Obama can’t actually appoint people to positions right now because he isn’t President yet, right? He is essentially announcing his intention to do so and then presumably on the afternoon of inauguration day he would sign a whole bunch of papers officially doing the nominating, right?

But I’ve also heard there will be confirmation hearings and such prior to January 20th. Not sure about the actual final votes on the nominations. How does that officially work if Obama does not yet actually have the power to nominate people to positions and won’t until he is inaugurated?

I realize that practically it needs to be arranged in such a way that the new cabinet can start working as soon as the new administration takes office.

But does anybody know the technicalities of exactly how they work this?

So, as expected, Chambliss wins the Senate in Georgia. This is very good news. It means no matter what happens in Minnesota, the Democrats will NOT get 60 votes in the Senate, and therefore will still be subject to Republican filibusters. For the Democrats to pass anything, they will always need to convince at least one Republican that it is a good idea. Now, would it be better if they needed to convince MORE Republicans than one? Yes. But at least this is something.

I of course supported Obama for President, but the worst possible outcome would be for one party to have the unfettered ability to implement its agenda without requiring at least SOME deference to the opinions and ideas of the “other side”.

As I’ve stated before a number of times, my preferred combination would actually be a Democratic President with a fully Republican Congress. At least in my recent memory that combination has tended to yield the results I like the best.

Basically, I want a situation where it is hard to get things done, and you NEED some level of bipartisan support and a good degree of compromise. Of course, even in those situations I tend to actually be MOST scared of some of the things that get through with near unanimous support. Whenever that happens, you KNOW something is wrong and it would be better if it wasn’t happening.

Anyway… one senator will probably not be all that hard to find most of the time… So this probably isn’t TOO large of a brake on things… but it is something.

We’ll see how it works out.

But I’m glad the Dems won’t have 60.