Wednesday, November 19, 2008

News from Kentucky and more...

Jake reports that change is on the horizon for the Kentucky Democratic Party.

It's about bloody time that they start taking advantage of new media and the blogosphere.

Bill Clinton is making concessions for Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the next Secretary of State.
Some husbands send flowers. Some buy chocolate. In the Hillary-Bill relationship, he gives up sources of foreign income and names of donors to show his support.

As the Obama transition team vets Hillary Clinton for a possible appointment as Secretary of State, a reported sticking point in the process has been Bill and his charitable foundation. The Clinton Global Initiative, a subset of the William J. Clinton Foundation, has extensive overseas dealings, possible conflicts-of-interest should his wife become secretary of state.

AP is reporting today that Hillary believes "the job is hers if she wants it." And there are multiple reports that the former president is making concessions in the Obama team's vetting requests, including an AP report that Clinton "has agreed to release the names of several major donors to his charitable foundation and will submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to a strict ethics review, said Democrats knowledgeable about the discussions."[...]

If Hillary Clinton is offered the Cabinet post, she'll be one of many reported Clinton administration retreads working in or with the Obama administration. Eric Holder, a deputy at the Department of Justice during the Clinton administration, was reportedly offered the job of attorney general. Before Rahm Emanuel was a congressman, he was a senior advisor in the Clinton White House. He's now Obama's chief of staff. John Podesta, heading up the Obama transition, is Clinton's former chief of staff.

Obama has said he may be looking to create a "team of rivals." But this stack-up of Clinton veterans in the Obama administration has already caused buzz that this may not be what some people were looking for when they voted for change. Buried in that Rasmussen poll was this nugget: "Despite the support for Clinton to be secretary of state, 70% of voters think Obama should reach out and appoint new people for his Cabinet rather than including more people who served in the Clinton administration."

One big-name non-Clinton now associated with the Obama administration surfaced in news reports today. Tom Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader, has accepted a cabinet post at Health and Human Services.

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