Barack Obama's Transition Chief John Podesta says stem cell research and drilling are among the top George W. Bush-issued executive orders he will reverse when taking over the White House.

Grits for Breakfast has one they'd like see Obama take action on: the new FBI snitch/snooping guidelines approved last month. You can read them here (pdf) or a summary here.

Seems like a good time to start a list. What executive orders or other Bush-authorized decisions would you add to that list?

(Part 1 is here)

A substantial victory margin for Barack Obama and two strong elections for the Democratic Party unquestionably constitute a mandate. But a mandate to do what? In a broad sense, it is a mandate for change. In specific terms, the answer is somewhat less clear.

Paul Krugman argues that the mandate is for “a new era of progressive policies” because “this year’s presidential election was a clear referendum on political philosophies — and the progressive philosophy won.” That is certainly true with regard to the progressive changes that were at the forefront of the election: a tax policy that requires the wealthy to shoulder a greater burden while providing middle class relief; health care reform; investment in the nation’s infrastructure; more robust regulation of the financial industry; withdrawal of troops from Iraq; a foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy over aggression. It is less clear that voters intended to send a mandate to enact a broader progressive agenda.

[more ...]

It's too bad the country's problems would not be as easy for Barack Obama to solve as it would be to fix college football's ridiculous system for crowning a national champion. Of course Barack Obama was joking when he said "he would make a college football playoff 'one of my legislative priorities' as President." But I am sure he wishes the country's problems would be as easy to solve as the college football mess. Because there is nothing so simple.

College football already has the mechanisms for choosing the teams that would be in an 8 team playoff. The champions of the 5 major conferences (SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, Big Ten and ACC) receive automatic bids to BCS bowls. The BCS even has a mechanism for an automatic bid for lesser conferences - whose champions get an automatic bid if they are among the Top 12 BCS ranked teams at the end of the season. The remaining bids are at large and can be chosen by the BCS rankings. Will there be griping? Perhaps. But if you did not win your conference how serious a gripe can you have?

More . . .

The problem with political reporters is they know so little about politics. Even the smart ones. Ron Brownstein writes:

If Obama is shrewd enough, there's a lesson for the new president in the failure of the old one. Bush and his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, dreamed of cementing a lasting Republican electoral majority. Instead, Bush has left his party in rubble.

The 2008 election represented a final grade on Bush's bruising and polarizing political strategy. . . . His legislative strategy centered on minimizing dissent among congressional Republicans; his electoral strategy revolved around maximizing his vote among Republicans and conservative independents. Through Bush's first term, that approach generated undeniable successes. . . . But through Bush's second term, this insular strategy grew unsustainable. By targeting so many of his policies toward the priorities of his conservative base, Bush ignited volcanic opposition from Democratic voters and steadily alienated independents.

This analysis is simply and undeniably wrong. How Bush got his policies through is not what has caused the Republican electoral debacle. It was the performance of his Republican policies. If Bush's policies had been successful, Republicans would be expanding their majorities TODAY. It is ironic that political reporters never can accept that elections are judgments on the efficacy of the policies of the governing party, not the process by which policies are enacted. More . . .

I believe the key theme today on the Sunday Talk shows will be that, stop me if you have heard this, despite the fact that a "Socialist" won the election, and despite the fact that the "Socialist" party will hold massive majorities in the House and the Senate, America is a Center Right nation. Smell the contempt for democracy from America's Media elites.

This is an Open Thread.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The New York Times reports that public defenders in seven states are refusing to accept new cases or have filed lawsuits due to overburdened case loads which prevent them from providing effective assistance of counsel.

Public defenders are notoriously overworked, and their turnover is high and their pay low. But now, in the most open revolt by public defenders in memory, many of the government-appointed lawyers say that state budget cuts and rising caseloads have pushed them to the breaking point.

The caseload in Miami-Dade, Florida:

Over the last three years, the average number of felony cases handled by each lawyer in a year has climbed to close to 500, from 367, officials said, and caseloads for lawyers assigned to misdemeanor cases have risen to 2,225, from 1,380.

More...

For the McCain staffers finger-pointing at Palin, for Palin who is now playing the victim and for writers who think criticizing Palin is sexist, this one's for you.

McCain-Palin was a gigantic miscalculation by McCain and a disaster from the get-go. McCain, Palin and their staffers have no one to blame but themselves.

This is an open thread.

Andrew Travers in the Aspen Daily News writes about speculation (see Newsweek, for example) that Barack Obama will name Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary. Pritzkger was the national financial chair of the Obama campaign. The Pritzker (and Crown family) ties to Aspen go back decades.

Pritzker’s wide-ranging business and civic achievements include starting Classic Residences by Hyatt, a successful luxury retirement development, working to improve public schools and serving as CEO of Pritzker Realty Group. Earlier this year, Forbes ranked her among the 500 wealthiest people in the world.

An 8 year old boy in Arizona allegedly shot and killed his father and another man yesterday. Police want him charged as an adult.

As if an 8 year old has the mental capacity to understand the act of murder? It hasn't stopped Arizona prosecutors before:

Earlier this year in Arizona, prosecutors in Cochise County filed first-degree murder charges against a 12-year-old boy accused of killing his mother.

In the 8 year old's case, there are indications he may have been abused. Others say no reports are on records. Then, there's the interrogation of the boy. [More...]

Update: Michael Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is also leaving early. He's going to Kirkland and Ellis.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey yesterday announced the resignation of Thomas Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division.

Barnett was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division on Feb. 10, 2006. He became acting Assistant Attorney General on June 25, 2005, and previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General since April 18, 2004.

I suspect many of Bush's political appointees had their resumes out before the election. It's not like the handwriting wasn't on the wall.

In addition to an Attorney General, Obama will appoint 93 United States Attorneys, one for each district. These jobs are political plums. They don't always (or even mostly) go to trial lawyers. U.S. Attorneys rarely try cases themselves (Patrick Fitzgerald is one exception who comes to mind), they run the office and implement the agenda of the new Attorney General and the Administration. [More...]

Ana Marie Cox has an extensive interview in the Daily Beast with Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of John McCain's campaign.

When he knew McCain would lose? September 29.

On the future of the Republican party:'

“The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct...there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again.”

Lots of good quotes here -- on leaks, on Palin and more.

Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, whose name has been floated for months as a possible Obama Attorney General pick, says he's not interested. He'd rather run for Governor of Alabama.

Fine by me, as I wrote here back in May.