Swing State Project crunched the numbers. Makes it a little harder to understand why she was so conservative.

Senator-Designate Gillibrand has a ways to go, but the news that she now supports full marriage equality is a step in the right direction.

...it's a really crummy pick for the Senate.

Gillibrand is arguably to the right of Evan Bayh. That'd be fine if she was a Democratic Senator from Oklahoma, but she's not -- she'll be from New York State.

She is 42, and if she wins election in 2010, could very well be in the Senate for 30+ years, unless she runs for Governor or President (and wins) or is appointed to the cabinet someday.

Now even though CK probably would have been better, it's not as if the choice was between CK & Gillibrand. There were plenty of other good options for Paterson, and he picked just about the worst.

Personally, I'd have liked to have seen a caretaker, so Democratic primary voters could have picked their nominee, and GOP primary voters could have done the same.

Meanwhile, on a different note, Paul Krugman -- who I have the utmost respect for as a progressive policy guy -- seems to misinterpret President Obama's inaugural address.

Krugman seems to think Obama's speech calls into question the President's commitment to a bold economic recovery plan.

In response to an unprecedented economic crisis -- or, more accurately, a crisis whose only real precedent is the Great Depression -- Mr. Obama did what people in Washington do when they want to sound serious: he spoke, more or less in the abstract, of the need to make hard choices and stand up to special interests.

That's not enough. In fact, it's not even right.

Thus, in his speech Mr. Obama attributed the economic crisis in part to "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age" -- but I have no idea what he meant.

But the full sentence -- note the first clause -- was:

Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

During the speech Obama also said:

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...

(APPLAUSE)

... and lower its costs.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

MR. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

Personally, I think Krugman is incredibly compelling when he offers specific analysis of what we should do on a substantive basis. I'm not as moved by his political analysis, but he's so good on the policy, that I'm willing to overlook his occasional tendency to fret too much about Obama's style.

I'm sitting here, continuing work on Daily Kos TV (can't wait to get it out of beta so I can resume a normal posting schedule!), with the announcement of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East on MSNBC in the background. (Edit: And also Richard Holbrooke for Afghanistan.)

Listening to the speakers -- the President, the Vice President, Secretary of State Clinton, and Mitchell -- I am just thrilled. It's so special. After eight years of spoiled children running the White House, we've got adults back. (And the funny thing is, they've got better senses of humor!)

At least for me, election night was emotional, but the inauguration a bit less so. What I wanted to see was the new President and his administration in action. And now that we're seeing it unfold, wow. I'd be lying if I said my eyes were totally dry.

I've posted video of the signing ceremony at Daily Kos TV.

Just amazing:

WH statement:

At 8:35 AM, the President arrived in the Oval Office and spent 10 minutes alone in the office. He read the note left to him by President Bush that was in an envelope marked "To: #44, From: #43". At 8:45 AM, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel came in to discuss the schedule of today's events. The First Lady came into the Oval Office at 9:10 AM. We will release a picture shortly.

The hard work begins today, but there's still time to relish yesterday. I've posted a range of videos from the morning's activities through the inauguration balls over at Daily Kos TV. (Search the tag "Inauguration" for the full list.)

I particularly enjoyed President Obama's speech at the Youth Ball and the video recap of the day by CBS. Whatever your pick, enjoy!

Update (11:59): Wow, even I screwed up what the oath is supposed to be. I thought it was "I do solemnly swear to faithfully execute..." but it's actually "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute..."

"Will execute" is the bare infinitive, not the full infinitive ("to execute"). Therefore, "Will faithfully execute" isn't a split infinitive, and I got too cute by half in titling my post. But my core point has nothing to do with verb tenses and still holds.

Original post:

Somebody's probably already said this, but when Roberts botched the oath (forgetting to split the infinitive "to execute" with "faithfully"), it was obvious that both he and President Obama quickly realized his screw-up.

What really struck me about the moment is that Obama's first impulse wasn't to correct Roberts on this relatively trivial error, but rather it was to continue along with the oath, helping Roberts save face.

Now personally I don't think John Roberts needs any face-saving, but I'm glad that we have a President whose first reaction was driven by a combination of empathy and a desire to salvage the best out of an imperfect situation.

Those are two qualities we're going to need a lot of in the next few years, and we're fortunate to have them in our President.

Al Roker gets his first "interview" with a President...and that President (code name, Obama) tells him "it's warm out" -- despite 15 degree whether. Posted over at Daily Kos TV.

It's official. Update: Here's video of the swearing in.

Update 2: Whoa -- check out whitehouse.gov. Awesome!

Update 3: I've posted the full video of President Obama's inaugural speech over at Daily Kos TV. Keep in mind that it's still in beta, so your mileage may vary. If you play it and have problems, I'd love it if you'd drop a comment in, or send me an e-mail. Thanks!

I just posted video over at Daily Kos TV of the Obamas arriving at the White House before the inauguration.

Our long national nightmare of George W. Bush and his conservative GOP is finally ending!

And with President Obama's leadership and our active engagement in political affairs as citizens, America's resurgence is just about to begin.

So I can finally talk about the project that I've been mentioning from time to time (and with greater frequency of late): it's Daily Kos TV, the newest Daily Kos site.

It's a political news video blog featuring original content and the best video from across the web, and it's now in beta.

Check it out at www.DailyKosTV.com.

The first video featured on DKTV is a higher resolution version of the election night video I put together after November 4.

Come on over and peek around -- and please share your thoughts and suggestions, either on this thread or by e-mail.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say -- without doubt, you'll have some great ideas to improve it!

The I Have A Dream Speech, delivered August 28, 1963, 45 years to the day before Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America:

For the past couple of days, I've just about completely missed all the coverage of the pre-inaugural celebration, save for about 2 minutes of NBC News that I just watched.

This wasn't by design -- it was a function of a my continued focus on the project I've referred to before, which I expect to be able to finally explain later this afternoon, and on spending Saturday accompanying a friend to some family functions, and then driving down to San Diego with her.

But while I know that I missed a beautiful concert today, for me personally, this short break from the pomp and circumstance has helped remind me of the extraordinary magnitude of what happened on November 4 when this country elected Barack Obama president.

Imagine for a moment that America had rejected Barack Obama on the basis of race, and instead elected John McCain. Obvioiusly, that type of discrimination would have been painful for Obama. But the country would have suffered even graver consequences by arbitrarily dismissing a candidate on the basis of skin color.

Fortunately, that's not what happened, and now one day after the day celebrating the life and vision of Martin Luther King, America will inaugurate it's first African-American president. And the story here isn't just about a black man being given the opportunity to be president -- it's also about a nation giving itself the opportunity to get back on track by electing the best person for the job, regardless of their race or gender.