Political News: December 1, 2008

1) Obama officially unveils his national security team:

Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State
Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense
James L. Jones as National Security Adviser
Janet Napolitano as Secretary of the Dept of Homeland Security
Susan Rice as Ambassador to the UN

While I would not consider it a national security position, he also unveiled his pick for AG:

Eric Holder as Attorney General

The NYT has a story outlining how this team will now execute a shift in national security strategy away from flexing our combat muscles that will emphasize beefing up our "soft" power (i.e. diplomacy, foreign aid, the imposition of sanctions).

At the press conference Obama reassured that a 16-month withdrawal from Iraq was still the course of action planned although he gave himself an out by saying that the generals had input into this timeline. He also kept open the option of residual forces left in Iraq.

2) Yesterday NPR's Ivan Watson and his crew were touring Baghdad to see how conditions were improving and stores were reopening on what once was a bustling commercial street. He went to lunch at a kebab shop, after which he and his crew were walking to their parked cars, including an armored BMW, when Iraqi police rushed up and screamed "bomb" in Arabic and ushered them away from the BMW. Seconds later the BMW exploded. It is thought that a bomb was placed under the car, fastened by magnets, during their lunch. The so-called "sticky bomb" ripped through the armor and surely would have been lethal had anyone been inside. Luckily, the armor most likely prevented shrapnel from doing any damage external to the vehicle. You can read, watch and listen to the story here which includes audio of the moment the bomb exploded and video of the destroyed BMW. This is a very good reminder of the relativity of security in post-escalation Iraq.

3) Outstanding Senate Races Update:

Georgia Run-off:

• The election takes place tomorrow.
• Sarah Palin headlines a GOP All-Star supporting cast that is campaigning today in GA for Chambliss.
• The outlook is pretty dim for Martin because he was riding Obama's coattails on Nov 4th and still trailed Chambliss.
• The logic behind Obama not paying a visit seems to be to avoid the mistake that Bill Clinton made in a similar situation in 1992. Clinton visited a run-off election in GA on behalf of the Dem candidate, Wyche Fowler (who won the plurality in Nov), but Fowler lost in an upset. The conventional wisdom is that this weakened, however slightly, Clinton's incoming power, because this was perceived, rightly or wrongly, as the first referendum of his presidency. Obama probably does not want to repeat this gambit and thus signals how the administration feels about Jim Martin's chances (and in extension Franken's) given the reward of 60 votes.
• Nate's partner at 538, Sean Quinn, visits GA and finds the Obama ground team. The anecdote about pulling people into phone bank to beef up the numbers in the photo at HQ is a bad sign. Megnanimous and I remember having to be some of those phone-callers at the Edwards HQ on Iowa night.
  

Minnesota Recount:

• 538, which before extrapolated out a 27 vote win for Franken, now has Coleman a slight favorite.
• Franken has unsuccessfuly tried to get rejected absentee votes reconsidered.
• That ruling has caused rumblings that the US Senate could step in and exert authority over the process. "Ultimately, the Senate has complete authority to determine who was elected," says Washington University political scientist Steven Smith.

4) Today is the 20th World AIDS Day. We may have come far, but not nearly far enough. 33 million people around the globe currently have HIV/AIDS ( 1 million in the US). Last year, 2.7 million people were infected, which is roughly the population of Chicago. We will need a renewed emphasis on basic science as it's now troublingly apparent that we don't know enough about the mechanism of infection to rationally attack it's vulnerabilities with a vaccine. Which is a good reminder that lunch time is over and I need to get back to work.