It struck me as strange yesterday when the distinguished ex-judge Abner Mikva took it upon himself to discuss the Clinton at State issue and allow himself to be characterized as a "close Obama supporter." The Obama transition team slaps Mikva down today:

The transition communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, says Obama adviser Abner Mikva didn't speak for the campaign in a Times story that went online this evening, in which Mikva appeared to set an almost impossibly high bar for approving Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

. . . A Democrat who saw the [Mikva] quotes suggested Mikva's words were Obama's way of walking back the suggestion that Senator Clinton could serve as secretary of state. But Pfeiffer, asked if Mikva spoke for the campaign, responded, "no."

Everyone likes to see their name in the papers I guess. Even distinguished ex-jurists like Abner Mikva.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I am sure most of you have seen the cover of the most recent Time magazine which portrays President-Elect Obama in a classic FDR photo. It seems everyone now agrees that Obama needs to learn lessons from FDR. Richard Cohen, while not getting his history exactly right (especially on Lincoln), writes:

In his recent "60 Minutes" interview, Obama paid homage to Roosevelt as well as Lincoln. The question, though, is not which president he most admires but which president he most resembles. If it is Lincoln, then we have a problem. Lincoln had one overriding goal and that was to reunite the Union. It was a massive undertaking, but he knew just how to do it: Find a commanding general who would fight and pour on the troops. This, he suggested, was going to be a bloody war that he would see through to the end.

That does not really tell us a lot about how FDR did it, imo. My very first post at Talk Left in the summer of 2006 was titled What Obama Needs To Learn From Richard Hofstadter, FDR and Lincoln. It is a piece I am very proud of and will quote at length on the flip:

While the story takes a different tone, my view is that this Times story confirms the Guardian story. The nuts, imo:

While aides to the president-elect declined Monday to discuss what sort of requirements would make it possible for Mrs. Clinton to serve as secretary of state, they said Mr. Obama would not formally offer her the job unless he was satisfied that there would be no conflicts posed by Mr. Clinton’s activities abroad.

(Emphasis supplied.) The key word is "formally." The offer is conditional and conditions on Bill Clinton's activities have been stated. This is shrewd from the Obama team. The story is if Hillary is not offered State, it is going to be Bill who vetoes it. I think it is also clear from the story he will not:

As we wait and wonder about the accuracy of reports that Hillary Clinton will accept the top job at the State Department, the news about John McCain is more definitive: he left his meeting with Barack Obama without an employment offer. Good thing he kept his day job.

Why the meeting? It's good press for both of them. Obama looks bipartisan, McCain gets a chance to repair his tarnished reputation by pledging to work with the president he helped elect. And this:

Even with the enlarged Democratic Senate majority and smiling Harry Reid attempting to herd them, Obama is gonna need some Republican help with his ambitious program there. And who better to work with than the ex-Republican presidential candidate untrusted and abandoned by so many of his own party's base?

Unfettered by enforced loyalty to a Republican president, McCain can go back to being a maverick. And why not? He'll soon be on his way to genteel retirement. He might as well have some mavericky fun along the way. If Obama is looking for Republican filibuster busters, McCain might be one of several options. [more ...]

Our good friend Joe Gandelman has a good piece putting the Clinton at State story in a larger perspective on what President-elect Obama is aiming for (think FDR big):

Will New York Senator Hillary Clinton accept a reported job offer of Secretary of State from her onetime Democratic nomination rival President Elect Barack Obama? The British newspaper The Guardian says she is going to accept it — and a longtime Democratic strategist says Obama’s offer to Clinton and his victory speech signal Obama’s intention to make his presidency a “big” Presidency.

Read the whole thing.

Let the online riot begin:

Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of secretary of state offered by Barack Obama, who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration, the Guardian has learned.

Obama's advisers have begun looking into Bill Clinton's foundation, which distributes millions of dollars to Africa to help with development, to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. But Democrats do not believe that the vetting is likely to be a problem.

Joe Conason brings some sense and facts to the discussion:

The concerns about the Clinton Global Initiative and Bill Clinton’s other activities seem slightly overblown (as I’ve noted before). Every paid speech he has delivered over the past eight years is recorded in his wife’s Senate disclosure forms. Nor have donors to CGI been concealed, either, as any journalist who attends its meetings or examines its Web site should be able to determine. The countries that have donated funding to the Clinton H.I.V./AIDS Initiative are also a matter of public record.

When such questions arose during the campaign, he promised to publish the names of all future donors if his wife were to be elected president – and presumably he will now make any reasonable disclosures requested by the president-elect as part of the vetting process.

Next phony issue? We await Josh Marshall's next anti-Clinton missive.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I'm just coming up for air since my recent robbery. Four days and it's still a logistical mess. I won't be blogging for a few more days as I need to get back to my real job first.

My burglar alarm system is just about ready and yes, I got an insurance policy.

Two big questions now: Among other things, I have to replace my Sony laptop and my Macbook. The Macbook is not a problem, but the PC is. I can't figure out whether to get 64 bit or 32 bit, whether to get Visa Home Premium or Ultimate, and whether to get a 5400 or 7200 hard drive. I don't need business network capability but I want it to be fast for word processing and internet stuff and getting through dvd-roms of discovery, including audio and video files. Is it too soon to get a 64 bit machine because older programs won't work with it? Are there other considerations I've missed and does anyone have a new laptop they just love? The two I'm liking the best so far are the Sony SR series and the Dell XPS M1330.

Remember when talkers on the right became so irate over Dan Rather's report (based in part on documents that may have been fabricated) that George Bush skipped out on some of his National Guard service? As BTD discussed here, the stink about the allegedly forged documents distracted the public from the underlying issue: whether Bush actually reported for duty.

Distraction is what the GOP does best, and its roaring umbrage cowed CBS. Anxious to prove that it had no liberal bias and to appease the corporate interests to which both CBS and the GOP are beholden, CBS "investigated" Rather and limited his work, effectively forcing his resignation.

Rather sued, claiming the rigged investigation violated his contract and damaged his reputation. According to this report, Rather has uncovered evidence to support that claim. [more ...]

This is so much the very definition of irony:

Team Obama, after all but offering SecState to Senator Clinton, is expressing EXASPERATION with the Clinton camp for the difficulty in getting a clean vet on President Bill Clinton’s many entanglements. . . . Given that everyone's mystified by how deliberately public the Clintons have made this once secret process . . . [G]enerally the sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama.”

The irony of leaking to Mike Allen your complaints about "Clinton drama" is too freaking rich. Obviously Allen's Obama team contacts are NOT part of the NO DRAMA part of the Obama team.

And from the actual No Drama Obama Team:

[T]here's been no delaying, there's been no acrimony . . . Clinton and her team have acted professionally and appropriately.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The New York Times today joined TalkLeft and a host of others in asking Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia to pardon the Norfolk Four.

I've yakked enough. Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.