Democratic Chatter 11-30-2008

George Wenschhof

51 days to go to the swearing in ceremonies for President-elect Barack Obama - this can not come soon enough as the "lame duck watch"(I stole that phrase from Rachel Maddow of MSNBC - her talk show is 9:00 PM ET M-F and I highly recommend watching!) of President Bush has been painful to follow.

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Attacks in Mumbai lead to resignations - Indian federal home Minister Shivraj Patil and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan both resigned. More information is being released indicating many of the attackers came from Pakistan, a country formed from part of India back in 1947. Since then, the two countries have fought three wars. However, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has pledged full cooperation in the investigation. Rueters.com has more here.

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Obama set to announce his national security and foreign policy team tomorrow morning - No surprises are expected - Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as Secretary of State, Robert Gates to remain at least one year as Secretary of defense, retired General Jim Jones as National Security Advisor, and retired Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence. The press conference is scheduled for 10:40 AM.

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More details revealed of conditions agreed on by former President Bill Clinton paved way for Hillary appointment to Secretary of State - reportedly nine conditions were agreed on with one being the full disclosure of 200,000 names of donors to his foundation. Another was Bill Clinton must submit future speeches and business activities for review by the State Department and if necessary, White House Counsel. The NY Times has more here.

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Washington Post and NY Times call for Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) to step down as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to say she is waiting for the report from the House Ethics Committee and still hopes to have a decision by the close of the current Congress on January 3. Some of the issues surround paying below market rent on apartments in New York and using one illegally for a campaign office. Also failure to report income and pay taxes on rental income on a condominium owned in the Dominican Republic. TheHill .com has more here.

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