11/7 Roundup: 2.0 Presidency, Hispanic Voters, Hungry Dogs

Leader: 2.0 Presidency

- CNN had a headline today that ran: "Podcast: Obama readies for the White House." It occurred to me that, of the three nouns in that sentence, two would have been gibberish to me just a few years ago.  It reinforced the idea that Obama's rise and the widespread availability of high-speed internet are two inextricable phenomena. Simon is quoted on the Tech Daily Dose talking about Obama's 2.0 Presidency speculating that Obama might move weekly presidential addresses over to YouTube.

- Simon also spoke with Wired about Obama's new model: "He's run a campaign where he's used very modern tools, spoke to a new coalition, talked about new issues, and along the way, he's reinvented the way campaigns are run. Compared to our 1992 campaign, this is like a multi-national corporation versus a non-profit."

- Looking forward, Simon told the Washington Times: "President Obama will be reinventing the relationship between the president and the American people using these new tools."

Economy

- Congressional Democrats are pushing for a two-part stimulus. The first round would come during the lame duck session this month, and the second in early 2009.  The second part may focus primarily on establishing a permanent middle-class tax cut.

- New economic indicators came out yesterday, and retailers had a worse October than any since 1971.

- President-elect Obama will be turning his attention to the economy, meeting with a formidable economic team this week, and speaking with President Bush next week.

Politics

- USA Today covers the dramatic importance of Hispanics to the Democratic victory this year.  Simon is quoted: "If the Republicans don't make their peace with Hispanic voters,
they're not going to win presidential elections anymore. The math just
isn't there,"

- Rahm Emanuel accepted Obama's offer, and will serve as his Chief of Staff.  Noam Scheiber approves: Rahm was the only choice.

- David Axelrod, Obama's campaign strategist, will serve in the White House as a senior adviser.

International

- The NY Times leads today with new evidence surrounding the Russian-Georgian war.  Evidently, Georgia may not have been so innocent in the beginning of this war, after all.

One More Thing

- Biting the hand that reports on you?  Barney the First Dog attempted to devour Retuers White House correspondent Jon Decker.

- Republicans have finally come around and see what fun it is to attack, criticize and belittle Sarah Palin.  Perhaps shooting down inchoate 2012 aspirations?