Barack Obama is Americans' most admired man in the world, according to an annual Gallup survey (Dec. 12-14, 1008 A). Obama becomes the first president-elect since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 to be named most-admired, and his 32% take is the highest since December 2001, when 39% chose Pres. Bush.

Obama ran away with the top billing, with Bush (5%) and John McCain (3%) rounding out the top three with fractions of Obama's take.

Hillary Clinton was chosen by 20% as the most admired woman, topping Sarah Palin (11%), Oprah Winfrey (8%) and Condoleezza Rice (7%). This is Clinton's seventh straight year being named the top woman.

Yesterday afternoon I dialed into the Team Obama conference call to hear Robert Gibbs and Greg Craig walk through the 5-page report detailing contacts between the President-elect's Transition Team and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his staff.

The call started 15 minutes late and lasted about 30 minutes. After Craig's presentation, he took maybe 6 or 7 questions. Surprisingly, no one asked what would seem to be the obvious question.

Page 66 of the indictment against Governor Blagojevich reads, "Later in the conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 [Valerie Jarrett] for the Senate seat but “they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”

How did Blago know he wasn't going to get anything but "appreciation" from Obama and his team for appointing Jarrett? Craig's report doesn't answer that question - even though Craig said yesterday he's "confident" he was made aware of and reported all contacts between the two camps.

There's also the matter of Rahm Emanuel's phone conversations.  Craig reports Emanuel had "one or two" phone conversations with Blagojevich.  Asked by a reporter why he couldn't say definitively whether it was one conversation or two conversations, Craig said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that Rahm had recalled his conversations from memory and wasn't absolutely sure whether it was "one or two."

Even as a matter of memory recall this is dubious (it's not like we're talking about 5 years or even 5 months ago), but shortly thereafter, when asked whether there were any audio tapes, emails or other documents that were going to be released, Craig said that he asked Emanuel and Jarrett to go back and "reconstruct" their previous contacts with the Blagojevich administration using phone bills, emails, etc. The point, of course, is that if Rahm had really done this it would be easy to say with certainty how many conversations he had with the Governor.

All of this, however, is merely parsing the details of a farce. I'm not suggesting there was any illegality or corruption on the part of Obama or his team, but rather ridiculing the idea that this was some sort of serious, credible review. A President-elect having his own incoming White House Counsel conduct an internal review that exonerates the President-elect and his staff is not what most people would consider to be a legitimate, independent investigation.

As Andrew Malcolm of the LA Times writes:

The Barack Obama presidential transition office today finally released its own report on its own internal investigation of its own contacts with legally challenged Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. And you'll be comforted to know the Obama folks found no impropriety whatsoever by Obama folks.

So go back to wrapping holiday presents or pretending you're working at your desk and checking out Obama's important abs. All is well with the coming World of Change.

Indeed, barring some new relevation you can expect the press to accept Craig's report as the last word on the matter . Time to get back to the regularly scheduled honeymoon programming.

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll (Dec. 19-21, 1013 A) finds that 56% favor the economic stimulus package that President-elect Obama is proposing, even if it costs $800 billion. Asked whether the stimulus would actually help the economy, 17% said it would help a lot and 50% said it would help somewhat.

Minnesota may have to be represented by just one senator when the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6.

Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Tuesday's events did little to clarify what will happen if neither Republican Sen. Norm Coleman nor DFLer Al Franken is declared the winner by the time Congress convenes Jan. 6.

Asked if Gov. Tim Pawlenty might move to fill the gap, spokesman Brian McClung said Pawlenty hadn't yet consulted with the state attorney general, but "our office has looked at this and it appears the governor only has the authority to appoint in the case of a permanent vacancy and this situation likely wouldn't apply."

So when will voters begin to see something close to a conclusion in this election drama?
St. Paul Pioneer-Press:

Instead, their fate still will be in the hands of the Minnesota canvassing board. The board has a meeting scheduled at 2 p.m. Jan. 6 to tidy up loose ends on the recount.

"We are not in any way guided by any Washington considerations (or) timelines," said Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, chair of the canvassing board. "Our top priority is accuracy and transparency and the timing thing is just not our issue. ... We don't care when this is done."

But he and the campaigns are quickly moving forward on the final steps of the recount.

White House Counsel-designate Greg Craig said today that only one person on the Transition team spoke with the office of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and that all contacts and communication were "appropriate and acceptable."

"Only one member of the Transition staff had any such contacts, that was Rahm Emanuel who had a couple conversations with the governor and about four conversations with the governor's chief of staff," Craig told reporters on a conference call shortly after releasing the report. "No one in the circle was aware of what was going on in the governor's mind until he was arrested."

Craig also reiterated that President-elect Obama's statement that he had no contact with the governor or his office was accurate.

Craig and Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary-designate who was also on the call, said the report was ready for delivery on Dec. 15, but were asked by the U.S. Attorney's Office not to release it until they had completed interviews with members of the Transition. Those interviewed included only Obama, Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, said Craig.

Here are some quick highlights from the internal review of the contacts made by the Obama Transition team and Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office, which was released today at 4:30 p.m. ET. The full letter in .pdf format can be downloaded at the Transition website.

The following quotes were written in a letter by White House Counsel-designate Greg Craig:

*"The President-Elect had no contact or communication with Governor Blagojevich or members of his staff about the Senate seat. In various conversations with transition staff and others, the President-Elect expressed his preference that Valerie Jarrett work with him in the White House. He also stated that he would neither stand in her way if she wanted to pursue the Senate seat nor actively seek to have her or any other particular candidate appointed to the vacancy."

*"Mr. Emanuel had one or two telephone calls with Governor Blagojevich. Those conversations occurred between November 6 and November 8, 2008. Soon after he decided to accept the President-Elect's offer to serve as Chief of Staff in the White House, Mr. Emanuel placed a call to the Governor to give him a heads up that he was taking the Chief of Staff's position in the White House, and to advise him that he would be resigning his seat in the House of Representatives. They spoke about Mr. Emanuel's House seat, when he would be resigning and potential candidates to replace him. He also had a brief discussion with the Governor about the Senate seat and the merits of various people whom the Governor might consider. Mr. Emanuel and the Governor did not discuss a cabinet position, 501c(4), a private sector position for the Governor or any other personal benefit for the Governor.

"In those early conversations with the Governor, Mr. Emanuel recommended Valarie Jarrett because he knew she was interested in the seat. He did so before learning -- in further conversations with the President-Elect -- that the President-Elect had ruled out communicating a preference for any one candidate."

President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden announced today more nominations and appointments to their national security team. James B. Steinberg and Jacob Lew were both nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of State. The appointments of Thomas E. Donilon as Deputy National Security Adviser and Antony “Tony” Blinken as National Security Adviser to the Vice President were also announced.

Read the bios of the nominees and appointees after the jump. (more...)

At a meeting with economic advisers today in Washington, Vice President-elect Biden briefly commented to the press pool on the internal review report that the Obama Transition team will release later today:

"Oh I don't think there's anything to exonerate. It's been clear that the president-elect has had no contact with Blagojevich, and you've seen that he's asserted and you'll find in the report that's being released today that there's been no inappropriate contact by any member of the Obama staff or the transition team with Blagojevich."

Adding to this year's holiday cheer, home prices fell a record 13.2% in November while new home sales dropped to a 17-year low.  “November sales just collapsed,” Chief Economist at FTN Financial in New York told Bloomberg. “Price declines are accelerating. As bad as this is, it's going to be considerably worse in a month's time."

Even beyond December, next year's forecasts for the housing market are equally grim. And California, which is already digging for loose change in the sofa cushions to try to pay its bills, is projected to be the hardest hit by the continuing crash in the housing market.

According to a new anaylsis by Fortune Magazine, eight of the ten "Worst Housing Markets for 2009" are in the Golden State. Los Angeles is atop this troublesome list; it's projected to suffer another 24.9% dive in median home prices next year. The rest of the list follows, along with the projected decrease in median home prices for 2009 in parentheses:

2. Stockton, CA (-24.7%)

3. Riverside, CA (-23.3%)

4. Miami-Miami Beach, FL (-22.8%)

5. Sacramento, CA (-22.2)

6. Santa Ana-Anaheim, CA (-22.0%)

7. Fresno, CA (-21.6%)

8. San Diego, CA (-21.1%)

9. Bakersfield, CA (-20.9%)

10. Washington DC/Arlington-Alexandria, VA (-19.9%)

Needless to say, this will have all sorts of negative economic ramifications for the country (and for California in particular), not the least of which are more foreclosures, lower tax revenue, and less consumer confidence and spending. And we haven't even started talking about the bubble that is just starting to burst in the commercial real estate market.

Looks like it's going to be a less than happy New Year.

President-elect Obama continues his family holiday vacation in Hawaii today, while Vice President-elect Biden is at the Transition offices in Washington to discuss an economic recovery package with advisers.

The Transition team's internal review of its contacts with Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to be released at 4:30 p.m. ET today. In the meantime, new White House staff hirings have been announced:

*Cassandra Butts, Deputy White House Counsel
*Elizabeth Sears Smith, Deputy Cabinet Secretary
*Shawn Maher, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Senate
*Dan Turton, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. House
*Camille Johnston, Director of Communications for Michelle Obama
*Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Press Secretary for Michelle Obama
*Semonti Mustaphi, Deputy Press Secretary for Michelle Obama

It was also announced today that Obama will be sworn in to office with the Bible used by Abraham Lincoln in his 1861 inauguration. That Bible hasn't been used for an inauguration ceremony since then. "The President-elect is committed to holding an Inauguration that celebrates America's unity," said Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau, "and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage."