Obama

Obama has raised his sights on the number of jobs he wants to create in the next two years to 3 million after reports projected that 4 million would be lost if no action was taken.  He challenged his economic team to "think bolder" and outside traditional Washington politics.  Biden will reportedly be heading a team tasked with expanding the middle class.

Obama has announced the leaders of his science team, including Harvard professor John Holden.  Along with the announcement he has put a clear emphasis on scientific progress in marked difference between his and Bush's policies: climate change and stem cell research, for example, will be among his priorities.  Obama referred to science as "the key to our survival."

It should come as no surprise that Time magazine named Obama as Person of the Year: none of us need to be reminded of his accomplishments and his rise from obscure senator to the first African-American President.  Congratulations, Obama.  Perhaps more interesting are the runners-up:  U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who orchestrated the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

Fareed Zakaria offers an interesting perspective in Newsweek magazine on the state of the world and how he thinks Obama needs to approach it.  He begins by explaining why Obama needs to have a grand strategic plan for the future so that he can lead on important issues rather than simply react to urgent ones.  In the hard copy of the magazine, the article is followed by assessments of what that plan should be; but here, we're asking you.  How should Obama approach the increasingly mutipolar world?

Obama has an incredibly high 79% approval rating (source).  That's more than 50% better than Bush and 15-20% better than the last two presidents' transition ratings.

Today, President-elect Obama promised a new approach to finance--namely, increased regulation.  He said this is "at the center" of his policy, which is encouraging since decreased regulation is largely seen as the major reason for the current crisis.  But he also noted that the economy has "a big problem, and things are going to get worse before it gets better."  He also criticized the current state of Washington's politicians and briefly discussed the necessity of restructuring the auto industry.

In the face of a half-million jobs lost this month, a flat admission by President Bush that "our economy is in a recession," and dramatic European interest rate cuts, we've all been crying out for some measure of confidence.  Obama is trying to deliver, laying out a plan for immense investment in infrastructure that will create 2.5 million new jobs by 2011.  It would be impressive except that the times are calling for more than that--but the effort provides an indication that more is coming.

Obama Names Richardson as Commerce Secretary

Following Monday's announcements that Sen. Hillary Clinton has been officially named Secretary of State, and that Robert Gates will remain head of the Department of Defense, President-Elect Barack Obama formally announced Wednesday that Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico and former Ambassador to the UN under President Clinton, will serve as Secretary of Commerce.

Obama said today that he is working closely with President Bush on a number of issues, most importantly the economy.  Perhaps that is understated; Obama is taking an unprecedented amount of control before he has taken office in a bid to, as he puts it, "hit the ground running on January 20th."  To this end, he's practically a co-president with Bush at this point;

It's true: Senator Hillary Clinton will be Obama's new Secretary of State, Timothy Geithner will be the Secretary of the Treasury, and Governor Bill Richardson will be the Secretary of Commerce.  There are also unconfirmed rumors that Gen. Robert Gates will stay on as Secretary of Defense.

Geithner is a highly qualified economic authority who is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was a central player in this year's financial rescue plans.  We all know Clinton, and Richardson is the Governor of New Mexico with enormous experience.

Congratulations, all.  Obama's cabinet is certainly shaping up to be a powerful one, for better or worse.