Editorials & Opinion

President-elect Barack Obama's picks for his Cabinet are reassuring because they have Washington experience -- unless they're disappointing for that very reason.
It depends on where you're standing. Inside-the-Beltway types are relieved to see a familiar cast of characters returning to power, even if they disagree with some previous policies.

As far as grand strategy goes, Barack Obama comes to the presidency totally unburdened by his past, as this is truly his first act in international political theater. Plus he's unusually credentialed as a presumed agent of future change -- his biracial background alone. In ideological terms, he's a relatively free agent.

The contentious and quarrelsome Iraqi parliament got its act together this past week long enough to approve a deal that, if it stands, would get most U.S. forces out of Iraq in three years and perhaps even earlier.

Speed traps have long been a way for jerkwater towns to raise revenue. In New York City, and especially Manhattan, the traffic is too congested to make speed traps productive.
So the Big Apple, which you would think would be above the small-town antics, has turned to another source -- parking tickets.

Now that Democrats have won the White House and have widened their margin of control in Congress, does this signify that American voters have moved to the left?

Although San Francisco isn't California's largest city, it has a sophisticated ambience that sets it distinctly apart, and a big part of that atmosphere is its cadre of old-money families, many with roots in the Gold Rush.

So, folks, how is he doing?
With every day bringing more bad financial news, with job loss now an equal opportunity experience, with paying the mortgage each month a major hassle, we can at least be glad that Barack Obama is said to be ahead of any previous president-elect in putting together his team.

A gentleman described as "a leading Russian political analyst" -- and how acute do you have to be to analyze rigged elections? -- says the United States is in the throes of a collapse that will result in us fragmenting into six separate nations.

On Black Friday, the Christmas season officially begins.

Apologize and do it now, Barack Obama, John McCain and all you members of Congress who ranted about Big Oil's price-gouging and the way future-markets speculators were abusing the wallets of consumers at the gas pump.