England for Obama

Barack Obama and The Politician Formerly Known As The Old John McCain - John McCain - are sitting down together on Monday. According to HuffPo, they’re set to “bury the ax”. Which I think is American for: “bury the axe”.

Announcing the meeting, an Obama spokesman said:

“It’s well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality.”

And here was Keith Olbermann’s take on the news last night:

Blimey. First Joe Lieberman, then Hillary Clinton, now John McCain. Has Barack ever met a politician he didn’t like?

Ooh. Looks like Barack Obama is taking that whole “team of rivals” thing seriously.

Here’s the story.

And here.

And here:

*Update* It’s been confirmed that Obama has, indeed, offered Clinton the job - and she’s thinking about it. According to an aide, when she was First Lady, Hillary learned to be an effective “backdoor diplomat”. Who knew that Bubba was into such things?

…at midnight, UK time.

Because at that precise moment, Joe and Jill Biden will be arriving at the Naval Observatory, Washington, for a tour of their new residence. Courtesy of its current occupants, Mr and Mrs Dick Cheney.

Bet that’ll be a fun, relaxed evening!

Actually, who am I kidding? Being shown around your new home when your new home is the Vice President’s residence is, like, *totally* awesome. Even if you have to endure Dick Cheney all night.

*UPDATE* Here’s commentary and footage from Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow - including a fascinating discussion on the powers of the Vice Presidency:

But she can plough through doors:

(Note: I promise not to give this woman any more oxygen of publicity. Sarah: it’s over. I’m sorry. It’s not me. It’s you.)

No, that’s not a pre-emptive call to Democratic arms in 2012 - but how long Keith Olbermann has just renewed his contract for.

That’s right, folks: your and my favourite liberal shouty man is staying at MSNBC. Here was the press release:

NEW YORK - Nov. 10, 2008 - MSNBC has voted for four more years of Keith Olbermann and the top-rated “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” it was announced today by Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC. The new four-year agreement calls for Olbermann to continue as host of “Countdown;” additionally, Olbermann will play a prominent role in MSNBC’s coverage of all major news events. He will also continue to co-host NBC’s “Football Night in America” studio show.

Olbermann’s new contract is rumoured to be worth $30 million. Being a lily-livered, bleeding heart, liberal egghead communist*, I hope he plans to spread some of that wealth around.

*copyright: Jed Bartlet

Remember this atrocious woman?

Well, unfortunately she held on to her Senate seat. And now she’s backpeddling furiously, of course, about President-elect Obama.

I’ll leave it to Keith Olbermann to do the honours:

Meet our very own Leo McGarry, folks!

It’s been confirmed  that Rahm Emanuel has accepted Barack Obama’s offer to be the new White House chief of staff.

Emanuel is obviously pretty much unknown to us Brits - but in a nutshell: he’s a Democratic Congressman who used to work in the Clinton administration; he’s apparently been holding out to be the next Speaker of the House (which led to hesitancy in accepting this chief of staff offer); and he’s what people would call, erm, “tough” (his nickname is ‘Rahm-bo’).

Pundits (and Republicans) on the right are calling this choice too partisan - but clearly when you’re as bipartisan, calm and reasonable as Obama is, it probably pays to have something of an attack dog as your chief. A pitbull sans lipstick, as it were.

Todd Purdum at Vanity Fair writes:

“He doesn’t piss people off for the sake of scoring debating points or asserting his purity. He pisses people off because he cares about things, and sometimes pushes too hard. He lives by an old saying prevalent in F.D.R.’s Washington: ‘Keep all the balls in the air without losing your own.’”

While Emanuel said in his statement:

“Like the record amount of voters who cast their ballot over the last month, I want to do everything I can to help deliver the change America needs. We have work to do, and Tuesday Americans sent Washington a clear message — get the job done.”

Here was MSNBC reporting the news yesterday:

And here was more later - including more on Obama’s transisition to power (note: includes obligatory shot of new chief of staff talking into new president’s ear):

*UPDATE* I just discovered 236.com’s lowdown on Emanuel. Brilliant.

*UPDATE 2* Here was Countdown covering the Emanuel pick - plus lots of other interesting headlines coming out of Washington/Chicago yesterday:

Keith’s take on the joyous news:

Just so appropriate that Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann were two of the men who got to announce that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Take a look below - and spot how Stephen Colbert seems to be trying to stop his tears when he takes off his glasses and puts his finger to his eyes.

I just love all these men. They have been beacons of light, sanity and truth (as well as brilliant entertainment and great journalism) during the Bush years and this election:

According to Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight, that is. And he does sort of know what he’s talking about. Nate also warns against trusting the exit polls: