Barack Obama Elected President Again!

Megan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:30:00 EST

Enough states' electors have cast ballots for Obama by now that, today, he was officially elected President of the United States. [MSNBC]

He then celebrated by announcing his intention to make Nobel-winner Steven Chu the Secretary of Energy, Lisa Jackson the EPA Administration and Carol Browner to lead a White House council on climate change. [MSNBC]
He might also make Arne Duncan, the superintendent of the Chicago school system, his secretary of education. [NY Times]
He was going to release the results of an internal report that showed that no one had anything inappropriate to do with corrupt Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, but U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald asked him not to. [Huffington Post, Time]
Joe Biden tapped Time's Washington bureau chief, Jay Carney, for his communications director. [Politico]
Caroline Kennedy has decided she does really want to be the next Senator from New York, and even called Al Sharpton for his blessing or whatever it is you get from Al Sharpton. [Huffington Post, Politico]
Meanwhile, Lori Drew is still trying to get the charges against her dismissed. [Wired]
And a 4-year-old broke into a toy store to play with some toys. [Breitbart]

For Barack Obama, The Party's Never Really Getting Started

Megan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:30:00 EST

For those of you expecting a week-long party to start off the Obama Administration, prepare to be disappointed. There will be one public event welcoming you to D.C. on Sunday afternoon. Monday will be a day of community service, and the Inauguration will occur on Tuesday out in the cold, followed by formal balls you're unlikely to get into without connections. But if you want to rent an apartment anyway, I have really nice towels. [Politico]
Barack Obama plans to announce the appointment of Clinton-era EPA Administrator Carol Browner to be the White House Energy Coordinator (they hate the word "Czar" as much as we do) and Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to be a chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Sutley will be Obama's first openly gay Cabinet appointment. [Politico]
In the meantime, if you need some cheap electronics or office furniture, the McCain campaign has some they'll sell you cheap. [Washington Post]

As rumored yesterday, law enforcement sources have confirmed that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. is Senate Candidate 5 from the Blagojevich indictment. [CNN]
He says he's done nothing wrong. [Politico]
Congressman Don Young, who is being investigated on corruption charges, is resigning the leadership role on the House Natural Resources Committee "for the good of the party." See, Chairman Rangel? It's actually kind of easy. [The Hill]
That auto bailout is finally done, but it still might not pass the Senate. [Fox News]
The Pentagon flew several of the family members of people who died in the September 11th attacks down to Gitmo to watch the tribunals and make Obama feel too guilty to shut it down and try the detainees in civilian and military courts on American soil with, like, rights and stuff. The families "marveled" at the rights the detainees do actually get in the tribunals (unlike in their holding pens). [Reuters]