Get in line!

Now this is very amusing. Seems that lobbyists accustomed to being warmly embraced by Bush administration officials are now "forced to stand in the cold" outside Obama transition offices.

Top business officials accustomed to red-carpet treatment in the Bush White House say they must stand in line in the cold outside transition headquarters along with people they don't recognize, waiting to be cleared to meet with Obama staffers they don't know and who don't always appear to understand their issues. One veteran business official lamented that the only Obama official he has recognized so far is former Environmental Protection Agency Director Carol Browner — along with lobbying foes for labor and environmental organizations he has seen milling around or standing in the queue.

"We were part of the team" during the Bush transition, reminisced another top K Street player. "The business lobby was not pro-Obama," he acknowledged. "And for good reason, if you look at the campaign rhetoric."

Several business representatives wondered whether they were involved in a "check the box" scam designed to show inclusiveness rather than practice it.

"You get your five-minute elevator presentation," said one top industry lobbyist who said his meetings have been devoid of meaty discussion. "They say nothing. It's a pure note-taking exercise. Will they be able to say they reached out? Sure."

Change we can believe in!

The campaign autopsy and stupid questions

Via Atrios, TPM, etc., etc., Newsweek has a round-up of reporting from the two campaigns which they'd been holding on to until after the votes were counted. Some stuff that was sort of inferred, but never reported outright, a lot of which was just how fatal Palin's choice was for McCain (think way more than $150K spending sprees), and just how dangerous her frenzied rallies were considered by the Secret Service. And other stuff I had no idea about, such as foreign hacks into the campaigns' web sites.

But I especially was impressed by this insight into Obama's thinking:

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

Bay of fools

I know, I know, we liburols just luuuuuurve our Fidel, so my opinion may be skewed. But didn't we try "regime change" in that lovely Caribbean country once before, with predictable results.

And I don't get the timing. Is there an election in Florida coming up?