President Barack Obama

An Iranian mob rampaged in Tehran, the capital of Iran, setting fire to posters with pictures of the United States President-elect, Barack Obama. They also waved Palestinian flags, showing their solidarity with the people of Gaze and hostility towards Israel, which is waging war on Hamas. It is common for Iranian demonstrators to burn effigies or pictures of American presidents in protests. This marked the first time that a foreign protest involved defacing an image of Barack Obama, who is to be sworn in as the 44^th U.S. President on January 20^th.

Iran has often attacked both Israel and the United States. The Iranian leadership has strongly condemned the Israeli military action in Gaza.

In addition to burning a picture of Obama, some of the demonstrators chanted, “Death to Obama,” while marching in the Iranian capital.

President-elect Barack Obama has issued a call for the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, to resign. The demand for the resignation of the governor of Obama’s home state came after his arrest on charges that he tried to sell the vacant Senate seat of Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Blagojevich has the authority as governor to pick the replacement for the seat held until recently by Obama.

The FBI investigators indicated to the news media that telephone intercepts revealed that a man who was interested in taking the seat had offered Governor Blagojevich campaign cash. Federal agents have been quoted by a major media source as naming Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. as the man who offered Governor Blagojevich the money. He is the son of noted civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

Revealed in the transcripts of telephone conversations that have been released by the FBI on Tuesday are statements by Blagojevich indicating that an individual referred to by officials as Senate Candidate 5 would “raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him a senator.”

Asked by the media whether he was Senate Candidate 5, Congressman Jackson said, “I don’t know”. He went on to say that he had been asked by the authorities to “share with [federal investigators] my insights and thoughts about the selection process”. However, he insisted he was not a target of the investigation.

Federal prosecutors stated that Barack Obama, who is not close to Governor Blagojevich, was not involved in the alleged illegal conduct.

Barack Obama’s official spokesman told the press that the President-elect wanted Blagojevich to resign.

“Under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois.”

“No one will ever doubt that this former Army chief of staff has the courage to stand up for our troops and our veterans. No one will ever question whether he will fight hard enough to make sure they have the support they need,” President-elect Obama went on to say. He added that, “We don’t just need to better serve veterans of today’s wars. We also need to build a 21st century VA that will better serve all who have answered our nation’s call.”

In his statement to the media, Barack Obama mentioned that General Shinseki, who served two combat tours during the Vietnam War, was injured and lost part of his foot. Obama said of Shinseki, “he understands the changing needs of our troops and their families. And he will be a VA secretary who finally modernizes our VA to meet the challenges of our time.”

General Shinseki present at Obama press conference

In his weekly Saturday radio and Internet broadcast, President-elect Barack Obama pledged the most significant new investment in America’s infrastructure, including bridges and roads, since President Eisenhower built the modern Interstate highway system during the 1950. Obama also proposed other forms of infrastructure spending,, involving schools, housing and energy projects that will create large numbers of new jobs. Barack Obama’s ideas hearken back to the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, who utilized government deficit spending to build new infrastructure as a means of reducing unemployment in the wake of the Great Depression.

Barack Obama announced his ideas the day after a jobs report was issued by the government, indicating that in November a record half million Americans lost their jobs. With the U.S. economy clearly in free-fall, the President-elect sought to inject hopeful news about the country’s future at a time of fear about further financial meltdowns.

Among the initiatives proposed by Barack Obama are the modernizing and upgrading of the nation’s dilapidated schools. “We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms,” Obama indicated in his broadcast.

Barack Obama told a meeting of state governors of the National Governors Association, concerned about their own budget deficits, that they will receive help from the incoming Obama administration. The news could not come too soon, as many state budgets are under terrific strain resulting from the global economic crisis.

President-elect Barack Obama urged state governors to assist with crafting an economic recovery plan. Obama has already indicated that a first priority once he is inaugurated as America’s 44^th president will be an economic stimulus program to jumpstart the U.S. economy. During the meeting of the National Governors Association, Barack Obama repeated his priority for a plan that will save or retain two and a half million jobs. The Obama plan would also provide tax cuts to the middle class

Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona, has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to be his secretary of Homeland Security. If confirmed by the senate, Governor. Janet Napolitano will be the third secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

Governor Napolitano was a federal prosecutor and state attorney general before being twice elected governor of Arizona. As governor, Napolitano was involved in efforts aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Napolitano has also undertaken efforts aimed at limiting the effects of wildfires and severe flooding. Governor Napolitano cooperated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which comes under the jurisdiction homeland security.

In picking Napolitano, Barack Obama rounded out his selections for the incoming administration’s national security team. Among other selections, Obama also confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be his Secretary of State and Robert Gates will continue to head the Defense Department.

Karl Rove offered praise for Barack Obama in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. This is the same Karl Rove who was said to be the “political brain” behind George W. Bush and the mastermind of his two victorious presidential campaigns. Rove wrote that President-elect Barack Obama has assembled a “first rate economic team that has provided surprisingly positive clarity.”

The selection by Barack Obama of New York Fed Chairman Timothy Geithner for Treasury Secretary and Larry Summers, the former Clinton-era Treasury Secretary and President of Harvard University, as chief of the National Economic Council was especially lauded by Rove in his op-ed piece.

Rove wrote that, “the announcement of Mr. Obama’s economic team was reassuring. He’s generally surrounded himself with intelligent, mainstream advisers. Investors, workers and business owners can only hope that, over time, this new administration’s economic policies bear more of their market-oriented imprint.”

The choice by Obama of Berkley Economics Professor Christina Romer as his pick to head up his team of economics advisers also won Rovian praise.

If Barack Obama is already getting the thumbs of from Karl Rove, could Rush Limbaugh be next? Probably not a chance of that, but Karl Rove’s piece in the Wall Street Journal clearly shows that Barack Obama is moving forward in his transition in a politically skillful manner.

It is being reported that Robert Gates, currently Secretary of Defense in the Bush administration, will retain his post for a transition period of about one-year. It is expected that a formal announcement will made next week by President-elect Barack Obama when he discloses his choices for his administration’s national security team.

Keeping Gates at Defense will provide Obama with a defense secretary who has garnered support from both sides of the aisle in Congress. Gates also has considerable experience with foreign leaders throughout the world and he is highly respected by the top military brass. Under a President Obama, Secretary Gates will have to transition from serving the President who initiated the Iraq war to serving under Barack Obama, who opposed the war from the beginning and has pledged to end it and bring the American troops home.

Barack Obama has apparently decided to set aside concerns that he would upset anti-war supporters after conducting an election campaign in which he made his consistent opposition to the Iraq war one of his key issues.

Barack Obama is only the President-elect while George Bush remains officially U.S. president until January 20, 2009. However, as far as the world’s political and business leaders are concerned, Barack Obama is the one in charge. Bush is seen as a lame duck while the global economic crisis worsens, and his statements on the American financial collapse are viewed as increasingly irrelevant. However, when Obama holds a news conference or announces a senior appointment, the whole world listens with riveted attention.

It appears that the American people and most of the world cannot wait until the Bush presidential term is finally history, and Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president. What is also clear, however, is everyone is looking to Obama to provide leadership that will lead America out of its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Judging by his initial responses, it seems apparent that Barack Obama has no illusions as to the depth of the challenge and responsibility he is now assuming.

Paul Volcker, 81, who was chairman of the Federal Reserve during the 1980s, has been appointed by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as head of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. The announcement was made at a Chicago news conference. Obama indicated that the board would include as a top staff official Austan Goolsbee, who is a University of Chicago economist.

Volcker has experience with economic crises, having led the Fed under presidents Carter and Reagan from 1979 to 1987. As a central banker, Volcker raised interest rates and restricted the money supply, and during that period America experienced one of its worst recessions.

Paul Volcker helped bring inflation under control, and his policies led to three decades of low inflation, a turnaround from the 1980s when inflation was out of control. “He pulls no punches,” Obama said of Volcker. “He seems to be fairly opinionated.”

On the same day that Obama announced the appointment of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, the government revealed that jobless claims had remained very high, while American consumers were cutting back on their spending. The economic crisis continues to get worse.