In Service To His Country

I’ve often contemplated, and Courtney Vance asked aloud in The Tuskegee Airmen, a very simple and profound question:  Why do men and women, whose country has explicitly and implicitly stated that they are not equal continue to serve their nation with all of their strengths, intellect, passion and dedication?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.  That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,”

This basic premise, so simply mis-stated by Jefferson two hundred and thirty-four years ago (his language neglected women, specifically), is the difference between our nation, so conceived and so dedicated, and others which do not even purport to strive for it.  Yet, we also fall down constantly putting into practice those lofty ideals:  black people were enslaved for almost one hundred years,  and legislated against for another hundred plus; native American peoples were bargained with only to have those agreements broken at the whim of Anglo citizens and capricious presidential administrations, given false comfort with disease-ridden blankets, and herded into reservations;  Chinese immigrants were dangled over cliffs to place dynamite to build the railroads, but legislated against and forced to pay higher taxes than others; Japanese (and German) Americans were robbed of their livelihoods, forced from their homes, incarcerated and segregated out of paranoia and economic selfishness; homosexuals have been beaten, legislated against, told their emotional expression was unnatural, and seen their rights in the new millenium subjectively and exclusively thrown to the whim of the majority; women have been by turn legally disciplined with a branch no thicker than one’s thumb, excluded from the political process, discriminated against economically, and told to wait their turn, only to be physically abused when they stood up for their part of the American Dream.  These few examples give one pause, until you realize one thing: every one of these groups has fought physically, politically, economically, socially to serve this nation and participate in its lifeblood.

From segregated units to bomber assembly lines, from suffragettes to lunch counter sit-ins, from taking over Alcatraz to the “No-No Boys”, from Harvey Milk to the Lily Ledbetter Act, all of these people have demanded to be a part of the national conversation, to enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as every American citizen.  Regardless of the white hoods which stand like imposing mountains, or the dittoheads screaming into microphones, or “conservative family values” cloaking fear, hatred, disgust and insecurity, all of these minorities have struggled to attain their civil rights, and to put their lives on the line (even though we shouldn’t ask and they shouldn’t tell) to defend OUR country.

President Obama has stated time and again, “I truly believe that there’s nothing more noble than public service,” which he has shown by running for office.  And over the course of our two hundred and twenty years of existence as a nation, we have grown in fits and starts, as ordinary citizens find the strength to rage against the machine, to demand their seat at the table, to fight for the simple honor of being allowed to serve.

It seems that for people who actually believe in the ideals espoused by Jefferson in his letter, much as those who follow the Qur’an, there is the opportunity for equality, justice, peace and prosperity for more people.  And the battles they fight are not with enemies, but with those living and breathing under the same flag.  The notion of service is what will help us domestically and internationally, as we move from the self-inflicted, self-centered application of our values.

President Obama is leading by example, standing before the cameras and the crazies to explain how and why we should act in order to right out ship, to heal our planet, to fix our economy, to deal with international acquaintances and confront our enemies.  He has behind him a whole host of supporters and agents, some of whom have themselves been excluded from service because of the color of their skin, or the manner of their worship, or their chromosomes, or their sexual orientation.  But these are the true patriots, because they are fighting the revolution with each day that they serve, helping to perfect our union with every step they take.

Obama asked: Ever regret running for president?

Iowa high court strikes down same-sex marriage ban

A Radical Notion

In ancient China, women’s feet were bound as a symbol of wealth and status. They were effectively crippled so they wouldn’t be able to work, forced to be trophies for the men in their lives.

In Pakistan, girls are not educated by the government. They are educated (sometimes) by the generosity of strangers like Greg Mortenson, and elementary school students in the United States through Pennies for Peace.

In Afghanistan, where bombed-out schools teach in three shifts to accommodate the students, girls sit outside in swirling sand clutching notebooks and burkas to learn.

In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal for an unmarried woman to travel outside her home with a man to whom she is not blood related.

In Iran, under the cover of Islamic principles, women are cloistered, abused and stoned to death for allowing it happen.

In England, the reigning monarch is a woman, and they elected a woman to run the country, too, way back in the 1980s.

In Liberia, they’ve elected their first woman president, as have the Republic of Chile, and Argentina, in South America.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton came closer to “cracking that highest, hardest glass ceiling,” becoming the first serious woman candidate for President of the United States, with Sarah Palin also poised to gain historic political office.

March is Women’s History Month in the United States by congressional and presidential decree. But the necessity of paying attention to the rights and the accomplishments of women nationally and internationally is more important now than ever. At this moment in time, many many gains have been made to bring women into equal partnership, from the WNBA to EBay; from the United States’ Senate to the laboratories at JPL; from the elementary school head’s office to American Idol. But, today’s version of equality is the fruit of yesterday’s struggles.

The protest for women’s rights has been going on in the United States longer than the United States has been a country. Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband John, one of the men writing the Constitution who would go on to become the second president of the United States. “I long to hear that you have declared an independency,” she wrote, “and by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies…”

The recognition of women’s history and accomplishments in the United States does not make us unique, but it does place upon us a responsibility to talk and act in a way that remakes the world in a more just and balanced manner. “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” And because things are getting better doesn’t mean everything is fair and we should stop paying attention. Our country was founded on the idea that everyone is created equal, even if Thomas Jefferson messed up the words a little bit. We have to work, each and every person, to make sure that women and men get the opportunities to be whatever they want to be, from a point guard to the captain of the space shuttle.

March is Women’s History Month because we should all know what women have done to make our country and our planet the wonderful place that it is. But it is also women’s history month because we should all help today’s women make tomorrow’s history.

Following Thomas Jefferson

Hillary Clinton has been accused in recent years of riding coattails and following big men through the doors of power.  For her historic candidacy for the Democratic Nomination, she was eschewed and derided, told to “iron shirts” and mocked for choking up.  On these very pages, she was told to step aside once the nomination was secured, rather than hold her personal ambition up over the good of the Party and the Nation.  And while the path she trods now is not the one she’d have chosen had she been able to write the script, it seems that she, like President Obama, can look to the past perhaps to see her future.

Thomas Jefferson was a young man when he was tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence.  Thirteen years later, when George Washington was elected unanimously to lead our infant nation, Jefferson was tapped to serve as the first Ambassador of the United States to the world.  Much like Secretary Clinton is at this very moment traversing Asia, signing accords to draw down US military presence in Japan while “extending the hand” to North Korea, visiting the President’s childhood home in Indonesia and navigating the United States’ role in South Korea, Jefferson was sent abroad soon after his swearing in to make plain the intentions of the United States to those corners of the world concerned with our intent and prescient enough to understand that we had achieved “that separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle[d]” us.  Jefferson’s service then moved closer to home, as he served the second president, John Adams as Vice President, and being elected as the nation’s third president.

Watching Secretary Clinton step off the plane on her first sojourn as the nation’s ambassador gave me a sense of quiet relief.  The ridiculous nattering about whether she’d be able to subsume her ego to the task, whether she’d chafe working for President Obama, whether there were too many egos on the national security team all fell into white noise.  I do notice, by the way, that none of the skepticism or criticism had to do with her capabilities or dedication to service, which should be the criteria.

Secretary Clinton is, as did Jefferson, representing the United States abroad and assisting the President with foreign policy by applying her acumen to the tasks at hand: Japan, China, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Israel and Gaza.  In the next eight years, she will prove as she did in the Senate that she is capable, courageous, personable, intelligent, and successful.

Jefferson moved from State to the White House over the course of twelve years.  I don’t think it will take her that long.  Clinton 2016.  You heard it here first.

Clinton discusses her trip to Asia

Clinton warns against N. Korean missile launch

President Obama approves troop buildup in Afghanistan

Clinton in South Korea

Big World Keeps On Turnin’

Secretary of State Clinton is in Japan, touring Asia  on her first trip in the office rather than visiting the Middle East or Europe.  With a special envoy already appointed and journeyed to the Middle East, talking to China and Japan and Korea exemplifies the Obama Administration’s ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.  There was much speculation about whether President Obama’s team of rivals would work out.  While none of us can tell the future, it is apparent that they are all working from the same playbook, and they are in full court press from the first quarter.

If Kobe and Shaq can quell their differences enough to lead the West to a devastating defeat of the East (no metaphor intended, but you can read one in if you want to) and win Co-MVP’s of the 2009 All-Star Game, then I think Secretary Clinton and the rest can learn to work with and for President Obama to help us help the world.

 

Clinton visits Asia to send key message

Kobe, Shaq turn back the clock

He kept US safe

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, President Bush and his administration decided to keep the United States safe.

A little late, but a good move nonetheless.

Of course, having failed to do so on September 10 was irrelevant.  The briefing titled, “Bin Laden determined to strike in US” was forgotten or ignored.  So the United States invaded Afghanistan, failed to capture or kill the ringleader of the attacks, partially destroyed a repressive, Islamo-fascist group called the Taliban, and then moved on to invade Iraq under the auspices of being the military backup for the United Nations, an organization so respected by our government that we were the largest debtor nation, owing dues of close to half a billion dollars.  But they’ve kept us safe . . .

What we did find in Afghanistan were informants who turned in other people they knew, some terrorists, most not, to our armed forces in exchange for money.  And those unfortunates were thrown in dark holes called detention centers, which President Bush on his magical history tour claimed “kept us safe.”

He and his people authorized torture in order to “keep us safe.”

They deviated from the moral high ground that our country has always espoused (not necessarily lived up to, but espoused nonetheless) to keep US safe.

But, according to the CIA, some of the people treated to Bush/Cheney hospitality and then released actually didn’t like the United States when they left, so they took up arms against our country.  Imaging that.  People were kidnapped, held, “interrogated”, released, and they had some aggression toward their captors.  That doesn’t sound too safe . . .

Turned in by someone I know to a foreign army for $5000.  Taken away from home, and held without charges or opportunity to confront my accusers for a couple of years.  Released and exported like cattle, dropped off in a country where people hate my captors, and given the opportunity for payback.

I’d be fighting, too.  And those people wouldn’t be safe at all.

Now the same people who supported the camps like Gitmo are claiming that President Obama is doing the wrong thing by shutting it down.  Actually behaving as if we have a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution that reflect the values we hold dear and espouse as a nation is considered unsafe?

The noises they’re making about, “if we’re attacked, it’s his fault,” totally fail to take into account two obvious facts:

1.     There are already people who were held and released back on the front lines attacking us; and

2.     The innocent people who have been held without trial and interrogated now have a pretty good reason to hate us.

From Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay, the lack of moral leadership and the authorization of torture by the Bush Administration recruited terrorists for the “far flung networks of hatred and violence,” that President Obama and his administration are left to deal with, and put some of our troops and intelligence operatives on pretty shaky ground.

But president bush kept us safe . . .

What’s next for Gitmo detainees?

Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US

U.S. uses dues to push reform

Obama orders Gitmo closed.  Now the hard part.

Security experts skeptical on Gitmo detainee report

What’s next for Guantanamo Bay detainees?

Bush: I would have done some things differently

Detainee went from Gitmo to al Qaeda

The President is Black

There are those who are focused on Barack Obama because he is the first black President.  Then there are those who are focused on him because he is a capable President (after the last one) who is black.  The difference is subtle and important at the same time.

Barack Obama as a candidate was held to a different standard.  Indeed, even as Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard because of her gender.  But now that he’s President, is there a different standard for him to be held to?  He’s not Jackie Robinson – it’s not as if he’s going to get kicked out of the White House if he does something wrong.  George Bush set the precedent for presidents on that note.

There will be a picking over of his decisions and some of the talking heads are already trying to make him out to be President of the Black United States, as if his words and deeds don’t “really” matter or affect or impact white Americans.  This focus on his impact only on black people is an intellectual exercise which serves only to perpetuate the very issues it seeks to examine.  Chris Matthews actually asked what President Obama’s inaugural was going to mean to black preachers and in black churches this Sunday, as if white people weren’t going to hear or learn anything, or yellow people weren’t going to go to church, too.  And the black commentators played right in, Michelle Bernard and a black preacher (I can’t find his name) saying that there were secret messages to the negroes in what the President was saying.

The fulfillment of the dream is not that Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States, “I dream of a nation where my four young children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  The fulfillment of the dream is that Barack Obama is the President of the United States and he’s black.  You better ask somebody.

Will Obama have to be better because he’s black?

He’s black.  She’s a woman.  He’s old.

This is your nation on white privilege

Obama Certified

The Real Patriot Act

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, and Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.  I reference these two patriots who not only questioned their government but advocated CHANGE because their example is timely.  Under the previous presidential administration, under a cloak of protecting US during the “war on terror,” speaking up was seen as an act of disloyalty.  To ask questions of the government was to be a coward, a communist, and told in no uncertain terms to pack up and leave the country.  The faux patriot act passed by the United States Congress at the insistence of the Bush Administration, which led to silence, spying on each other and citizens, repression of free speech, and questioning of loyalty reminisced of red scares and Joe McCarthy and Nazi Germany.

But the true act of patriotism, like the First Lady so eloquently put it, is to speak the truth about your country, even when it is critical, unpleasant or unpopular.  President Obama has already signed some ethics and transparency guidelines into law as executive orders.  He has already begun to open up the government to be accountable to the people whom it was created to serve.  Cornell West said earlier this year that if Obama won he would, “celebrate on November 4^th, and be questioning and critical of him on November 5^th.”

While I abhor Chris Wallace (this man actually questioned whether President Obama was president because the Chief Justice flubbed the Oath of Office), Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Anne Coulter, Greta Van Sustern, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk, there is a purpose to have a foil, to having an active and loyal opposition.

As an educated and informed electorate, working and supporting President Obama, Vice President Biden and our government as it pursues their policies and practices, it is not only our right but it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to question, to ascertain, to learn what our government is doing.

That is a true Patriot Act.

A Paradoxical Act of Poetic Justice

Crispus Attucks was told, as he stood at the front of a crowd of unruly citizens harassing British soldiers in Boston Massachusetts, “this ain’t none of your affair.” When the soldiers opened fire, he was the first to die. Barack Obama, as President-elect of the United States of America, while dealing with Israel’s current air strikes against Hamas, is also being told, in musical verse, that he’s “a magic negro.”

Over the course of two hundred nineteen years, many gains have been made in terms of granting full equality to all citizens of the United States. Black folk have attained the right to vote. Women have attained the right to vote. Segregation by race is no longer legal. Japanese American citizens can live wherever they want. People from China are allowed to immigrate to the United States. Slavery has been outlawed. That none of these issues should really have been contested is moot. But the marginalization of numerical minority groups is rooted in the American landscape as surely as the ideals we aspire to. And full equality has yet to be achieved in some areas still.

So while I celebrate President-elect Barack Hussein Obama’s rise to the highest office in the land, I am also cognizant that Jim Clark’s spirit is alive and well today. I am cognizant that I had to send my young black, Chicano, Chilean children to school on November 5^th armed against their second and third grade classmates’ “innocent ignorance” when they commented that “Obama won just because he’s black.” I am cognizant that Rush Limbaugh (who said Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama was “all about race”), Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and their ilk and followers who may or may not believe that black people are inferior use their rhetoric and their megaphones to continue the oppressive racism of Andrew Jackson and John Wilkes Booth, of George Wallace and Strom Thurmond. Kanye West’s statement that “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People,” in the wake of the President’s inaction when the levies broke, and my brother the teacher’s latest experience of being pulled over by the police after the officer watched three other (white) drivers make the same left turn, and the assassination plots and attempts constantly monitored against this President-elect remind me that much as things CHANGE, the more they stay the same.

Crispus Attucks was the first man to die in the struggle for American independence. The paradoxical nature of an enslaved/escaped black man dying for the freedom and creation of a country in which he was considered less than human by the legal framework that defined it should be lost on no one. The same way that the poetic justice of a man whose father was a black Kenyan and whose mother was a white Kansan, who is African American by nationality as well as visage and life experience being elected to lead that same country should be lost on no one.

In speaking with my sister-in-law and her parents on Christmas Eve, I asked, “do you realize what it means, to have him elected to be President of these United States?” Forty years ago, black people were being killed for wanting to register to vote. Forty years ago, one man was shot for encouraging black people to dream of equality. Forty years ago, Barack Obama was seven years old.

As we look forward to the changes President Obama will enact both inside and outside of our country, it is important that we take a look back as well to understand the moment that we are standing in, the moments others have worked for, and the legacy that we are heirs to and guardians of for the next generation.

Happy New Year!

Obama, Rice discuss Gaza strikes

RNC chairman condemns controversial Obama song

You’re Likeable Enough, Gay People

Neo-Nazis charged over Obama ‘assassination plot’

Forced to pass on a front seat to history

I Feel Safer Now

Like Phil Jackson with Shaq and Kobe, or Doc Rivers with Garnett, Pierce and Allen, President-elect Obama is stepping onto the world court leading a team to be reckoned with.  Clinton, Rice, Napolitano, Holder, Daschle, Gates, Geithner, Jones, Orszag, Biden and Emmanuel.  Many have questioned whether he will be able to marshal this “team of rivals.”  My answer is ‘Of Course.’  As a matter of fact, this is a team to be rivaled with.

On every front so far in his burgeoning administration, President-elect Obama has shown that he is not afraid: not afraid of intelligent subordinates or opposing opinions, not afraid to reach across the aisle, not afraid to take the necessary steps despite his critics, not afraid to be unpopular in order to do the right thing, not afraid to ask questions, not afraid to seek help when he needs it, not afraid to be the man in charge, not afraid to lead the country.  To mix my metaphor, he is also like Kobe in his rookie season, unafraid to take the game-winning (or losing) shot.

It is refreshing, even comforting, to transition into appreciation for the leaders of our country.  As President Bush pardons turkeys, President-elect Obama is passing out meals to the homeless; as Dana Perino speaks for the President about not blaming Pakistan for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, President-elect Obama is speaking to the Indian Prime Minister.  And while I don’t like to dance on graves, because it really does send the wrong message, right now the differences between what we’ve had and what we’re getting is so stark that the comparisons cannot be avoided.

And like the new Lakers, the purple and gold warriors in 2008-2009 who’ve flanked the reigning MVP Kobe Bryant with Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujavic, Jordan Farmar, and Vladimir Radmonavich and established a 14-win, 2-loss record so far, President Obama has surrounded himself with heavyweights:  the Senator from New York; the former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; the former Senate Majority Leader; the Governor of Arizona; the current Secretary of Defense; the former Assistant Secretary of State; the former Assistant Attorney General;  and the list is destined to continue (look for the Governor of New Mexico to be drafted next, followed by Rep. Xavier Becerra for United States Trade Representative). Update:  Since my original post, President-elect Obama has also tapped General Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs.

Like the hordes of us who rolled into the Staples Center all those years ago (and who are starting to roll in again, eh) or those fans entering the Fleet Center with a grin, relaxed shoulders, and anticipation of good things on the immediate horizon, I as a citizen am feeling good about where we as a country are headed.  Yes, I know things are grim:  one war (Afghanistan), one invasion (Iraq), two financial crises (Wall St. & Main St.), illegal detentions (Guantanamo), a defunct second political party (GOP), bitter partisanship (Rush Limbaugh), public ignorance (Sarah Palin), terrorist attacks around the world (Mumbai), home loan default, unemployment (auto industry?), homelessness, the public “mis”education system (“no child left behind”), lack of homeland security (the dismantling of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina), and a President in George Walker Bush who can’t seem to grasp the fact that his low popularity ratings are not a repudiation of the Republican Party or philosophy, but a repudiation of him personally and politically.  Even with all of these serious issues, I am HOPEful.  I feel good about where we are heading, because I believe in the skills, intelligence, passion, prognostication, discipline and perspective of this team, of President-elect Obama and his supporting players.  I feel safer, knowing they are not waiting idly in the wings, but actively, ears to the ground, eyes to the sky, looking, listening, learning, planning.

I just can’t wait for tip-off.

Clinton wants to be part of Obama’s ‘exciting adventure’

Obama chooses experience over politics

Obama rolls out national security team

No one ‘more qualified’ than Shinseki to head VA

Palin hits the campaign trail for Georgia senator

US warned India about possible Mumbai attack

GM plant’s closing like death knell in Dayton

Obama nominates Richardson for Cabinet

Following the Leader

The Leader.

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. is the President-elect of the United States of America.  Ever since his landslide victory over Senator McCain, everyone from Chris Matthews to Sean Hannity has been attempting to pick his cabinet, appoint his staff, choose his daughters’ dog, measure the drapes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and criticize him when he does something that they don’t like.  He’s said himself that people often “reflect their feelings on me” rather than listening to what he’s got to say.

He campaigned on a platform of Change; changing the way that politics have been engaged in the past; changing the partisan nature of government discourse and action; changing how we view ourselves as liberals and progressives, democrats and republicans, conservatives and independents.  And as he transitions (too slowly, for my taste) into his new job, he has begun to implement that change by reaching out to defeated opponents like Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Bill Richardson (even saying a good word for Joe Lieberman’s traitorous person) and others who have opposed him recently, recognizing that they are part of the best and the brightest already in Washington, creating his own Team of Rivals.

His choices, though, have been met with criticism, surprise, indignation, and shock from the left, and hypocritical mewling and whining from the right.  Much like the fictitious slanders regarding ACORN before the election, these tactics serve only one purpose:  to de-legitimize his administration before he’s sworn in.  The MoveOn progressive crowd is attempting to call into question his sincerity because he’s not picking Representative Barney Frank as his chief of staff.  The Pat Buchanan cabal is crowing because he did choose Rahm Emanuel, and he is mining the successful Clinton administration for experienced operatives who will be able to forward his agenda for the United States, working within to change the vision and direction our federal government has been lurching in during these past eight years.

I voted for Barack Obama because I felt that I can trust both his judgment and his integrity.  He has said that he is going to bring a new way of politics to the Presidency, and his forgiveness of Joe Lieberman and meeting with Richardson, Clinton and McCain so soon after the election give proof to his words.  I voted for Barack Obama because even though I disagree with both the $700 billion dollar bailout and the $25 billion dollar used car loan being considered, I trust he is advocating both because that’s how he feels we will best begin to climb out of the hole we are in economically.

He has already brought change to my political life.  I am working for change and trusting in my elected officials to be working in my best interest, even though they may be doing things I disagree with.  During the course of the campaign, opponents called supporters of President-elect Obama by any number of names, all of which implied that we are somehow naïve to trust, naïve to believe that change is possible and that someone may be doing what he said he was going to do.

That cynicism saddens me.  I am following the leader I chose because that is how I think we are going to best reconstruct what is our national image, both self-image and the one projected to the rest of the world.  I am following the leader because I feel that for my entire adult political life, almost twenty years, I haven’t had a leader I believed in – Reagan and Bush I didn’t feel had the best interests of the country at heart, based on the decisions they made in the White House and before; I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop (much like Senator Clinton, I suppose) when William Jefferson was in the White House; and the last eight years have been a nauseating ride on a self-indulgent rollercoaster, concerned only with making me sick enough to toss my cookies and my change in the air, all the while scaring me silly.

I am proud that I helped elect Barack Obama.  I am willing to follow the leader because I like where he says he wants to go, and I think he will actually get us there.  And twelve days into the transition to his administration, it’s a little boring, a little too many sour grapes by idiots like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, to be crying foul, with their ridiculous “Obama market crash” and “Obama recession.”  Those on the left, too, are getting a little hyper in their anxiety to criticize what they perceive as his move toward the center.

I know trusting our elected public officials is a change.  Let’s try it.  Let’s follow the leader . . .

Lincoln and the myth of ‘Team of Rivals’

McCain may face bumpy shift from White House run

Lieberman credits Obama after Dems let him keep post

Sources: Holder is Obama’s choice for Attorney General

Obama outlines job-creation plan

Big Three Automakers Beg Congress for $25B Lifeline

Bill Clinton could pose Cabinet problem