Report: Obama Sends Advisor Malley to Cozy Up to Egypt and Syria (Gil Ronen, 11/09/08, IsraelNN.com)
According to a report on Middle East Newsline, President-elect Barack Obama has dispatched his "senior foreign policy adviser", Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria to outline Obama's policy on the Middle East.
Malley reportedly relayed a promise from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo and reconcile differences with Damascus."The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests," an aide to Malley was quoted as saying.
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As Patriots' wins pile up, so does trust in Cassel (Albert Breer, 11/09/08, Sporting News)
Five things we learned from the New England Patriots' 20-10 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East showdown:1. Pats can count on Cassel
It's hard to believe how far Matt Cassel -- the backup-to-the-stars turned Patriots starter -- has come. The Patriots' offense clearly isn't what it was last year. No one expected it to be, not with Tom Brady chained to a rehab program.
But Cassel is triggering an offense good enough to reach 6-3. On Sunday, he won without three of the four running backs who started the season on the active roster. And a lot of it is because of Cassel -- not despite him.
Here is how the Patriots trust Cassel: They came out in '11' personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) on 18-of-33 first-half snaps, and in '10' personnel (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR) on six first-half occasions. And the play-calling disparity was 21 passes to 12 runs in the first half, during which the game plan is most clear.
Cassel completed 23-of-34 passes for 234 yards against Buffalo with no touchdowns or interceptions.
Best plan for the Mets and Yankees: Follow Red Sox (Ken Davidoff, November 9, 2008, NY Newsday)
The model to which both teams should adhere, clearly, is the Red Sox. In Boston, general manager Theo Epstein has completed what the Yankees (a lot) and the Mets (less than a lot) have been trying to accomplish."I think the goal is always to build a healthy organization. We try to keep that in the front of our mind," Epstein said this past week at the general managers' meetings in Dana Point, Calif. "If we ever get too focused on having to fill this hole, or having to get better in this area, we take a step back and say, 'Does this make sense for what we're trying to do over five to 10 years?'
"That said, our priority is to have good, young players in as many positions as we can have, but there's also a time and a place when the right player is available to go big, in the form of a trade or a free-agent signing. If it's the right player, the right age, the right impact offensively, defensively or as a pitcher.
"I think ultimately it'll be a mix. We want to be known for winning teams built primarily through our own farm system. You have to complement that with [players outside the team]."
Brian Cashman, Epstein's Yankees counterpart, has gotten crushed for passing on the Johan Santana trade a year ago. Epstein, following the same mantra - you don't give up both talent and big money for a player - also passed. He has received no flak because the Red Sox qualified for the playoffs thanks to the very players who were discussed with Minnesota - Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson.
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New Zealand enters new era of conservative rule (ROHAN SULLIVAN, 11/08/08, AP)
New Zealand entered a new era of conservative rule Sunday, with incoming Prime Minister John Key promising to be a moderate amid fears some of the country's policies on global warming and indigenous people could be rolled back. [...]Key campaigned as a moderate, but his policies include plans to eventually abolish special parliamentary seats for Maori and making the country's greenhouse gas emission trading scheme more favorable to business.
On Sunday, he promised to follow through on tax cuts and pro-business, tough-on-crime policies that include registering the DNA of any suspect arrested for an imprisonable crime.
"I don't believe we need to be radical," Key told the TV One network in one of a round of media appearances Sunday. "I've made it quite clear I want to run a center-right government, a moderate government."
President-elect Barack Obama's private conversation with Poland's president created an international disagreement Saturday, with President Lech Kaczynski saying Mr. Obama promised to continue a missile-defense system and the transition office saying the Democrat made no such commitment.
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As a road to a better economy, an old idea gains ground: Often dismissed in favor of the quick-jolt stimulus, spending on bridges, streets and sewers is on the table again. Obama backs the public works idea, an echo of the FDR era. (Richard Simon and Jim Puzzanghera, November 9, 2008, LA Times)
Infrastructure spending, which is supported by President-elect Barack Obama, is expected to be a centerpiece of a $60-billion to $100-billion stimulus package Democrats may bring before Congress in a postelection session later this month.Lawmakers are looking at a wide range of projects, such as building new roads and repairing old ones, improving airports, and constructing schools and sewage treatment plants. They also are considering making funding available to help transit agencies buy buses and rail cars.
The focus will be on job-producing projects that can get underway quickly.
In a new twist, Obama and congressional leaders have talked about ensuring that a good chunk of the infrastructure spending goes to "green jobs," providing funds for energy-efficiency projects, for example, promoting growth while reducing oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions.
Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, traces the history of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus to the massive public works programs launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Depression.
"From the Works Progress Administration of the Great Depression to the Accelerated Public Works Act of 1962 and the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976, investment in public infrastructure has created and sustained jobs in difficult economic times," Oberstar said recently, "and it can do so again today."
Preparing for the Obama Era: Bush Officials and President-Elect Working Together On Pressing Issues (Robert Barnes, Dan Eggen and Anne E. Kornblut, 11/09/08, Washington Post)
[T]he days since Tuesday's election have shown a striking level of comity following the rancor of the campaign, enhanced by President Bush's months-long efforts to pave the way for a smooth transition and President-elect Barack Obama's preelection determination to move quickly."Ensuring that this transition is seamless is a top priority for the rest of my time in office," Bush said in his weekly radio address yesterday. "My administration will work hard to ensure that the next president and his team can hit the ground running."
Bush has created a transition coordinating council, populated by experts from inside and outside the administration, and has streamlined the process for obtaining security clearances for key transition officials. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell flew to Chicago on Thursday to deliver Obama his first daily intelligence briefing.
The Obama team has begun submitting names to the FBI for expedited security clearances, which is allowed under an intelligence reform law passed in 2004. Officials said that more than 100 positions, down to the level of undersecretary, are eligible under the statute.
Bush's chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, said the White House is even preparing a "tabletop" exercise to simulate how Obama's national security officials should respond in the event of a terrorist attack.
"If a crisis hits on Jan. 21, they're the ones that are going to have to deal with it," Bolten said in an interview taped for broadcast today on C-SPAN. "We need to make sure they're as well-prepared as possible."
Likewise, the administration is laying the groundwork for an unusual level of access to the Treasury Department and other agencies involved in attempts to stabilize the foundering economy. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Friday that Treasury is preparing office space that will allow Obama aides to sit alongside current administration officials.
Fratto said such efforts are intended to send a signal that Treasury's approach will not change too abruptly when Obama takes office. "They don't want to surprise markets; they want to try to make sure that they have predictable information for markets," he said.
Obama Team Weighs What to Take On in First Months (PETER BAKER, 11/08/08, NY Times)
Mr. Obama repeated on Saturday that his first priority would be an economic recovery program to get the nation’s business system back on track and people back to work. But advisers said the question was whether they could tackle health care, climate change and energy independence at once or needed to stagger these initiatives over time.The debate between a big-bang strategy of pressing aggressively on multiple fronts versus a more pragmatic, step-by-step approach has flavored the discussion among Mr. Obama’s transition advisers for months, even before his election. The tension between these strategies has been a recurring theme in the memorandums prepared for him on various issues, advisers said. [...]
Congressional leaders want to move swiftly in January to pass a major expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program — a plan vetoed by President Bush — as a step toward the broader coverage Mr. Obama promised. Likewise, Democrats plan to incorporate his proposed middle-class tax cuts in the economic legislation or pass them in tandem. And Mr. Obama could increase investment in alternative energy as a down payment on a far-reaching climate plan.
“I believe it would be important to show fairly early on that change is here,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a member of the House Democratic leadership. “One of the very visible ways to show that would be to pass some of the bills George Bush vetoed.”
In that same vein, the Obama transition team has identified executive orders he can sign in the first hours and days of his presidency to demonstrate action, even as the more ambitious promises take more time. Among other things, he can reverse a variety of Bush policies, like restrictions on abortion counseling and stem-cell research.
Who would serve as attorney general? (CHRIS FRATES, 11/9/08, Politico)
The big money on who becomes the next attorney general is split between two distinct camps: consummate Washington insiders with serious policy credentials and prominent political backers of President-elect Barack Obama, according to leading insiders from both parties.The most-bandied about name among elected-officials is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. A former U.S. attorney and the state’s first female attorney general, the Democrat has the requisite law enforcement experience and would help Obama bring gender balance to his Cabinet.
Other politicians who make the Washington speculation lists are Democratic Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.
