President-Elect Obama appoints advisers

Since our nation made history a little over a week ago, electing Senator Barack Obama the first African American President in US history, I have been diligently watching as he and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden appoint their staff.

My favorite appointment so far: "Klain was also chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, but he's no stranger to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, having served as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee when Biden was the committee chairman.

Klain also served as general counsel of Gore's 2000 Florida recount effort and was portrayed by actor Kevin Spacey in an HBO movie about the event."

I spent all of Recount rooting for his character and am so pleased that he has a position at the head of Biden's staff.

I guess my first question in response to the TV Newser article, Has the Media Been Unfair to Sarah Palin?, is has the media been fair to any of the candidates?

I've also been reading this Newser article, Beating the Press, about McCain's rejection of the major news networks that helped him cultivate his image as a maverick in Congress.

It seems to me that in the past 8 years the *quote* liberal *unquote* media has gotten more and more conservative. I know that others would disagree. I think regardless of the label you would give, the argument remains that the press - particularly the 3 major cable news networks (Fox, CNN, and MSNBC) are filled with biased reporting. I will concede that their bias changes depending on the PICK ONE: anchor/reporter/event/month/day/hour/direction-in-which-the-wind-blows. Whichever way you think the media bias leans, it seems apparent to me that we have come a long way from Tom Brokaw's trusted reporting on NBC Nightly News.

The fact that the word "swiftboating" even exists calls the motives of cable news networks into question. I often wonder if certain individuals within the Fox, CNN, and MSNBC hierarchy believe they are reporting on the election or determining the outcome of the election.

I applaud MSNBC's decision to remove Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from election coverage. At least it confirms that they are trying to remove bias and opinion from their political coverage. It remains to be seen how successful they are.

obamaclark.com

From the obamaclark.com blog:

"General Clark currently leads all contenders for the Vice Presidential nomination in a poll on one of the top recommended diaries on Daily Kos with nearly 70 percent of the vote. Jordans11 notes:

Let’s face it.

General Wesley Clark is the only Vice Presidential Candidate with Presidential campaign experience, who has military, foreign policy, diplomatic, and executive experience, with southern roots, appeal to Latinos and Hillary Clinton supporters, an existing national grassroots organization, an Oxford degree in economics, and who will not cause the Democrats to lose a Senate seat or a Governorship with his selection."