memeorandum: Lobbying reforms leave daylight (Jeanne Cummings/The Politico)

7:25 AM ET, January 22, 2009

Top Items:

Kennedy Withdraws Senate Bid — Caroline Kennedy announced early Thursday that she was withdrawing from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York, startling the state's political world after weeks in which she was considered a top contender for the post.

New York Post:

CAROLINE KENNEDY ENDS SENATE SEAT BID — By FREDRIC U. DICKER IN ALBANY and MAGGIE HABERMAN IN N.Y. — Caroline Kennedy has told Gov. David Paterson that she is withdrawing her name from consideration to replace outgoing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate, The Post has learned.

MSNBC:

Caroline Kennedy withdraws Senate bid — Personal reasons cited in official statement released early Thursday — msnbc.com staff and news service reports — ALBANY, New York - Caroline Kennedy said she has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Michael Gormley / Associated Press: Kennedy cites ‘personal reasons’ for ending bid

CNN: Caroline Kennedy withdraws name for Senate seat

Associated Press:

Obama takes presidential oath again after stumble — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. Again. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama …

Discussion: GINA COBB, The BLT, Media Matters for America, Jack & Jill Politics, TBogg, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, The Corner, Patterico's Pontifications, The Reaction, CBS News, Buck Naked Politics and Washington Post

Steven Pinker / New York Times:

Oaf of Office — IN 1969, Neil Armstrong appeared to have omitted an indefinite article as he stepped onto the moon and left earthlings puzzled over the difference between “man” and “mankind.” In 1980, Jimmy Carter, accepting his party's nomination, paid homage to a former vice president he called Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

Discussion: Alexander Cornswalled, Washington Wire, Language Log, normblog and The Volokh Conspiracy

Washington Post:
Obama Takes His Oath of Office Again

Discussion: American Power and Althouse

CNN:
Obama retakes oath ‘out of abundance of caution’

Discussion: The Huffington Post

New York Times:

Obama to Shut Guantánamo Site and C.I.A. Prisons — WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to sign executive orders Thursday directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year, government officials said.

Discussion: American Street

Sara A. Carter / Washington Times:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama to close terrorist ‘black sites’ — President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture …

Discussion: Wizbang and Patterico's Pontifications

Chad Pergram / Fox News:

Murtha Says He'd Take Guantanamo Prisoners in His District — Rep. Jack Murtha volunteers to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his Pennsylvania district, as President Obama prepares to order the shut-down of the facility. — FOXNews.com — Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa. …

Discussion: Wizbang, Sister Toldjah, Patterico's Pontifications, RedState and JammieWearingFool

Associated Press:
Sources: Obama to order Guantanamo closed

Discussion: Agence France Presse and Macsmind

Ian Sparks / Daily Mail:

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle … Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own ‘clinically depressed’ pet dog. — The 76-year-old statesman was savaged by his white Maltese dog …

Jonn Lilyea / This ain't Hell …:

Obama blows off Medal of Honor recipients — According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that's 14 Inaugurations). — Some background on the ball;

Discussion: MsUnderestimated and BLACKFIVE

David Stout / New York Times:

Clinton Is Approved, but Vote on Holder Is Delayed — WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate as President Obama's secretary of state on Wednesday, but the new president will have to wait at least a week for a vote on his choice to lead the Justice Department.

Discussion: The Politico, Glenn Thrush's Blogs, Gothamist, Buck Naked Politics, The Swamp, Washington Monthly and The Hill

CNN:
Senate confirms Clinton at State by 94-2 vote

Discussion: The Democratic Daily and Washington Wire

John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Holder confirmation delayed

Discussion: TPMDC, CNN, Salon, Commentary, National Review, Runnin' Scared, The Swamp, The Washington Independent and Think Progress

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Seasoned Negotiator to Serve as a Mideast Envoy — WASHINGTON — President Obama moved swiftly to engage on the Middle East on Wednesday, calling Israeli and Arab leaders on his first morning in office and preparing to appoint a seasoned peace negotiator and former senator, George J. Mitchell, as his special emissary to the region.

Discussion: Times of London and MyDD

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Foxman: George Mitchell is too ‘fair’ …

Discussion: Sandbox, Guardian, American Thinker, Blogs and Stories, KansasCity.com Prime Buzz, Liberty Street, D-Day, Matthew Yglesias and Washington Monthly

James D. Besser / The Jewish Week:
Mitchell As Envoy Could Split Center

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Swampland and Matthew Yglesias

The Campaign Spot:

TurboTax Doesn't Prompt Users to Pay Self-Employment Taxes? Or Just Geithner's Copy of the Software? — In today's confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner said he used TurboTax to prepare his returns for the years in question where he failed to pay self-employment taxes …

Discussion: The Corner, The Volokh Conspiracy, Chicago Boyz, Commentary, NewsBusters.org and Hot Air

Jill Serjeant / Reuters:

Obama inauguration got unprecedented news coverage — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's inauguration generated an unprecedented 35,000 stories in the world's major newspapers, television and radio broadcasts over the past day — about 35 times more than the last presidential swearing-in …

Discussion: Power Line

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

In U.S., 60% Tuned In to Inauguration as It Happened — Nearly half (46%) rate Obama's speech as excellent — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans tuned in live to the presidential inauguration ceremonies on Tuesday. Another 20% heard or read news reports of the event while 20% caught none of it.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:

Intelligence Agencies' Databases Set to Be Linked — After Years of Bureaucratic Snags, System Aims to Ease Communications, Give Spies Access to More Data — WASHINGTON — U.S. spy agencies' sensitive data should soon be linked by Google-like search systems, nearly five years …

Discussion: GroupIntel

Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:

Lobbying reforms leave daylight — President Barack Obama's new ethics rules concerning lobbyists appear to be written right out of Wednesday's headlines — the scandalous ones. — And while they represent the most aggressive attempt by an administration to rein in lobbyists …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Edward Wong / New York Times:

China Announces Subsidies for Health Care — BEIJING — China announced Wednesday that it intended to spend $123 billion by 2011 to establish universal health care for the country's 1.3 billion people. — The plan was passed Wednesday at a session of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.

Discussion: Danwei