Democrats Becoming Republicans, Republicans Acting Like Democrats, and Still the World Keeps Turning! 114 Days to Go!

Some weird news to get to today as I nurse my aching stomach. Hopefully I won't cause my readers to vomit in surprise with these items.

--> Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), a late-January endorser of John McCain, has told George Stephanopolous that he'd be open to serving as an energy czar for the next administration - specifically, Senator Obama's administration. (By the way, those are the two most difficult last names I've ever typed here, and I nailed them both on my first try - I spend way too much time reading about these people). Expressing his interest in continuing to serve the American people even after he leaves the governor's mansion, Arnold seemed willing to answer a call from Obama about such a Cabinet post, as he shares his liberal, pro-environment perspective. So much for party loyalty...

--> And speaking of party loyalty, former Democrat Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is planning on speaking at the upcoming Republican Convention on behalf of Senator McCain, similar to Democratic Senator Zell Miller's partisan attack on John Kerry at the 2004 GOP Convention. Increasingly upset by Droopy's support of the Republican nominee, Democratic leadership is now planning on kicking him out of the Democratic caucus and removing him from his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Democrats, fresh from their surprise victory in 2006, needed to appease the newly-Independent Lieberman to ensure that they kept their 1-seat majority. Now, however, assured of gaining at least a few seats in November, the party can afford to cut Lieberman loose. Good riddance.

--> Barack Obama's campaign appears pretty upset tonight as The New Yorker unveiled its newest illustration depicting the candidate and his wife:

Of course, The New Yorker has been very friendly towards the Obama camp, and this illustration is actually meant as a parody of the smearing and paranoia that Obama has faced throughout his candidacy. However, I'm sure Obama is not particularly fond of the magazine's choice to remind the voters of all those fears.

VeepStakes:

--> Obama, in reassuring a donor that Hillary Clinton remains on the short-list for running mates, actually convinced me that he won't end up picking her. He told the Democratic donor, a staunch Hillary supporter, that Clinton remained one of the strong possibilities, but that the potential presence of ex-Prez Bill in the White House is something that Barack still has to grapple with. I've believed for the past month that if Barack was going to pick Hillary, it wouldn't be as the result of a long, drawn-out vetting process where he sifts through the options and picks her as his best choice. I thought he would pick her because he knew he had to pick her. However, by telling this donor (who is obviously a loudmouth who immediately went to the press) that Hillary was being considered, Obama can get away with not picking her by assuring her supporters that she was considered very strongly. This smells of appeasement to me, and I'm fine with it. I'm sick of all this speculation, and wish we could just get on with it.

--> Despite putting his national service at the forefront of his presidential campaign, Senator McCain as of yet has made no proposal for an expanded national service plan. Obama, meanwhile, as his commencement speech at Wesleyan highlighted, has strongly encouraged a higher level of public service in this country, and has put forward the plans to achieve that. Obama has pledged to increase the Americorps manpower from 75,000 to 250,000 annually, and to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. McCain, it should be noted, opposed the Americorps (like most Republicans) when it was created in 1993 by President Clinton, but has since flip-flopped and decided it's a good idea, highlighted by his 2001 bill with Senator Bayh (D-IN) to expand service programs and his 2003 pressuring of President Bush to not cut funding for Americorps.

Although McCain has no proposal for increased public service, he does apparently support the increased service of American flags: