Obama Cabinet Demographics

A couple of appointments to go still, but the folks at MSNBC.com have put together quite the list.

• 7 Ivy Leaguers (Clinton, Duncan, Geithner, Holder, Donovan, Orszag, Jackson)
• 6 State Schoolers (Daschle, Vilsack, Chu, Napolitano, Salazar, Gates)
• 6 Raised in the Midwest (Clinton, Daschle, Vilsack, Gates, Duncan, LaHood) Note: This doesn’t include Chu, who was born in Missouri but grew up in New York)
• 4 Women (Clinton, Napolitano, Rice, Jackson)
• 4 Raised in New York (Holder, Donovan, Geithner, Chu – who grew up on Long Island; does not include Napolitano who was born in NYC or Clinton who currently lives there)
• 3 African Americans (Holder, Rice, Jackson)
• 3 Westerners (Salazar, Richardson, Napolitano -- who was born in NYC but raised in Albuquerque)
• 3 Basketball Players (Duncan, Rice, Holder -- does not include NSA appointee Gen. James Jones)
• 2 Hispanics (Salazar, Richardson)
• 2 Asian Americans (Shinseki, Chu)
• 2 Republicans (Gates, Lahood)
• 2 Sitting Senators (Clinton, Salazar)
• 2 Sitting Governors (Napolitano, Richardson)
• 1 Raised in the South (Jackson, who was born in Philadelphia, but adopted a few weeks later and grew up in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward)

Does Obama Have a Mandate?

In the last five decades, only two non-incumbent candidates have garnered a larger margin of victory than Obama. Reagan's margin of victory in terms of the popular vote was 9.7% and George H. W. Bush's margin was 7.8%. Obama's (provisional) margin stands at 7%. That's a mandate.

Mass. Residents Are Top Obama Donors.

Boston Globe:

...But one statistic made Solomont prouder than any other: the $21.4 million that Obama raised in Massachusetts made it his most lucrative state on a per-person basis.

Obama raised $3.31 per Massachusetts resident and $2.91 per Vermonter - more than he took in from New York ($2.62) and California ($2.29), traditionally among the richest pastures for Democrats.

By Solomont's measure, Massachusetts even outperformed Obama's home state, Illinois, which contributed $2.42 per capita to his campaign.

H/T: BMG

Race in the South

The Democratic Strategist:

...I think Nate's on to something, based on some very specific numbers. In 2004, Kerry's share of the white vote in Mississippi and Alabama was 18%, and was 22% in South Carolina. This year Obama's share of that vote sank to 11% in Alabama, and 10% in Mississippi, yet rose to 26% in South Carolina.

...Perhaps SC's recent economic growth, accompanied by a significant if not overwhelming number of transplants, has separated it a bit from the rest of the "super-south." But if so, not by much, and there's nothing there like NoVa's large and essentially non-southern voting base, or NC's Research Triangle concentration of "latte class" professionals and students.

So why did the white vote in SC go in exactly the opposite direction in 2008 as MS's and AL's? Nate thinks it may be because South Carolinians had a heavy personal exposure to Obama (and his family; his wife's roots are in the state) during the primary campaign, and thus saw him as less alien than did southern white voters elsewhere in the Deep South.

Seeing Parallels Between Lincoln and Obama

TPM:

...And presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the author of the Lincoln book "Team of Rivals," suggests that the pick would be similar to Lincoln's choice of political rival William Seward for the same gig in 1861. "The parallel with Hillary is almost eerie," Goodwin says.

Obama on Guantanamo, Torture

Obama Team Not So Leak-Proof After All

McClatchy News:

With a penchant for secrecy finely honed during a disciplined campaign, President-elect Barack Obama may well have thought he could continue to control his message as he's hunkered down behind closed doors since he won the election.

Fat chance. There are leaks, leaks and more leaks.

From the immediate accounts about what Obama and President George W. Bush talked about in their private White House meeting to this week's revelations that Obama's considering Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, there's been no shortage of unofficial news about what Obama's doing...

The Bluest States

Top of the Ticket:

Setting aside the District of Columbia (which Obama carried with almost 93% of the vote), the president-elect's best showing occurred in his native state of Hawaii. The New York Times' results map gives him 71.8% of the vote in Hawaii (making it the only state where either candidate broke the 70% mark).

Obama recorded his second-best showing in Vermont, where he garnered 66.8% of the vote.

In 2004, the bluest of the blue (again excluding D.C.) was Massachusetts; John Kerry won his home turf with 61.9% of the vote. That was the only state where Kerry surpassed the 60% figure. Obama, by contrast, exceeded that figure in 10 states.

In 2000, the most Democratic of states was Rhode Island, which Al Gore carried with 60.9% of the vote.

Obama Has to Rely on Bush Appointees

Washington Post:

In confronting the financial crisis and weakening economy, Obama must turn to Ben S. Bernanke, a Republican and former chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, who will lead the Federal Reserve for at least the first year of the new administration.

In assuming control of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama must work with Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was appointed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for a two-year term that will end in late 2009 and, by tradition, can expect to be appointed for a second term as the president's top military adviser. Mullen shares Obama's belief in focusing more on Afghanistan but is wary of a timeline for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

And in guarding against terrorist attacks -- while correcting what he considers the Bush administration's excesses -- Obama will rely upon FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, whose term expires in 2011.

Roasting Rahm

Political Wire: In a must-see video clip from 2005, then newly-elected Sen. Barack Obama roasts his future White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Obama on Missile Defense, Part II

Political Punch:

According to the Web site of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in a conversation yesterday between him, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and President-elect Barack Obama, the newly-elected American president said "that the anti-missile shield project will be continued."

Obama disputes this characterization.

Senior foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough in a statement said, "President-elect had a good conversation with the Polish President and the Polish Prime Minister about the important U.S.-Poland alliance. President Kaczynski raised missile defense but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable."

Obama on Missile Defense

BBC:

US President-elect Barack Obama will go ahead with plans to build part of a controversial missile defence system on Polish soil, Poland has announced.

President Lech Kaczynski's office said the pledge was made during a telephone conversation between the two men.

Russia opposes the US plans, and early this week said it planned to deploy missiles on Poland's border and electronically jam the US system.

This is the first signal that Mr Obama plans to continue George Bush's policy.

During the US election campaign, Mr Obama said he wanted to review the system to build a missile defence system in central Europe to ensure it would be effective and would not target Russia.

...This is also the first signal from the US president-elect that he has no intention of backing down in the face of the Russian threats.

The Election Night in Pictures

David Katz photographed Obama and others as they watched the results come in on Tuesday night. For more behind the scene pictures, click here.


Joe Biden congratulates Sasha and Malia.


Obama with Gibbs, Plouffe, and Axelrod


Watching the concession speech

Foreign Affairs

Image Source: NYT

NYT reports that Obama's election is already making a difference in Iraq.

Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about American troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month. “Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.”

Reports indicate that Russia did not start the war in Georgia.

Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia’s insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion.

Obama calls world leaders to thank them for their calls congratulating him on his victory.

News Briefs, 11/07/08

Obama wins North Carolina, becoming the first Democrat to carry the state since Carter.

Iranian President, Ahmadinejad congratulates Obama. It was the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution that an Iranian leader congratulated an American president-elect.

US records highest unemployment rate in 14 years - 6.5%.

Here's a compilation of news articles on Obama's White House team.

Coleman's lead over Franken gets smaller even before the recount starts in Minnesota. Coleman leads by 236 votes.

Will Obama campaign manager David Plouffe replace Biden in the Senate?

Democratic challenger's lead over Virgil Goode increases in Virginia's 5th district.

Democrat Kratovil extends lead in Maryland's first disrtrict.

Obamaha

Omaha World-Herald reports that Obama has a shot at winning an electoral vote from Nebraska's second district .

His odds of bagging an electoral vote in Nebraska grew stronger this morning, with word that 10,000 to 12,000 early ballots and 5,200 provisional ballots are left to count in Douglas County.

Obama won about 61 percent of the early votes counted before Tuesday's election. If that percentage holds with the early ballots left to count, Obama stands a strong chance of winning the Omaha-area 2nd Congressional District.

(Via Five Thirty Eight)

Emanuel Accepts Chief of Staff Position

McClatchy Newspapers report that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) will be Obama's chief of staff.

In choosing Emanuel, a veteran of the Clinton White House, Obama signaled that he wants a tough taskmaster to run his White House as well as a steely insider who's able to help push the Obama agenda through Congress, even if it faces opposition from his fellow Democrats, who control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Update: Robert Gibbs will be the press secretary.

It Hasn't Sunk in Yet

Thanks, James!

Ambinder on Why Obama Won

Marc Ambinder puts forth some theories on why Obama won the election.

But why, in the middle of a crisis, did Americans choose an unknown Illinois senator with a funny name over a war hero they've known for years?

-- The exit polls demographics tell a story of an expansion of the Democratic-leaning electorate by Obama; he did much better with Kerry than Hispanics; he grew the ranks of younger voters; he grew the African American vote; he did a bit better among white voters, but still lost working class whites by nearly 20 points. Obama won among new voters by more than 30 points.

-- Obama is a once-in-a-generation candidate, a brilliant communicator in an age of communication. Cool and consistent under pressure. He grew over the course of two years into a candidate voters believed was ready to be president. The right candidate at the right moment. The most un-Bush of any of the Democratic candidates.

-- The financial crisis, and the candidates' response to it. Probably the crucial moment for both campaigns. The voters saw the two men react to an unexpected crisis. Voters seemed to prefer Obama's steadiness to McCain's suspended campaign. McCain's sudden decision was 180 degrees from what he had been saying a week before ("fundamentals of our economy are strong").

-- Sarah Palin. Polling shows that she drove some voters away from Sen. McCain and to Barack Obama. Voters judged her to be too inexperienced to be president. Also, instead of appealing to independents, she became a polarizing figure. ALSO -- her persona highlighted McCain's age and health since she could have taken over. ALSO -- her selection killed the "inexperience" argument against Obama.

-- Message, message, message. Obama branded himself as "Change" two years ago, McCain tried Maverick, Reformer, Country First, Steady Hand At The Wheel, Tax Cutter, and even flirted with "Real American" by the end, and none of them were consistent.

-- A Long Democratic primary. Obama honed his skills, and defeated the biggest brand name in Democratic politics. Not only did he sharpen his message and build a national campaign, he earned the respect of voters by winning a hard-fought primary against Hillary Clinton without appearing to go too negative. ALSO -- forced his campaign to build organizations all across the country, especially in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada.

President Obama

Image Source: Boston.com