the wrong horse in the primaries and seemed to be living in an alternate realty as Clinton's hopes vanished (on this note, let me add Taylor Marsh to that category). Even when Obama won, Armstrong seemed to be grudgingly and half heartedly behind the Democratic ticket when he made his ever infrequent appearances on the site he founded.

4. The Clinton and McCain web teams. They were just out everythinged by the Obama New Media team.


So. I am sure there are more...your thoughts?

Rahm as Chief of Staff ???

I am of mixed feelings regarding Emanuel, as is Ezra Klein

Emanuel is a brawler. He's legendarily tough and effective and ruthless. Hes the type of guy who makes enemies, then makes lists of his enemies, then makes lists of his enemies' friends, then makes lists of how they'll pay. If you thought the Obama administration would be all about bringing people together and would simply make sad faces when stubborn congressmen refused to come to the table, this is a clear sign otherwise. If good feelings don't suffice, bareknuckle politics will happily be employed...
Emanuel warns Democrats away from attempting universal health insurance or comprehensive reform, and suggests they content themselves with expanding S-CHIP (he also gives a plug to his brother, Ezekiel Emanuel's, health care plan, but says his "plan is well beyond Washington's current reach."). That's not change we can believe in.

If Obama uses Emanuel right, he will be the pit bull - the bad cop to Obama's good cop. But, the danger is if Obama is overly influenced by Emanuel's desire for practicality over possibility, the changes Obama was elected to enact may be more incremental than revolutionary.