Change That Isn't...Well...Change

h/t to amberglow (poster at Corrente)

I still stand by my prediction though; he'll be our best Republican President evah! I did join change.gov today so I could vote on the priority list that when completed and presented will probably be ignored. Currently legalizing marijuana is leading, as if.

Kaine Heads Group Offering Donors Access to Governors (Kaine is a fucking asshole but compared to the other choice Virginians - I am a native Virginian - had, he was the lesser of 2 evils. Heard that before?)

... Kaine, 50, is the chairman of the Southern Governors’ Association, a group that raises money from tobacco, oil, energy and pharmaceutical companies in exchange for access to governors and other state officials.

The donors include more than 60 associations, trade groups and companies, including tobacco giants Altria Group Inc. and Lorillard Tobacco Company, Pfizer Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. Participants in the group’s Corporate Affiliates Program also include mortgage lender Freddie Mac, which was taken over by the federal government last year, and General Motors Corp., which is among automakers being rescued by the government.

Kaine’s continuing involvement with the SGA as Democratic National Committee chief may raise questions for Obama, who targeted special interests during his campaign, vowing to end their “days of setting the agenda in Washington.”

“If Tim Kaine is going to be the head of the DNC, given Obama’s rhetoric in the past, Mr. Kaine will have to either change the rules of the SGA or step down as chairman, because the policies of the SGA appear inconsistent with Obama’s,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Washington-based watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Seat With DNC

“Money paid to the SGA so you could have a seat with Tim Kaine would also get you a seat with the head of the DNC,” Sloan said.

Kaine’s press secretary, Gordon Hickey, said the governor plans to retain the SGA chairmanship when he takes over as DNC chairman Jan. 21, ...

Obama Intends to Keep FDIC's Bair at Agency

The Obama administration intends to keep Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair in her post, Democrat officials said Wednesday.

Ms. Bair, a Republican who is one of the most influential figures in the government's response to the financial crisis, was nominated to run the FDIC by President George W. Bush in 2006. She has won praise from congressional Democrats for her aggressive push to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. But she has emerged as a controversial figure during the banking crisis, occasionally clashing with the White House, Treasury Department, and Federal Reserve over the government's response.

The Man in the Middle

... Schumer’s political acuity is increasingly guiding Senate Democrats. The new president—until recently, one of them—seems to be listening, too. This is significant because Schumer is steering toward a slightly different spot from the one Democrats have traditionally aimed for. He attributes his success these past four years to a small but critical insight into the nature of the American middle class: namely, that it is more affluent and doesn’t want the same things from government as does the “middle class” as normally conceived by politicians, policy makers, and academics. Schumer sees this group as the key to the electoral balance of power, and believes he has figured out how to reach it. The composition of the Senate is a strong indicator that he may be on to
something.

...As one of the principal architects of that effort, Schumer would appear well qualified to judge what Democrats should do next. What would a Schumer-worthy agenda look like? For starters, it would be determinedly practical, tightly focused on the needs of the real middle class. It would account for the popular mood, taking care to lean slightly against liberal orthodoxy and the interest groups that enforce it. Emphasis would fall less on providing a safety net and more on helping people get ahead—with a house, a college degree, a comfortable retirement. To maintain solidarity with regular folks, it would feature the occasional, well-chosen populist crusade. And so it would look a lot like Schumer’s own career. ...