by Mark Silva

Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon.

Pressident-elect Barack Obama isn't offering any such sweeping amnesty, but is suggesting that he will not place a high priority on investigating where breaches of law may have occurred in the war on terrorism waged by his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

The "waterboarding'' that the Bush administration condoned in its interrogation of terrorist suspects is "torture,'' Obama said today, and there will be no place for that in his administration. The detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be closed, he vowed again today, as he has many times before, yet he concedes it will not be easy.

Conceding that Vice President Dick Cheney has offered some good advice in suggesting that Obama and company get a full understanding of everything that has gone on during the Bush terms before simply criticizing things that became a target of "campaign rhetoric,'' Obama did say in his interview on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos today that he and Cheney have some serious differences about the way things have been done.

But, asked if he might ask his Justice Department to investigate wrong-doing by his predecessor, Obama repeatedly suggested that the past is past, and he is more interested in looking :"forward.''

by Mark Silva

"I'm going to write a book,'' the retiring President George W. Bush says. "Part of the purpose of the book is to set history straight."

The outgoing president has suggested that historians will set the record straight, long after he is gone from the White House, on the question of his presidency. Yet he too may be eager to start helping them, not long after leaving office.

"I mean, people forget the environment right after 9/11,'' Bush says in an interview with FOX News' Sean Hannity, in a program that will air as part of a two-part interview with the president Monday and Tuesday on FOX News Channel's "Hannity.''
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"I want people to fully understand what it was like here in the Oval Office and what the times were like,'' Bush tells Hannity. "Because in the world in which we live, it's so easy to forget what the moment was like five years ago... You can't forget it.''

Asked about the toughest moments of his presidency, Bush says: "Well, by far the toughest moment is to make the decision to put men and women of our military into combat... A decision, by the way, on an issue of this magnitude, takes a while to arrive at. In other words, before you put people in harm's way, you want to listen to a lot of voices, at least I wanted to, and a lot of opinions, and to think through all of the different circumstances as best as you possibly can before you make the commitment."

He has been, after all, a "war-time president.''

"The only circumstances I've known as president has been in time of war,'' he says. "When I walk in that Oval Office in the morning, I am briefed on the war... I'm briefed on intel and homeland security issues six days a week...I get a report, an overnight report every day, seven days a week. And, you know, obviously in that report are the casualties... And those casualties weigh heavily on you."

He says this about the office he is leaving:

"The great thing about America is that the institution of the presidency is more important than the person. And that's important because no matter who the president is, they'll bring, you know, different strengths and different weaknesses.... It is a reminder that presidents come and go, but the institution survives."

And this about his advice for his successor, President-elect Barack Obama:

"Well, my advice is...follow your instincts, stand strong on principle and surround yourself with people who want to serve not you as a person or not a political party, but serve the country first and foremost,'' Bush says.

by Frank James

David Broder highlights in his Sunday column what he views as early missteps by the Obama presidential transition team -- the misbegotten Bill Richardson nomination, President-elect Barack Obama's initial opposition to Roland Burris's appointment to fill the Senate seat Obama once occupied.

The dean of the Washington press corps concludes, based on the Burris drama, that not only did Obama blunder on Burris but that Obama may be learning he can't count on his allies in Congress as they learn they can't count on him.

Noting that Obama backed off his opposition to Burris once the handwriting was on the wall, that is, once it became clear that Burris had the law on his side and planned to use it, Broder ends by writing:

Obama justifiably figured that Burris was not worth a knockdown fight when he has so many bigger battles ahead of him. But the lesson that other politicians have drawn is that Obama may not always be able to count on his congressional allies and they may not be able to count on him. That is not the way he wanted to begin.

While the incomplete vetting that led to Richardson's nomination was clearly a mistake, it's unclear, at least from my vantage point on the sidelines, that Obama's handling of the Burris matter falls into the same category.

by Mark Silva

Stop the servers.

Never mind the economy, or Gaza, or Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The real news out of the interview that George Stephanopoulos aired with President-elect Barack Obama this morning is the answer to the question that Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, planted with the interviewer:

What kind of dog, and when?

It'll probably either be a "Labradoodle" or a "Portuguese Water Hound,'' Obama replied on ABC News' This Week-- revealing that he still has a little homework of his own to do: That's a Portuguese Water Dog, a pedigree pup -- "known for centuries along Portugal's coast,'' the American Kennel Club notes, "this seafaring breed was prized by fishermen for a spirited, yet obedient nature, and a robust, medium build that allowed for a full day's work in and out of the water. ''

But those Labradoodles sure are popular. A designer hybrid generally accepted as an informal breed of its own now, yet not recognized by the AKC, the mix of Labrador retriever and Poodle is a spirited and bouncy pooch. We've seen the two of them at play in the local dog parks, and both the Doodles and Portuguese have boundless energy.

"They seem to have narrowed it down to a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound,'' Obama told Stephanopoulos. "We're closing in on it.''

Off to the shelters of greater Washington, the Obamas go now -- in a "rescue" search for one of the two preferred pets for the next first family.

"This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary,'' Obama noted.

By Richard Simon and Jill Zuckman

For the inauguration of a president who promised to be a friend of the environment, what would you expect but carbon-neutral inaugural balls, hybrid Lexuses, organic menus and valet bicycle parking?

Political correctness will rule the day.

Two Green Inaugural Balls are planned, including one featuring a green carpet made from--what else?--a recycled rug. Official invitations to the Jan. 20 inauguration are being printed on recycled paper. The homeless will be handed furs.

With millions of visitors headed to Washington for President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in, "Our goal is to create an unforgettable evening while treading lightly on the Earth," said Jenna Mack, an organizer of one Green Inaugural Ball--not to be confused with another Green Inaugural Ball featuring Al Gore.

Beyond the Earth-minded, nearly every imaginable group is planning an event to promote a cause.

PETA plans to give away fur coats to the homeless while offering hot soy milk cocoa in cups that read: "Thank You for Not Wearing Fur!"

"We expect that the only fur on the streets on Jan. 20 will be on homeless people," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA vice president.

The furs, collected from people who don't want them anymore, will be marked with black paint before they are given away so that they cannot be sold.

For the rest of the story on Obama's green inauguration see the story in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:

by Jill Zuckman

The son watched his father, vowing not to repeat his mistakes.

The weekend before George W. Bush defeated Texas Gov. Ann Richards in 1994, he stood in the backyard of his Dallas home hitting tennis balls into the swimming pool for his dog to fetch and ruminated about the future with his media strategist, Don Sipple.

"At one point, Bush talked about his father, and he said 'Sip, my man, don't underestimate what you can learn from a failed presidency,' " recalled Wayne Slater, a political reporter for The Dallas Morning News and one of Bush's earliest biographers.

With that harsh assessment long before he took office as the 43rd president of the United States, Bush had decided he would do things differently from his father. But as he prepares to leave office after eight years, there are many similarities he might have wished to avoid as part of just the second father-son presidential duo in history.

. George H.W. Bush won accolades for his handling of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and forcing Iraq out of Kuwait. His son calmed a frightened nation in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, taking up a bullhorn to promise that the world would soon hear America.

And both saw their presidencies swamped by a sea of public dismay. After the second Bush presidency, another favorite son, the president's younger brother, Jeb, has signaled to friends and family that he is finished with politics, leaving it to the next generation many years down the road, perhaps even his firstborn son, George Prescott Bush.

George H.W. Bush was castigated for being out of touch as the economy foundered and he seemingly could not relate. His son was pilloried for poor handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later he was criticized for an ideological rigidity that delayed early, forceful intervention as the economy careened into a ditch far deeper than during his father's tenure.

As George W. Bush prepares to return to Texas, historians will be judging his legacy and judging him in the context of his father's single term as president.

"The likelihood is that the father will be looked upon as a steadier hand and better prepared for the job," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas who specializes in the presidency.

See the rest of the story on the legacy of Bush 41 and Bush 43 in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:

by Etan Horowitz

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin says he opposes pushing back the Feb.17 Digital TV transition because it would confuse consumers.

Last week, the co-chair of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team wrote a letter to Congress suggesting the delay because the government has essentially run out of $40 converter box coupons.

Martin said he agrees that Congress needs to act quickly to fix the converter box coupon problem, but he said he didn't think a delay would be the best solution.

"We spent a lot of time making sure everyone knows about Feb.17 and it is almost universal now," Martin said. "What kind of a message will it send if we have been telling everybody this is the day it is going to happen and we don't do it?"

Martin suggested that Congress could change the rules governing the distribution of coupons, eliminate the 90-day coupon expiration date or allocate more money.

"It is important for us to try and solve the coupon problem without moving the date," Martin said.

by Mark Silva

President-elect Barack Obama concedes that, in light of the economic situation which the nation faces, "not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able do on the pace we had hoped.''

And there will be some "sacrifice'' ahead, he says - "everybody's going to have some skin in the game.''.

Obama's remarks come in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos airing Sunday morning. Ever the promoter, Georgeo released excerpts of his talk tonight.

"Our challenge is going to be identifying what works and putting more money into that, eliminating things that don't work, and making things that we have more efficient,'' Obama says in the interview, according to ABC News.. "But I'm not suggesting, George, I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped.''

The host of This Week says he asked the president-elect: "At the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of your presidency some kind of grand bargain? That you have tax reform, healthcare reform, entitlement reform including Social Security and Medicare, where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good?"

"Yes," Obama tells the interviewer.

"And when will that get done?"

"Well, right now, I'm focused on a pretty heavy lift, which is making sure we get that reinvestment and recovery package in place. But what you described is exactly what we're going to have to do. What we have to do is to take a look at our structural deficit, how are we paying for government? What are we getting for it? And how do we make the system more efficient?"

"And eventually sacrifice from everyone?" the host asks.

"Everybody's going to have (to) give,'' Obama replies. "Everybody's going to have to have some skin (in) the game.''

by Mark Silva and updated.

President George W. Bush made his last expected journey aboard Air Force One as president today, traveling to Norfolk, Va., for the christening of an aircraft carrier named for his father, the 41st president - the nuclear-powered USS George H.W. Bush

The president and First Lady Laura Bush were joined by their son-in-law, Henry Hager, on the South Lawn of the White House, and Secretary of State Condi Rice and brother Marvin Bush flew with them aboard Marine One to Andrews Air Force Base. Air Force One went wheels up from Andrews at 9:12 am EST and landed at Norfolk Naval Station at 9:41 am. It was chilly at Chambers Field.

After meeting up with the rest of the christening party, Marine One made another run, to the flight deck of the carrier George H.W. Bush. (CVN 77). The white-top presidential helicopter touched down at 11:03 am, and the president stepped off with his father, his mother and his wife. Both "41" and "43" saluted stepping off the chopper.

Bush "41'' was walking with a cane and wearing an overcoat, purple scarf and red tie. They were joined by the president's sister, Doro Bush Koch, who was sponsoring the ship at the christening, delivering the signal that she was ready to sail.

To prepare for the day, the president said, he had been reading his father's old letters. "I thought it was especially interesting to read one that he wrote in the late 1940s,'' he said, "He sent it to a friend -- and here's what he said, he said:

"'You should see Georgie now. Whenever I come home he greets me and talks a blue streak, sentences disjointed of course... He tries to say everything, and the results are often hilarious.,''' Bush read to laughter among his audience.

"Some things do not change,'' the president said.

After the christening, the president met privately with some Navy SEALs at Norfolk, and then made his way to Marine One. At 2:47 pm, the 43rd president of the United States climbed the steps to board Air Force One for the last scheduled time.

At the top of the stairs, he turned, waved, gave the thumbs up and saluted.

At 2:57 pm, bound for Andrews one more time, Air Force One went wheels up for the final planned flight of Bush 43.

For more on what both father and son said at the christening of the carrier attended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others, read on:

by Frank James

There are moments in American history where decisive action is required and by all accounts we are at such a point with our struggling national economy.

But what's the right decision to take to restore economic growth?

Some knowledgeable voices are calling for an economic stimulus of $1 trillion or more, saying anything significantly short of that won't be enough to revive the economy. Paul Krugman, the Nobel-Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist fits squarely in this camp and argued his position eloquently in Friday's New York Times.

Others, however, say given the nation's surging deficits, that $1 trillion is too much to spend, that it would place an unconscionable debt burden on future generations. Put Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, who will be Washington's most powerful Republican after the presidential inauguration, in that group.

Hanging over all of this is the growing sense that we may be running out of bullets and time. The worry is if we don't take our best shot and soon with this next economic stimulus we may become Japan in the 1990s. That was Japan's so-called "lost decade" of economic stagnation which some blame on the Japanese government responding far too slowly to stem the crisis.

President Barack Obama, with his audacious hopefulness, seems by temperament to be in that first group, that in his heart of hearts he'd like to go big $1 trillion dollar stimulus.

After watching this week's testimony before a Senate Committee by the ironically named Robert Sunshine, acting director of the Congressional Budget Office, who delivered some decidedly overcast news, it was easy to come away thinking that $1 trillion was close to the right amount.

Sunshine told senators that the CBO estimates that the recession will mean that the nation's economy will underperform by $1 trillion over the next two years:

by Mark Silva

President-elect Barack Obama is upping the ante of jobs promised with the $800-billion-or-greater economic stimulus program that he is proposing.

This week in Virginia, promoting his plan with an address about the urgency of taking action in dire economic straits, he said that 3 million new jobs are possible within the next few years under the "Recovery and Reinvestment Plan'' he proposes.

Today, in his weekly radio and Internet address, the president-elect said an analysis of his proposals shows that between 3 million and 4 million jobs could be saved or created by 2010, nearly 90 percent in the private sector.

That would be a welcome number in a week in which unemployment was posted at 7.2 percent in December, with the total number of jobs lost last year - 2.6 million - the largest number since 1945. Three quarters of those jobs disappeared in the last four months.

The chair of Obama's council of economic advisers, Christina Romer, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein, advanced the analysis on which Obama is basing his forecast. See their jobs report here.

Obama had previously said his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would create or save 3 million jobs, but said the new anaysis puts the prediction in a range of 3 million to 4 million.

"The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries," Obama said in his address today. "And they'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term."

See the rest of this report and a transcript of the address below:

by Mark Silva

Bill Ayers, that "washed up terrorist,'' the way the McCain-Palin campaign wanted to portray an early supporter of Barack Obama in Chicago, or distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the way academics might rather portray the professor and veteran of 1960s protests, has some pointed criticism for Obama's choice for education secretary: Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan.

"I would have picked (Linda) Darling-Hammond, but then again I would have picked Noam Chomsky for State, Naomi Klein for Defense, (his wife and fellow former radical war protestor) Bernardine Dohrn for Attorney General, Bill Fletcher for Commerce, James Thindwa for Labor, Barbara Ransby for Human services, Paul Krugman for Treasury, and Amy Goodman for press secretary,'' Ayers writes in a blog posted at the Huffinton Post. "So what do I know?''

Our colleage at the Top of the Ticket, Andrew Malcolm, brought the good professor's column to our attention. In retrospect, it seems rather amazing that Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground responsible for a variety of bomb protests of the Vietnam War in the 60s, could have become the lightning rod that he was for Obama during the presidential campaign. Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin helped make him one, variously labeling Ayers as a former and washed up "terrorist.''

"Obama is not a monarch,'' writes Ayers, who hosted a modest coffee for Obama when he was waging his first campaign for the state Senate in the 1990s and is a friend and neighbor on the South Side of Chicago. Ayers also ran the Annenberg Challenge, an educational reform effort in Chicago which included Obama on its board, and is a prolific writer on the subject of educational reform. So his criticism for Obama's nominee for education secretary should be interesting, at least, in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"Arne Duncan is not education czar -- and we are not his subjects,'' Ayers writes in the HuffPost. ""If we want a foreign policy based on justice, for example, we ought to get busy organizing a robust anti-imperialist peace movement; if we want to end the death penalty we better get smart about changing the dominant narrative concerning crime and punishment....

"During Arne Duncan's tenure in Chicago, a group of hunger-striking mothers organized city-wide support and won the construction of a new high school in a community that had been underserved and denied for years,'' he writes. "Another group of parents, teachers, and students mobilized to push military recruiters out of their high school; Duncan didn't support them and he certainly didn't lead the charge, but they won anyway. If they'd waited for Duncan to act they likely be waiting still.

by Mark Silva

Probably no one would like to see a new junior senator from Illinois seated more than the senior senator from Illinois.

But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asserts this evening that no one can fill the vacant seat of the former junior senator, President-elect Barack Obama, until the governor of Illinois is removed from office and his successor names a senator.

Durbin, senior senator from Illinois and second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, bases his view on the Illinois Supreme Court's refusal to force the Illinois secretary of state to sign Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris, a former attorney general.

Secretary of State Jesse White has refused to sign the appointment because of federal corruption charges against the governor, accused of trying to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder. The Senate requires the secretary of state's certification of a governor's appointment of a senator to a vacant seat.

""At this point we've clearly reached an impasse," Durbin told reporters at his Chicago office, suggesting that the Senate seat could remain vacant until Blagojevich is removed from office and the lieutenant governor takes over and makes a new appointment. The Senate, he says, cannot waive a 125-year-old rule requiring the signatures of both the governor and the secretary of state on any appointment.

by Frank James

So which dead British poet will Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich turn to next? At his press conference today following his impeachment, the first ever of an Illinois governor, it was Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses:" "That which we are, we are..."

At his first press conference following his arrest for alleged public corruption, it was Rudyard Kipling's "If:" "If you can keep your hair unruffled..." Okay, that's not from the poem but it fits, no?

I'm thinking it's got to be Dylan Thomas next. "Do not go gentle into that good night..."

by Mark Silva

Stop the servers.

The Democratic National Committee has circulated an email, in the name of President-elect Barack Obama, that doesn't ask for a penny for the party. Obama, who built his record-setting nearly billion-dollar presidential campaign on an Internet plea for five dollars here, ten dollars there, and who has reported raising another $27 million for his inauguration, simply sent out a note today praising the DNC's new chairman, Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia.

"We're in a strong position to build the Democratic Party, renew our commitment to the principles we share, and continue the outstanding work of Chairman Howard Dean,'' Obama says in the e-missive. "Among his many achievements, Gov. Dean launched a strategy to reach out to Americans in all 50 states -- north, south, east and west. This 50-state strategy helped Democrats compete in states where we hadn't in years, including states like Virginia.

"Gov. Kaine has seen the power of the 50-state strategy firsthand, and under his leadership, Democrats will continue to organize and compete in every corner of our country,'' he suggests, inviting fellow Democrats to send up questions for Kaine, who will "answer as many as possible in a video on Democrats.org.

"Tim is the ideal leader to grow and strengthen this party -- not by appealing to our divisions, but by appealing to our common hopes; not by pursuing policies that advance a specific dogma, but by pursuing policies that work for ordinary people,'' Obama says.

And, one of these days, Kaine is sure to get around to fundraising again.

by Frank James, updated at 5:05 pm ET

What will the U.S. Senate do now in the curious case of Roland Burris, the would-be U.S. senator from Illinois?

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled today it's not necessary for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to sign the appointment paperwork for Burris to fill the President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Earlier in the week it looked like Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, would be taking his cue from the Illinois Supreme Court. Reid said:

And we have a situation here that we've had a rule in effect since 1884 here in the Senate, that for a person to be appointed by a governor, you have to have the signature of the governor and the secretary of state. Now, that matter is in the courts, and there are all kinds of rumors floating around when the Illinois Supreme Court will make that ruling. But it appears they're going to do it pretty soon, and -- as to whether or not the secretary of state must sign the certificate along with the governor. So once that's done, that'll be one step out of the way.

Well that step is now out of the way.

But to accept the Illinois Supreme Court's decision, Reid would have to break with Senate tradition which, as Reid reminded us earlier in the week, has required since 1884 that a senator to present documents signed by not only the governor of his state but a state's secretary of state. And the Senate loves its traditions even more than baseball.

by Frank James

President-elect Barack Obama seized on today's report that the economy lost 524,000 jobs in December with the unemployment rate rising to 7.2 percent, to renew his call for quick action on a large economic stimulus in order to prevent the economic situation from worsening significantly.

"Clearly, the situation is dire, it is deteriorating, and it demands urgent and dramatic action," Obama said, noting that the economy lost jobs in every month last year, with 2008's total job losses amounting to 2.6 million, the worst drop since World War II.

The president-elect made his comments at a press conference to announce the completion of his national security team with retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair being named national intelligence director and Leon Panetta, a former congressman and Clinton Administration official, named to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Obama led off the news event with comments on the economic situation. Questions about his plans to help turnaround the economy after he assumes office in little over a week dominated the brief question and answer session following his opening statement.

Responding to criticisms, particularly from Democrats and Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman that the amount of spending he's reportedly going to propose, as much as $775 billion over two years, isn't enough to boost the ailing economy, Obama said that he welcomed good ideas from his critics.