"Democrat outside looking in; Hailed abroad, Dean not part of Obama's circle" by Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
HARROGATE, England - .... After November's landslide, Obama let Dean move on from his four-year chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, and bitter rivalries with some in Obama's circle have kept the former practicing doctor out of the three top administration posts committed to changing the healthcare system....
Dean's strategy was dismissed by many Democratic leaders, including then-Representative Rahm Emanuel, now Obama's chief of staff. But it clearly bore fruit for the president.
Now I understand why Dean isn't in the cabinet: Obama's Mega Man
Dean knew little about online social-networking platforms until aides alerted him in 2003 to his popularity among their users. Following his 2004 presidential campaign, he questioned his overheated style - his brief rise to frontrunner was propelled by furious attacks on President Bush few other Democrats were ready to deliver - after his children told him, "Dad, you're too confrontational."
And our elections are too rigged; corporate candidate was John Kerry, and who did we get as the Dem nominee?
But after his party's 2004 losses, Dean chose not to wage another outsider's campaign and instead committed himself to becoming an establishmentarian, leveraging grassroots popularity in a wide-open election for party chairman....
Before the 2006 elections, Dean fought privately over resources with leading congressional Democrats, including Emanuel, while outside allies took the dispute public. Clinton strategist Paul Begala mocked the 50-state strategy as hiring "people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose." His colleague James Carville said Dean's management had been "Rumsfeldian in its incompetence."
Yet the Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006 and expanded their majorities two years later. Obama's gains came largely in the places where Dean had identified them: among new voters and those in previously Republican areas....
So much for the Clintonites Carville and Emanuel and their credibility -- not that they had any here.
Although Dean made clear he was interested in serving in Obama's Cabinet, he acknowledged shortly after the election that internal forces - including Emanuel's appointment as chief of staff - could thwart his bid, according to one of his brothers....
And before you start feeling too warm towards Mr. Dean:
Dean is using his international podium to craft his own foreign policy. Days after the Obama administration reportedly offered to suspend its missile defense in exchange for Russian support against Iran, Dean advised caution, raising the issue of Moscow's belligerent posture toward small neighbors. "We must vigorously stand up to those that threaten emerging democracies," Dean said.
Is there no politician worth his salt in AmeriKa (save for Ron Paul)?
This month, Dean will travel to Brussels to address various coalitions in the European Parliament, where he plans to lay out a new development strategy for Africa inspired by the Chinese model of infrastructure investment rather than humanitarian aid....
Now he's taking tips from the Chinese on how to treat the Africans?
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IN
"Harvard Law's dean voted in as solicitor general
Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, was confirmed yesterday by the Senate as the nation's first female solicitor general, to represent the Obama administration before the Supreme Court. She worked in the Clinton White House as an associate counsel and policy adviser....
Kagan, 48, is thought to be on a short list for a Supreme Court vacancy, particularly if Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the high court, who is battling pancreatic cancer, retires.
--more--""Kagan sworn in as solicitor general" by Mark Sherman, Associated Press | March 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - Elena Kagan became the nation's first female solicitor general yesterday, a position informally regarded as the 10th Supreme Court justice and, for her, a possible audition for a spot in the starting nine.
Kagan, 48, visited the court for her swearing-in, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts in a ceremony that was closed to reporters. The former Harvard Law dean is widely regarded as a serious candidate for any opening on the high court that would be filled by President Obama, her former University of Chicago Law School teaching colleague. Justices John Paul Stevens, 88, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76, and David Souter, 69, are considered the most likely to retire during Obama's presidency.
Kagan has never argued a Supreme Court case, but that will change as soon as next month.... Kagan's efforts to bridge the divide between conservatives and liberals on Harvard's notably fractious faculty won her praise across the political spectrum. Several predecessors as solicitor general, Republicans and Democrats alike, endorsed her nomination.
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Hey, maybe she is a good choice; however, I see all these establishmentarians an globalists praising her, so....
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed on Thursday two leading experts on climate change to represent top scientific positions in the government.
John Holdren became the president's science adviser as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Jane Lubchenco will lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Both have advocated sharp government action on climate change policy and are former presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nation's largest science organization.
Related: Obama to Admit 9/11 and Environment Frauds
Holdren was a Harvard physicist who went from battling the spread of nuclear weapons to tackling the threat of global warming....
WTF? How does one do that? Also see: Obama Takes On the Clinton Tarnish
The Senate also confirmed on Thursday former Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to head NOAA, which oversees research and the National Weather Service. Lubchenco, who specialized in overfishing and climate change at Oregon State University, is the first woman to head NOAA....
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