Conference Call: The Deliberative Transition

this is why we supported and vorted for this man. he is the first major political leader in modern times with no dependence on Corporate America. he is our President not theirs.

Wow! This is so awesome...thanks Al for letting us know first!

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

that I could imagine.  I echo what Henry and Pam said!  How exciting to know that "of the people, by the people, for the people" really might happen in 2009.

This is one administration I really wish I could work for.  In my over 4 decades of work, I have only worked for one company that I could say I felt pride about my being employed there.  That is not to say I didn't have pride in my work or felt good about the job I was doing.  Just that pride did not necessarily extend to the company for which I labored.

This administration, however, is something that I could pride not only in the work I did but also for whom I worked.

This is why he is coming in with the highest approval ratings ever for a first term President.

Will he and his adminstration disappoint me in the future?  Sure, but there is no such thing as perfection.  I will have to remember to douse my disappointment with a cup of joy over what he and his adminstration will do.  Heck, just overturning over 200 of Bush's executive orders immediately puts him light years ahead of any other administration in my lifetime.

Obama apparently loves this concept from Lincoln and book by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

This idea is great, where people from other ends of the political spectrum are included in the government, but I do hope Obama remembers that Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman, Naomi Klein and others are "Rivals" as much as Chuck Hagel is a rival.

We can't accept right-wing radicals like Hagel and Traitor Joe Lieberman bending Obama's ear, while super smart, and much more often correct than any Repub people like Chomsky are relegated to the fringes.

Thanks for the information, Al! Your measured approach through the entire business of the presidential race has been wonderful to witness. You and the other Field Hands have remained focused on what is really important without falling for the controversy dujour. I look forward to reading your reports on the incoming Obama Administration (God, if feels so great to be able to write that!).

My concern lays not so much with Obama, but with those in the Senate and the House, particularly on the Democratic side of the isle. But as Obama has proven this election cycle, when there is a people-powered movement for change to occur, nothing can stop it.

I wish that I knew a way that I could contribute to this presidency, to ensure that it is a successful, to assist with pulling this country out of the trenches. I don't know how I'd go about it, but I certainly want to help. Partaking in the Obama campaign has fostered in me this need to become more involved in a process that I otherwise didn't care a lick about.

I am so excited to see how he assembles his team and who is on it.  This is a great time to be an American.  Thanks Al for your excellent reporting.

Yesterday, here in Sydney Australia, I attended:

“The President-Elect: What Can We Expect?

ABC journalist Leigh Sales hosts the United States Studies Centre post-election analysis with David Brady (Stanford University), Michael Parks (former editor of the Los Angeles Times) and Geoff Garrett (US Studies Centre). Our panel examines what the vote reveals about American society, the priorities and challenges for the  President Obama, and the implications for Australia and the world..”

Talk about the old politics. I almost left because the panellists seemed to have been studying a ‘different’ campaign (Obama won the old fashioned way - that old chestnut “it’s the economy”).

However, question time arrived just in time. After introducing myself as an International Fieldhand from Al Giordano’s The Field. I asked the panel to comment on community organising (another old fashioned way to win the vote) and how the new tools of the internet facilitated the Obama victory. I also noted that the Obama web strategy was moving to ‘transition’ and asked how bottom up communication with the White House via the web may be changing US society.

There were murmurs of agreement from the audience and many nodding heads. The panel acknowledged that my question was a very good one but basically admitted, due to their age, their knowledge was limited and then they got lost in FaceBook and MySpace missing the point that there are now several million community activists in the US awaiting instruction.

The questions then returned to the old politics and I left shortly after - I needed a cigarette after an hour of mind numbing babble.

Another case of ‘old white men’ missing the point and wanting to play the ‘old game’?

BondiBeachViews

Every Executive Order by Bush is Under Review: Those that Obama promised during the campaign to rescind, will be eliminated immediately.

Which ones did he promise to rescind?

as Al wrote awhile back... "It's morning in America..." and it just keeps on shining.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/34156459.html?page=2&c=y
Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases.

The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The president-elect also has said that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said last January.

California had sought permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to require that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles be cut by 30 percent between 2009 and 2016, effectively mandating that cars achieve a fuel economy standard of at least 36 mpg within eight years. Seventeen other states had promised to adopt California's rules, representing in total 45 percent of the nation's automobile market.

Other early Obama initiatives may address the need for improved food and drug regulation and chart a new course for immigration enforcement, some Obama advisers say.

The statement from Obama's office said Albright and Leach would seek input from visiting delegations on behalf of Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

"There is one president at a time in the United States, so the president-elect has asked Secretary Albright and Congressman Leach, an experienced and bipartisan team, to be available (to) meet with and listen to our friends and allies on his behalf," McDonough said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE4A95CG20081112