When James Madison and friends put together the Constitution, one of the key things they endeavoured to do was ensure that the Chief Administrator (President) did not have the power of a king.  After all, we had just fought our tails off for the right to not have to be subjugated by King George, and as such provide sovereignty to the people and not the President.

I say this in preparation for something that Valerie Jarrett, co-chair of Obama’s transition team, said on Meet The Press Sunday:

“Given the daunting challenges that we face, it is important that President-elect Obama’s prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.”

DavidL at BitsBlog takes this at face value, which is not in the …

It’s not exactly been a big mystery where the former Secretary of State was going with his own vote this year.  And NBC was was certainly fairly confident that they knew what Power was going to say today when he gave his endorsement to Obama (transcript).

I would tend to agree with Michelle Malkin when she states that this doesn’t look like a mater of race, despite contrary comments by Rush Limbaugh and George Will.

I was impressed that Brokaw asked two questions that I would not have expected from him:

1. Will Democrats accept this endorsement from the man who “closed the deal” in getting us into Iraq?
2. Should Bill Ayers have repudiated the Weather Underground and his actions in that organization?

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An anonymous writer at The Real Sporer Tuesday night made an interesting observation that I think we should not only understand but build an action plan upon.

At the end of the second Presidential Debate there were a few trailing comments at Ted’s site (including one from yours truly), and the final one at about 12:20 AM stated:

I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Instead of repeating “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”
I find myself repeating “Maybe democrats aren’t so bad, maybe democrats aren’t so bad”. I know it’s just a psychological coping mechanism. BHO is a damn good debater. He doesn’t have much substance but unfortunately we live with at least 50.1% pinheads. I am concerned.

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Tom Brokaw, NBC News stalwart and probably the last remaining real “newsman” from a generation that has struggled to maintain a distinctive presence in the midst of cable news mayhem, will be moderating “Meet The Press” through the General Elections this year.

I respect Tom, although I find his editorial positions and influence in some of the news programming that he produces to be sharply left (and off the cliff sometimes), but I think that he has the knowledge, relationship savvy and ability to listen to those he disagrees with that will help maintain the integrity of the program.

I think everyone would agree that Tom is not Tim, and should not be critiqued as such.  However, I expect a level of thoroughness in presenting …

This morning’s Meet The Press featured an interview with Ralph Nader where he announced that he is running for President.  True to form, Tim Russert asked Nader a lot of stupid questions about the 2000 election and Nader’s supposed impact on the outcome of that election, which Nader actually responded to rather adroitly.  And of course, Russert couldn’t leave it alone and pressed some more and insinuated that Nader’s goal was only to somehow impact the outcome of the election instead of actually winning.  Nader managed to get a few comments in regarding his position on actual issues, but it was disappointing that Russert never really discussed issues with Nader but instead attacked the very idea of him running.  Including:

You heard Barack Obama say

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It’s been a busy day in politics…

John Edwards has apparently been paying attention to our suggestions. He has decided to drop out of the race leaving no endorsement (yet).  Any bets on who that helps?

Rudy Giuliani also has departed, providing an endorsement to John McCain. Nice.  Most people seem to agree that McCain is not as conservative as Romney, just like the Easter Bunny isn’t as real as Santa Claus (most people can at least say they’ve had a conversation with Santa, not with the Bunny).  Hucklebee is apparently the only one waiting for an official invitation to leave (Ron Paul hasn’t spent all his money yet, so we may be stuck with him longer than Nader).

Speaking of Ralph Nader, it …