Malia and Sasha Obama went off to their new school this morning in Washington, DC. Their father, the president-elect, arrived last night at the family’s pre-inaugural quarters at the Hay Adams Hotel.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … C.I.A.: PARSING THE PANETTA PICK.
** … BUT DIFI IS MIFFED ABOUT PANETTA PICK FOR C.I.A. DIRECTOR. It turns out that President-elect Barack Obama didn’t consult either outgoing Senate Intelligence Committee chair Jay Rockefeller or incoming chair Dianne Feinstein. Though DiFi has frequently been lumped together with fellow Californian Panetta as a potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate, she doesn’t seem thrilled about the former White House chief of staff and federal budget director’s appointment as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
“‘I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,’ said Senator Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress.
” ‘My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.’”
I believe she’ll come around.
** WHITMAN EDGES FURTHER TOWARD GOVERNOR’S RACE. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has stepped down from three corporate boards – Procter & Gamble, DreamWorks Animation, and eBay – in advance of a possible run for California governor.
Whitman, a billionaire Republican, was national co-chair of the McCain for President campaign and national finance co-chair of the Romney for President campaign. She recently lost top Republican consultants Steve Schmidt and Adam Mendelsohn.
Should she decide to run, the former FTD CEO will face a tough primary against another super-rich Republican from Silicon Valley, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the apparent GOP frontrunner with the backing of a majority of Republican legislators. Either would face a difficult time in a California general election, probably against former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, a two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Both Whitman and Poizner were campaign officials for John McCain, who was crushed in California by President-elect Barack Obama, 61% to 37%.
** LEON PANETTA TO BE NEW C.I.A. DIRECTOR. Former White House chief of staff and California Congressman Leon Panetta is Barack Obama’s pick to be the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta, who long chaired the House Budget Committee before serving in Bill Clinton’s Cabinet as director of the Office of Management and Budget, has little previous direct experience in the intelligence field, although he was a key member of the Iraq Study Group and as former OMB chief has a handle on the intelligence budget.
But he’s a widely respected figure with strong roots in the pragmatic center/left of the Democratic Party.
Panetta played a lead role in corraling Hillary Clinton supporters to come over to the Obama camp after the freshman Illinois senator’s nomination victory had become evident to most. He described some of the diehard Clintonites as having a sense of “entitlement.”
His selection points up the difficulty Obama has had in filling the post. Too many intelligence professionals can be linked to the highly controversial practices of the Bush/Cheney Administration on torture, rendition, and widespread surveillance. Even LA Congresswoman Jane Harman, who wanted the post, had problems in that area for supporting some of the Bush/Cheney moves. Panetta is a strong opponent of torture.
Panetta will work with and under retired Admiral Dennis Blair, who I noted not long after Obama’s election was going to be Obama’s director of national intelligence.
Panetta, who had been talked up several times as potential candidate for governor of California, has been heading up his own public policy center at Cal State Monterey Bay. An ally of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the featured guest at a big fundraiser for the Panetta Center in late 2008, Panetta has also been a co-chair of a new centrist political reform outfit called California Forward. Obviously, he’ll be too busy for that now.
Panetta is also on the board of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), whose poll NWN subscribes to.
** CARS STILL SKIDDING. US car sales continue their tailspin. GM posted a 31% drop in U.S. light-vehicle sales for December, while Ford reported a 32% fall. Even Toyota, frequently held out as the global car exemplar, saw a 37% decline, and Honda saw sales drop 35%, closing out the auto industry’s worst year in more than 15 years. Chrysler is set to report its figures later today. So much for the notion that we don’t need an economic stimulus.
The Morning Column: MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
A very big week on tap in presidential politics, geopolitics, and California politics. President-elect Barack Obama is now in Washington. He has meetings today with the vice president-elect, congressional leaders and his economic team on the big economic stimulus package he will propose. Later in the week, he’s expected to give a major address on the economic crisis, probably at a venue outside Washington.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden is going to Pakistan later this week, leading a congressional delegation, to urge resolution of the Mumbai crisis. Pakistan, acknowledging a significant Pakistani connection to the terrorist siege of India’s commercial center of Mumbai over Thanksgiving, has promised action but not delivered much, and preparations for war continue, with ill affects for the US strategy in deeply troubled Afghanistan.
Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas continues as well, as do Hamas rocket attacks into Israel. Obama has been notably silent on the matter, and the US blocked a UN Security Council move for an immediate ceasefire over the weekend.
Russia, continuing its political moves to destabilize the Ukrainian government and block NATO expansion to its borders, cut off natural gas supplies to the former Soviet republic, citing its failure to pay. In response, Ukrainians are taking some of the natural gas flow through pipelines transiting the country intended for other European nations, accelerating the crisis.
Back to presidential politics. One-third to two-fifths of Obama’s emerging stimulus plan will be various tax cuts, mostly targeted for consumers, who continue to sit on their wallets. The rest of the plan will be heavy spending on infrastructure and green tech and jobs development. The plan won’t be passed by Congress by the date of Obama’s inauguration, January 20th.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has been selected as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee by President-elect Barack Obama.
Obama is likely getting a boost today with Minnesota poised to certify comedian Al Franken as the winner of that razor-close Senate race over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. But it’s not clear what the Senate is going to do with embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s pick to replace Obama, former state Attorney General Roland Burris. On the other hand, it looks like Obama’s friend Caroline Kennedy is about to be named to replace Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior senator.
Obama also needs a new commerce secretary, with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrawing over the weekend as it became clear a federal grand jury probe into his administration wouldn’t be completed in a timely fashion. There are allegations that a California financial firm I’d never heard of got a state contract in return for donations.
And on the ceremonial front, President Bush hosts a luncheon for Obama on Wednesday with all the other living presidents: His father, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile, back in California, the Legislature reconvenes for its new session with, as usual, the state’s chronic budget deficit foremost on the agenda. On New Year’s Eve, Governor Arnold Schwarznegger put forward a budget proposal consisting of new taxes, cuts, and borrowing. And so the game begins, not anew, but renewed.
** OBAMA TODAY. Having checked in to the Hay Adams Hotel on Sunday afternoon, and with his daughters safely off this morning to their first day of school at Sidwell Friends, President-elect Barack Obama is in Washington for his daily intelligence/national security briefing, and meetings with his economic team and top congressional leaders.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Returned from his vacation at his home in Sun Valley, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has private meetings and discussions today in and around the Capitol. He has no scheduled public appearances.
** OBAMA: VACATION’S END. With brand new, and extremely positive, signs from the Gallup Poll that his transition is more than weathering criticism from the left and the right, President-elect Barack Obama’s Hawaiian sojourn is at its end.
It’s that bittersweet time for Obama, a time that we all know, in between the end of the vacation and the renewal of work.
Obama had what appears to have been a lovely working vacation in his native Hawaii, our Pacific paradise which is a source of calming solace for the 44th president.
I hope he’s recharged his batteries from a rough though ultimately commanding election campaign in 2007 and 2008. The current president, after intermittent shows of competence, is leaving him with an historic, multi-layered, mess.
The stock exchange lost nearly a third of its value last year, the worst showing since 1931.
That’s not a haircut. That’s Skinhead Nation.
When did Bush or his allies raise the alarums? That would be, never. In fact, they insisted until the bitter end that all was well.
The environment got worse, too, with the Bush/Cheney regime not only going out of its way to block progress on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gases, as the North Pole melted, but also making late moves to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. Which environmental groups and former California Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown have just sued to prevent.
Then there is geopolitics. … From my Friday Huffington Post column.
** HOW OBAMA’S ADROIT SYMBOLISM YIELDS SKY-HIGH APPROVAL. Well, President-elect Barack Obama has more than weathered a few highly-publicized controversies. He has the highest approval rating for a president-elect in decades. He’s done it with a lot of good will from the campaign, and some adroit symbolism during the transition. … From my Monday column.
** OBAMA FLOATS THROUGH TEAPOT TEMPESTS. With the fastest Cabinet appointments in 40 years completed, Barack Obama is off to a working vacation in his native Hawaii. It increasingly looks like he’s rolled through two teapot tempests. One in which the far right flipped out, and another in which some on the left, frustrated at an avoidable defeat on same-sex marriage, forgot about the center part of center/left.
The far right flipping out about Obama is nothing new. Nor, I suppose, is a lot of the media going along for the ride. The media loves controversy, deep or otherwise. It’s easier than contemplating pressing issues. … From my December 22nd column.
** CALIFORNIA CRACKING. From my December 10th column.
** 12 KEY THINGS ABOUT THE MUMBAI CRISIS. From my December 5th column.
** OBAMA’S NEW POWER TROIKA FACES CRISES OLD AND NEW. From my December 3rd column.
** HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MR. PRESIDENT-ELECT! While Barack Obama promised “a new and brighter day yet to come” in his Thanksgiving address, an old and darker day yet to leave reminds that events — and perhaps political fate itself — can turn on a dime in presidential politics. …
For a political operation that prefers to focus on its preferences, it’s a sharp reminder to Team Obama that the presidency can be every bit as reactive as it is proactive. … From my November 28th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. After crashing over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil is trading in the $46 to $47 per barrel range.
The drop of $101 per barrel since the record high over the summer comes on acknowledgment that the weak US economy will cut future demand and on the easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. It is clear that that, contrary to much chatter, neither the US nor Israel is about to launch a strike against Iran. And the Russian war with Georgia, confounding much speculation and reporting to the contrary, actually decreased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (73) |
Cute footage of the Obama girls going off to school.
Kaine is a solid choice for the DNC chairman.
I like Kaine, too. He did a great job helping Barack take Virginia away from the Reeps.
Those cute kids will help keep Barack grounded to manage all these crises.
Is there any real news on the California budget? It’s been same old same old for months as far as I can tell.
I’m here for check-in — can I get my NWN per diem check now?
Great column on Huffington Post.
Thanks.
Just after the new media industry gets its bailout check.
># Brasky Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am edit
I’m here for check-in — can I get my NWN per diem check now?
That all depends on how one defines “real” and “news.”
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:45 am edit
Is there any real news on the California budget? It’s been same old same old for months as far as I can tell.
Yes. If they don’t drive him nuts.
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:35 am edit
Those cute kids will help keep Barack grounded to manage all these crises.
He was a finalist for veep, though I never thought Obama would pick him.
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:33 am edit
I like Kaine, too. He did a great job helping Barack take Virginia away from the Reeps.
He’ll be part time for a year. Obama’s choice for director will really be running the national party.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am edit
Kaine is a solid choice for the DNC chairman.
It’s quite adorable.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:29 am edit
Cute footage of the Obama girls going off to school.
WHAT WILL BE THE RESULTS OF ISRAEL’S OFFENSIVE IN GAZA?
TRIATHLON: We can only hope that the World will come to recognize the (USI/MIC) United States of Israel, / Military Industrial Complex and Israel are one in the same. That Israel is the (51st) State of the United States, The “Tip of the Spear of War”, The City State of (New York City) is “Little Israel”, the Propaganda Center and Economic Center, that Washington, D. C. is the Political and Military Center, that its policy is The World Chessboard Strategy, of (FSWD) Full Spectrum World Domination, Preparation of the Battle Field, Pre-Emptive “Shock & Awe” Nuclear Attack, followed by Clear, Hold, and Rebuild to (USI/MIC) Democratic Standards, that the world is in the mist of Cold War Duex, heading for World War III. If not then with the ending of the Era of Pox Americana, it may burn out like a super-nova bringing with it a catastrophic ending for the global community.
(AOL) AMERICA ON LINE SURVEY QUESTION:
Q. Will Hamas survive the Offensive?
ANS. Yes (58%)
No (42%)
MICHAEL HUDSON:
(USI/MIC) OPENING ITSELF UP TO ATTACK!
Michael Hudson, professor of international relations at Georgetown University said that by backing Israel’s position the US was opening itself up to attack.
“If you’re identified with an Israel that is bombing indiscriminately and disproportionately, this is really good for Osama Bin laden, it’s good for extremists all across the region and I fear that Americans as well as Israelis will now suffer,” he told Al Jazeera.
KHALED HROUB:
Is the war likely to galvanize support behind Hamas?
Khaled Hroub, author of several books on Hamas, including Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide, talks to Al Jazeera about the organization’s social and political strengths and explains why he believes Hamas is looking forward to an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
In my view, Hamas will most likely emerge victorious out of this because on the one hand, it’s akin to impossible to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
I can’t imagine any way of finishing this movement in the Gaza Strip. Even if it was finished, what we’d end up with is a more radical Palestinian organization, an al-Qaeda-like organization coming out of the rubble of Hamas’s destruction.
Politically speaking, Hamas is now gaining more popularity, not only amongst Palestinians but across the Arab and Muslim world. They are seen as the only party that can face Israel.
lol
Bill Richardson’s fall is the first big glitch in the Obama Transistion. I like Richardson. I don’t think he did wrong. I hope he comes back later on.
I’m glad they put a Southerner in a big job.
Jonas Blane Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Kaine is a solid choice for the DNC chairman.
I think Bush was ill served by the folks surrounding him. Rove was brilliant at campaign tactics but clueless about governing. And Chaney was on a power trip. Plus there was no H.R. Haldeman or Nancy Reagan to protect Bush from being exploited by the many who saw his name and friendly manner as a vehicle for pushing various extreme ideologues. This has been a very divisive regime that I think has broken the Republican brand. Although Conservatives seem so far hardly willing to face up to the debacle. At the end of the Vanity Fair oral history one guy whines if only they had found weapons in Iraq Bush would be a hero. Talk about missing the point about the faults of this administration!
By all accounts Bush is a nice guy but was way out of his depth as President and
allowed himself to be used by the neocons, etc. Without the Bush name he would never have come close to being President (or even have been Governor of Texas). Had an opportunity to do some great stuff and squandered it. I feel sorry for the people who voted for him and invested their hopes etc. in what is now widely seen as a failed Presidency. Wonder if in the next few years some eye opening memoirs of the behind the scenes start appearing. At some point they had to realize the wheels were falling off. Or were they oblivious? It is hard to get a read on to what extent Bush himself is aware of what a disappointment he is, even among true believers.
>Bill Bradley Says:
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Thanks. I don’t hate Bush, as I’m sure you know.
Leon Panetta’s a good man. He’ll catch on fast running the CIA.
This had better end in the next 2 weeks.
BB: Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas continues as well, as do Hamas rocket attacks into Israel. Obama has been notably silent on the matter, and the US blocked a UN Security Council move for an immediate ceasefire over the weekend.
Surely this current controversy partly explains why Richardson wasn’t up for a more prestigious post in the first place. Richardson has been around for so long and has part of so many deals (policy, negotiations, raw politics) that it would be hard to believe he has zero skeletons in his closet. He’s a very shrewd, likable guy whom I also hope we’ll see again once the present cloud has lifted.
I dunno. Methinks they were true believers on neoconservatism and de-regulation, got most of what they asked for…but the results were surprising. Maybe that’s “clueless” or maybe that’s brilliantly wrong.
>Dana: Rove was brilliant at campaign tactics but clueless about governing.
It must be nice when confronting bad news (ala Richardson) to be able to switch the topic by, say, nominating a CIA director.
True.
It’s not clear to me how serious Richardson’s situation is. Of course, I’d never heard of the company before.
Well, they accomplished their objectives …
># Chris M Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:06 pm edit
I dunno. Methinks they were true believers on neoconservatism and de-regulation, got most of what they asked for…but the results were surprising. Maybe that’s “clueless” or maybe that’s brilliantly wrong.
>Dana: Rove was brilliant at campaign tactics but clueless about governing.
Not necessarily. Clinton was the big choice for Secretary of State.
>Chris M Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm edit
Surely this current controversy partly explains why Richardson wasn’t up for a more prestigious post in the first place.
My guess is it mostly will.
Of course, it will never really be over …
># marcus waldron Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm edit
This had better end in the next 2 weeks.
BB: Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas continues as well, as do Hamas rocket attacks into Israel. Obama has been notably silent on the matter, and the US blocked a UN Security Council move for an immediate ceasefire over the weekend.
Probably. Though he’ll have some trouble with the internal hawks there, as he’s dead set against torture.
># marcus waldron Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm edit
Leon Panetta’s a good man. He’ll catch on fast running the CIA.
Well, he picked the people around him.
The dead-enders defending the administration are mostly constitutionally incapable of getting it.
>Dana Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 11:28 am edit
I think Bush was ill served by the folks surrounding him. Rove was brilliant at campaign tactics but clueless about governing. And Chaney was on a power trip. Plus there was no H.R. Haldeman or Nancy Reagan to protect Bush from being exploited by the many who saw his name and friendly manner as a vehicle for pushing various extreme ideologues. This has been a very divisive regime that I think has broken the Republican brand. Although Conservatives seem so far hardly willing to face up to the debacle. At the end of the Vanity Fair oral history one guy whines if only they had found weapons in Iraq Bush would be a hero. Talk about missing the point about the faults of this administration!
There’s a pretty good chance of that.
># marcos leon Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am edit
Bill Richardson’s fall is the first big glitch in the Obama Transistion. I like Richardson. I don’t think he did wrong. I hope he comes back later on.
LEON PANETTA TO BE NEW C.I.A. DIRECTOR.
Good news. Another California connection. Maybe we can get a bigger slice of Homeland Security money now?
True enough. And set the tone which encouraged the echo chamber that enveloped them. Bush famously has sharp reactions whenever legislators meeting him said something that didn’t fit his worldview. Stubborn and wrong-headed is a bad combination.
>Bill Bradley Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Well, he picked the people around him.
I did say out loud at that one USC forum I attended after the 2006 elections that Rove was so brilliant he was stupid (i.e. wasting Bush’s political capital on a DOA social security plan). I don’t think the results are surpising at all. Iraq as Isreal’s new best friend? Come on!
>Bill Bradley Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Well, they accomplished their objectives …
># Chris M Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:06 pm edit
I dunno. Methinks they were true believers on neoconservatism and de-regulation, got most of what they asked for…but the results were surprising. Maybe that’s “clueless” or maybe that’s brilliantly wrong.
Here is a good damning essay by Michael Kinsley on the blunders of Bush: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1869213,00.html
Interestingly in the Vaniety Fair oral history there is reference to how even far right christians now realize they were exploited by Bush but got little for helping re-elect the guy. By 2005 the Faith Based Office was all but gone. So much for being a man of character.
“WHITMAN EDGES FURTHER TOWARD GOVERNOR’S RACE.”
Any fellow Democrat want to post some of Whitman’s comments about Obama on here?
Oh yeah, lots of luck.
** WHITMAN EDGES FURTHER TOWARD GOVERNOR’S RACE. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has stepped down from three corporate boards – Procter & Gamble, DreamWorks Animation, and eBay – in advance of a possible run for California governor.
Capitol Boy — two self-funded, low name-id Republicans matched-up in the primary?! Sounds like fun.
Maydoff was thrown in jail this afternoon after trying to mail $1 million in assets (jewlery, etc) to “third parties” in violation of his bail.
I’m shocked, positively shocked…
Apparently not *yet* thrown in the bucket. As I read it the judge set a Thursday deadline for the prosecutors to submit their proof on their application to revoke bail and lock him up.
Panetta sounds pretty good to me.
Wasn’t Feinstein all for the Iraq War? I guess she’s not such a big intelligence expert, is she?
Why do they want to waste their money?
Brasky Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Capitol Boy — two self-funded, low name-id Republicans matched-up in the primary?! Sounds like fun.
That’s a good reason to pick him.
Bill Bradley Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Probably. Though he’ll have some trouble with the internal hawks there, as he’s dead set against torture.
># marcus waldron Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm edit
Leon Panetta’s a good man. He’ll catch on fast running the CIA.
“Why do they want to waste their money?”
Where should they put it, the stock market?
Wilbur — good God, the justice system is crazy backward. If someone accused of drug trafficking had mailed a million bucks to a friend, he’d be burnt toast.
This guy has stolen so much money from such powerful people, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried to whack him while he’s walking around.
lol
Brasky Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
“Why do they want to waste their money?”
Where should they put it, the stock market?
How’d they find that out?
Brasky Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Maydoff was thrown in jail this afternoon after trying to mail $1 million in assets (jewlery, etc) to “third parties” in violation of his bail.
I’m shocked, positively shocked…
Feinstein’s a prima donna.
There has to be security around him.
># Brasky Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 4:09 pm edit
Wilbur — good God, the justice system is crazy backward. If someone accused of drug trafficking had mailed a million bucks to a friend, he’d be burnt toast.
This guy has stolen so much money from such powerful people, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried to whack him while he’s walking around.
He’s a break from the past with CIA.
># Jack Aubrey Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 3:40 pm edit
That’s a good reason to pick him.
Bill Bradley Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Probably. Though he’ll have some trouble with the internal hawks there, as he’s dead set against torture.
># marcus waldron Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm edit
Leon Panetta’s a good man. He’ll catch on fast running the CIA.