DBTS – Bring your mother-in-law and watch her squirm!
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said senior White House officials were alerted by the White House Situation Room and they closely monitored the incident.
The prospect alone could renew focus on pilot fatigue and research that suggests controlled catnaps might actually make flying safer.
BEDFORD HEIGHTS, OH – Will he give up the blackberry or won’t he? That’s one of the (not relatively speaking) big questions facing President-elect Barack Obama as he is set to take office next week.
At a recent press conference he told reporters he fired off an email to one of his Secret Service detail leaders to congratulate his son for winning a football championship game, but presidents have not traditionally used email – even those in the email age. But Mr. Obama has been hesitant to give up the crackberry, thinking it will isolate him from the real world.
Well, four days from his inauguration, President-elect Obama is still using the device. As he was getting out of his Secret Service limo at Ronald Reagan airport today, reporters caught a glimpse of the storied blackberry when it tumbled from his grasp onto the tarmac.
A Secret Service agent standing nearby quickly picked up the blackberry, which had separated from its plastic holster, and returned it to the president-elect. Clutching it tightly, he soon boarded the plane which would ferry him to Cleveland for a speech on the economy.
On board incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs joked with reporters that Mr. Obama has been “discombobulated” due to the recent move to Washington, DC. “He can’t seem to find anything.”
HONOLULU – One year ago today, Senator Barack Obama was fighting to win the all-important Iowa caucuses, holding multiple campaign stops across the state. Then the underdog, Mr. Obama capped off a busy day with a nighttime rally in Ames, where he correctly predicted 2008 would be the year of the Democrat.
“Democrats have been waiting for 2008 for awhile and it’s just about here – it is just about here,” he told a crowd of about 1,000 on the campus of the University of Iowa on the cold December night. “Thank you so much, all of you, for taking the time to help celebrate, help ring in what is going to be an outstanding year for Democrats and an outstanding year for America,” he continued before he shared then-breaking news that he led Hillary Clinton in the latest Des Moines Register poll. “We might just pull this thing off, Iowa!”
Eager for publicity, the Illinois senator even took the time to share his plans to ring in the new year before an interview with FOX News’ Major Garrett.
This year, President Elect Obama is planning on staying out of the media spotlight as he enjoys the final day of his Hawaiian vacation. A transition aide expects Mr. Obama to stay at his Kailua rental home and ring in 2009, the first year with a President Obama, with friends and family.
No word on any resolutions, but last year he told reporters that other than winning Iowa, “I usually try not to make too many unrealistic resolutions. I try to make simple ones. I try to be a better husband, I try to be a better father. To be on time so that I don’t make [incoming Press Secretary Robert] Gibbs nervous.”
Obama declares H1N1 flu a national emergency, giving doctors greater leeway in handling surge of patients
• YOU DECIDE: Is H1N1 a National Emergency?
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• NEW INTERACTIVE: Track the Vaccine | VIDEO
President is expected to skip climate change conference in Copenhagen because it is not a ‘heads of state’ event
• Emanuel to Speak at Chamber of Commerce Dinner
• Fox News: ‘Pay Czar’ Interview Was Requested
• YOU DECIDE: Obama Threatening Press Freedom?
CHICAGO – Barack Obama and Joe Biden will meet tomorrow with former Vice President Al Gore at the President-elect’s transition offices in Chicago. The meeting, confirmed by the Obama-Biden transition team, was set up so the trio could “discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs.”
Of course it’s also fueling speculation that Al Gore will be asked to return to government after eight years as an influential statesman – despite Mr. Gore’s attempt to downplay the notion. “Vice President Gore has said both prior to President-elect Obama being elected and since he’s been elected that he does not have an interest in serving in the administration,” Kalee Kreider was quoted in a Reuters story just last week.
While Barack Obama may have a tough sell, expect a pitch of some sort. When asked last April by a Pennsylvania voter if he would consider the former veep for a cabinet-level position to help deal with climate change, then Candidate Obama replied, “Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem.”
CHICAGO – Last March when Bill Richardson endorsed then-Candidate Barack Obama during the thick of the heated primary race and while Rev. Jeremiah Wright was burning up the airwaves, Team Clinton was none too pleased.
Former Bill Clinton advisor turned TV pundit James Carville went as far as to call the onetime Clinton Energy Secretary under a modern day Judas for his decision to back Senator Hillary Clinton’s foe. Richardson himself admitted tension, describing the phone call to Mrs. Clinton to notify her of his decision. “Let me tell you: we’ve had better conversations,” he told reporters with an uncomfortable laugh.
But it was his relationship with President Bill Clinton, who has yet to fully forgive his former Energy Secretary, that suffered most. “‘It could be pretty much a permanent fissure. But that’s politics, that’s OK,” Richardson told NPR last month.
On Wednesday, Mr. Richardson was rewarded for his decision to endorse the then underdog candidate during a time when Mr. Obama needed help the most, when he was offered a cabinet role in the new Administration. The President-elect praised Richardson for his breadth of experience and then opened up the microphone to the new nominee, who noted what was at the forefront of everyone’s mind: Mr. Obama’s ever expanding “team of rivals.”
“There are some who speak of a team of rivals, but I’ve never seen it that way,” Mr. Richardson began his remarks. “Past competitors, yes. But rivals implies something harder edged and less forgiving. And in the worlds of diplomacy and commerce, you open markets and mines not with rivalry but instead with partnership and innovation and hard work,” he explained, perhaps aware of the many news reports that would be sure to rehash his relationship with the Clintons.
Richardson, who many considered a frontrunner for Secretary of State, of course did not get that, the most high profile Cabinet job, but was instead named Mr. Obama’s pick for Commerce Secretary. A Telemundo reporter called on during today’s news conference bluntly asked the President-elect if this was a consolation prize to appease Latinos.
“Well, Commerce Secretary is a pretty good job,” Mr. Obama said to laughter, before clarifying the job will play a key role in fixing the economy. “Bill Richardson has been selected because he is the best person for that job, and is going to be outstanding in helping me strategize on how do we rebuild America,” he added.
The soon-to-be President pointed out he’s only appointed half of his Cabinet so far, and predicted his Cabinet and White House staff will be one of the most diverse of all time. “One of the strong beliefs that I’ve always held, and has proven to be correct throughout my career, is that there’s no contradiction between diversity and excellence. I’m looking for the best people, first and foremost, to serve the American people. It just so happens that Bill Richardson is one of those people,” he concluded.
The Treasury Department on Thursday tried to make “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the network pool except Fox News before relenting under pressure
