UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN
"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I am confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat." Obama on 12/10/08 On 12/12/08 Obama clarified this: "I've asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor's office about this vacant seat so that we can share them with you over the next few days," and then added: "But what I'm absolutely certain of is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That, I'm absolutely certain of. That would be a violation of everything that this campaign has been about. And that's not how we do business." Yet his senior advisor David Axelrod said that "Obama talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them”. Fox News 11/23/08 On Tuesday, 12/9/08 Axelrod explained that “I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the president-elect has spoken directly to Governor Rod Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy”. (Editor's note: Now why wouldn't Obama want the Governor to have his recommendations as to a replacement Senator? Must he run like a young maiden from this Rod who has become so suddenly tainted? We sure hope Barack didn't leave his panties lying around anywhere.)

OH YEH - THERE'S TROUBLE IN DETROIT CITY! IT'S NATIONALIZATION AND THAT LEADS TO SOCIALISM!
“We don't want government to run companies” Obama told Meet the Press on Sunday: “Generally, government historically hasn't done that very well”. Obama went on to describe the long term bailout of the automakers would be conditioned on Federal oversight, the government would mandate or at least heavily influence what kind of cars companies make, what mileage and environmental standards they must meet and what large investments they are permitted to make – to create an industry “that actually works. That actually functions”. The Congressional bailout includes nomination of a “car czar” to oversee expenditures and this will likely make Washington a major shareholder in the Big Three. Yet no one in the Obama camp wants to be caught uttering the N-Word “nationalization” even though that seems to be where we're drifting. NY Times 12/09/08

DETROIT'S A LONG LONG WAY FROM WALL STREET
Obama's insistence that Detroit restructure and “make the kind of changes that they should have made 20 or 30 years ago” is a far cry from the way Hank Paulson has doled out cash without strings to Wall Street bankers. Obama has endorsed the Treasury Secretary's plan while the Federal Reserve continues to provide cash for trash to banks and insurance companies at a volume now approaching $2 trillion. If the auto industry has a “bad engineering” problem for which it is being held responsible, why aren't the banks, insurance giant AIG, and their enablers being held to a similar standard? Well, according to Michael Hudson, a former Wall street economist and now a professor at the University of Missouri, the auto makers didn't have a friend like Hank Paulson in the Cabinet. Too bad GM: you really should have done a little planning.

“The automakers dangle the electric car, but the best they can come up with is the Chevrolet Volt which will cost $40 to $50,000 dollars and find few buyers: it's just more window dressing by GM. We’re still saddled with the infernal, eternal, internal combustion. So, what I think should be done is for the government to say, OK, you want our help then the government will be a shareholder and insist you remove the executives that have not been performing and put in people who know how to produce fuel-efficient cars that meet our needs.”Ralph Nader 12/7/08

Moody's estimates the Detroit bailout will cost $75 to $125 billion, not the measly $14 billion that Pelosi and Company have proposed. "What I've seen thus far is a travesty," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "This is an installment on a huge bailout that will come later. This will not make Chrysler, General Motors or Ford competitive. This is only delaying their funeral." Despite the urging of Dick Cheney and others, the Republicans seemed dead set against this mini-bailout. And then, on Friday 12/12/08 the sky parted briefly above 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the awakened President told Hank to find $14 billion amongst the spare change left in the $350 of bailout funds already approved by Congress. The car industry wasn't going to collapse on Bush's watch!

WHEN A WITHDRAWAL IS NOT A PULLOUT AND COMBAT TROOPS ARE NOT RESIDUAL FORCES: Thom Shanker headlines his 12/04/08 NY Times analysis: “Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Muted By Reality” even though no significant change in the reality of our occupation has occurred since we went to the polls. “Rather what has taken place – in a manner breathtaking both for its speed and blatancy - is Obama's repudiation of his campaign pledge to end the Iraq war”. WSW.org 12/06/08. While his early pledges had included, for the careful listener, hedges as to 'residual forces' and 'any advice received from the generals', he continually criticized Bush over the war and indicted Hillary Clinton for voting for the invasion way back in Oct. 2002. He now says tens of thousands “will be left behind in Iraq” even though he had promised a pullout of all combat troops within 16 months. Pentagon planners are currently preparing programs for Obama's review which involve leaving up to 70,000 troops there well beyond the May 2010 deadline he pledged during his campaign. They may very well stay in place until the full withdrawal deadline of Dec. 2010 now written into the Status of Forces Agreement.

FOLLOWING A TORTUROUS PATH AT THE CIA
If Obama follows through on campaign rhetoric and makes a clean break with the Bush Administration concerning interrogation practices, will he alienate many in the CIA? He has pledged to “maintain the high ground and keep people on our side, and to banish secret interrogation rules and require American interrogators to follow the Army Field Manual” NY Times 12/03/08 While the Army Field Manual disallows secret interrogation techniques now being practiced, there are many like Diane Feinstein, incoming Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who waffle saying “I think you have to use the non-coercive standard to the greatest extent possible, and the best choice appears to be the Army Field Manual. I recognize there are other views and I am willing to work with the new administration to consider them”. Senator Ron Wyden says he would approve techniques that went beyond the Army Field Manual so long as they are legal, humane and non-coercive”. NYTimes 12/03/08 Obama has withdrawn the name of John Brennan, a CIA veteran as head of intelligence after critics pointed out his role in implementing the CIA's detention and interrogation program under Bush.

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