Hey, let's all be disappointed! Did you hear that President-elect Barack Obama is already a huge sell-out? He's not even going to cut Joe Lieberman's nuts off! (We think it's dumb to give Lieberman subpoena power over the incoming president but whatevs, it's Barry's call.) Now, he's apparently going to let Hillary Clinton be Secretary of State. That is, if you believe The Guardian. The lefty UK paper says the Clinton selection is a done deal, though no US paper has been quite so bold. Michael Wolff thinks this is brilliant media strategy on the part of either the Obamas or the Clintons, to punish the New York Times for some unspecified crime or simply to bypass them in order to teach them a lesson about who's in charge. We, uh, aren't so sure. Neither the Clintons or the Obamas seemed to show much favor to the foreign press during the campaigns, and no UK paper, let alone The Guardian, was handed a scoop of this magnitude over the domestic press. So why now? As Wolff points out, the Europeans love Bill Clinton much more than we do, here where he used to run things, because we had to see his shouty red face so much during the primaries. So maybe it's just wishful thinking? But now the speculation has lasted days, without denials from anyone, so, yeah, it seems like the SecState gig is Hillary's. The trial balloons been floating out there for a while now, and no one's yet come up with a great argument against the nomination that doesn't boil down to "the Clintons are a headache." We are probably happier with her than with, say, hilarious clown Bill Richardson or old man Richard Holbrooke, but we were kinda warming to the John Kerry idea. That guy's been in the Senate way longer, and is clearly way more sick of being there, right? He was investigating Iran-Contra when Hillary was in Arkansas doing whatever she was accused of doing in that Whitewater thing! (Remember that?) Both of them were dead wrong on Iraq, obv, but we're probably not going to sell anyone on Secretary of State Russ Feingold. At least she's smarter than Condi Rice. Still, Clinton's rehtoric on foreign policy has always seemed more resolutely, defensively hawkish, in that "Democrats can be war-mongering badasses too" way we deplore, than that of genuine old-timey liberal John Kerry. Of course, Obama's language has been similar, so we probably shouldn't expect the doves and peaceniks to run the foreign affairs department in an Obama administration. Which means it's disappointment season! Turns out the new politics of hope might involve some hopeless old politicians! Because, hey, the only Democrats hanging around Washington with any experience in the executive branch are old Clinton people (there might be some Carter guys, at Brookings or something, but no one talks to them). So the faces of triangulation did not melt, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, when Obama won the nomination. It is a great excuse for us Coastal Liberal Elites to Hate America Again, for the very first time. Just keep Mark Penn far away from 1600 Pennsylvania, Barry, for the sake of the country.

If Barack Obama appoints Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, as the Guardian claims he soon will, his cabinet would be awesome like Lincoln's! The Times' Gail Collins has already said so, and, what do you know, Obama in January read a book called "Team Of Rivals," about Lincoln's oppositional cabinet. But you know who else read and admired that book ahead of the primaries? Hillary Clinton! It's supposedly one of her favorite works, and yet her "Team of Rivals" resulted only in a humiliatingly inept bumbling of Clinton's presumed lead in the Democratic primaries. Everyone is starting to realize that "no-drama" Obama's plan could backfire too, because:

Barack Obama, during the Democratic primaries, cited as influential to his thinking the book "Team Of Rivals," about Abraham Lincoln's opponent-stocked cabinet. It would appear this was more than mere campaign puffery: Obama's former presidential rival Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer to join the president-elect's cabinet as Secretary of State, according to a report in Britain's Guardian, carried on the front of Drudge Report. Rather than a thorny problem outside of the Obama administration, in the senate, Clinton will now be on the team, and focused on international problems where political disagreements with the president are less likely to erupt into public view. Of course her appointment could still go spectacularly wrong.

First African-American President Elect Barack Obama's confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all, so why not commemorate his historic achievement on a "priceless work of art," in the form of a collectible plate? Not just any plate; a fine porcelain Historic Victory Plate featuring our dear leader surrounded by American flags and fireworks, inscribed in 22k gold trim. Only two per customer please; demand is high. This awesome infomercial includes a happy white family gathered about their Obama plate sighing, "I never thought this day would come." It's really very American. Click to watch. And another thing that should not exist:

And I'm Barack Obama: The post-election afterglow scored a direct hit last night on 60 Minutes, where the President-elect and wife Michelle's rangy hour-long interview with Steve Kroft drew 24 million viewers. The 6.4 rating is the newsmagazine's highest in nine years, and what did we learn? There will be Republicans in his Cabinet, no new dog would survive the grueling transition process to the White House, and college football needs a playoff system. Also, if you stuck around to the end, Andy Rooney bemoaning frivolous TV news. And here we thought Obama had dispatched all those mavericks. [The Live Feed]

♦ Barack Obama's first post-election interview with 60 Minutes (an excerpt is on your left) earned the show its biggest audience in nine years. [THR]
♦ Dan Rather has spent $2 million battling CBS thus far, but it looks like his time and money may finally be paying off. [NYT]
♦ MTV's TRL came to an end yesterday, in case you haven't heard the terribly tragic news. [NYT]
♦ Rupert Murdoch's New York Post appears to have warmed to Barack Obama. "So has Mr. Murdoch gone soft on liberals—or perhaps just reacted pragmatically to Mr. Obama's sizable victory?" [NYT]
♦ The new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. The flick generated $70.4 in its first three days. [Reuters]

Barack Obama will not be permitted to bring his Blackberry with him when he moves into the White House in January, much to his dismay. He will have three full-time calligraphers on his household staff of 94, though, as well as 18 maids, seven butlers, eight electricians and four florists. [NYP]

Did you think That One would need to be sworn in before he started breaking promises, to children, in front of TV cameras? It was all right there in front of Steve Kroft's face on 60 Minutes tonight, but he just smiled, from the tank. The "emotive" Associated Press, though, noticed Obama changed his tune on the show: The president-elect promised his daughters in his victory speech that a new puppy was "coming with us to the White House." Yet all of a sudden on 60 Minutes it's coming only after Obama gets "settled" in the White House — "late winter, early spring." Watch hope get sucker-punched, after the jump.

Tonight's 60 Minutes sit-down with President-Elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle was the media equivalent of a fluffernutter sandwich, and it tasted good. Here the couple were relaxed and clearly happy to have ended the long campaign. Giggling with big smiles, the two won over the newsmagazine's senior-aged audience with feel-good family stuff and little in the way of substantial announcements. In the following clip, Barack relates his presidential way of dealing with Michelle's mom Marian Robinson. Click for the video.Thanks to Blakeley for the CBS footage. You could hear Michelle Obama's exuberance as she discussed scouting her new digs:

Before he comes to office, a president has to give up his e-mail account. For the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, that wasn't much of an issue, but for our recent presidents, it's an anguishing and terrible thought. As president-elect Obama parts with his BlackBerry, he'll have to learn how to deal with not being able to rag on other players in his fantasy basketball league. Jeff Zeleny's NYT story about president e-mail e-mail today also contains George W. Bush's sad 2000 shout-out to his electronic homeboys.

The New York Times reports that as President, Barry O may not be allowed to use a smartphone. Not even an iPhone. Worse: "A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful." Twitter is right out. Did I miss a memo on this roadblock before I voted? (Photo by the New York Times/Ozier Muhammad)

On the post-election Meet the Press, burly Tom Brokaw asked co-chairperson of the Obama-Biden Transition Project Valerie Jarrett about the last conversation she'd had with Obama before he became president-elect. "We made some expressions, and we actually didn't say a word," she said of her near-BFF level bro. A longtime friend to the Obamas, the Iranian-born Jarrett was named Senior White House Advisor late yesterday, ending speculation she would take a major Cabinet-level post role and instead remaining close as always to the president-elect. Are we about to fall in love kinda like we did with Condi Rice but only for real this time?The campaign seems to already have a tight grip on who they want where, and Jarrett's early appointment doesn't step off that course. Jarrett, 52, isn't a new face in Obama's life, or in American politics, but she'll be a breath of fresh air to the country at large. Born in Shiraz, Iran, she moved to London when she was just seven. Her African-American dad was a geneticist running a children's hospital in the country. The divorced Jarrett has the president-elect's unwavering trust, and her new title accurately captures just how much voice the real estate company CEO will have in the early days of BO's administration.

It's already been suggested by some that Karl Rove handed the Democratic Party its playbook for this month's election win. Since Rove needs all the good press he can get, he's grabbing the "I Got the First Black President Elected" meme with both hands and holding on until his next lucrative consulting gig. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Rove takes a break from crafting a Palin-Bush hybrid for contention in 2012 to make himself look good:Deborah Solomon's painfully, quippy interviews usually reveal more about her than about the interview subject in question, but it looks like she hit a nerve with ole KR:

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, left, sits at a campaign event for Barack Obama in October. YouTube's growing role in politics makes Schmidt an unelected Washington player. Can you think of a better caption? Leave it in the comments. the best one will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: jasonnellis, for "That's not a sweater, honey." (Photo by cjwoolridge)

The campaign site for Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu," the Israeli candidate for prime minister, is a mirror-image copy of BarackObama.com, flopped to accommodate the right-to-left Hebrew script. Right down to the icons, it mirrors the website developed by Blue State Digital, reports the New York Times. The new-media touches may not all translate; Israel only has a couple thousand Twitter users, making it an unlikely get-out-the-vote mechanism. The imitation is meant as flattery: Netanyahu and Obama have met twice and are said to get along, and the Israeli candidate is campaigning on a similar theme of change.

This week's Democratic Party weekly address by our audaciously hopeful President-elect will not be on boring old NPR. Barack Obama's going to upload to YouTube, reports the Washington Post. The WaPo says the Obama administration will also make "online Q&As and video interviews" part of its communications strategy. Think this is payback for Google CEO Eric Schmidt's late-to-the-game Obama endorsement?If so, it's scant reward for America's CTO. If transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett's two-minute talk yesterday is any indicator, most of these clips will be no more exciting than a White House press release. Obama himself, though, has one of the most awesome telepresences I've ever seen. Mr. President, get yourself a bulldog and a skateboard and you'll blow Avril Lavigne and Justin Laipply right off the Most Viewed (All Time) page.

♦ Peter Chernin, Rupert Murdoch's right-hand at News Corp., may be planning to depart the company in the near future. [LAT]
♦ 60 Minutes has snagged the first interview with Barack Obama. [THR]
♦ WWD has a roundup of how magazines will fare overall in 2008. Most of the news is depressing, yes, but there are a couple of bright spots: Elle and Men's Journal reported 3 percent increases in ad pages. [WWD]
♦ You knew this one was coming: Political statistics star Nate Silver is reportedly shopping a pair of books to publishers. [NYO]

Yesterday Times fashion writer Cathy Horyn gently rebuked Barack Obama's sartorial tastes, implying his "dad jeans" made him look like a sitcom character from the 1990s. ("When he wears them with white sneakers and a windbreaker, one could almost say he had stolen the look from Jerry Seinfeld's character on the television series.") The criticism isn't likely to convince Obama to break out the baggy jeans. As the President-elect made clear a few months ago, he's no fan of the belted-around-the-thighs look style favored by many young black men: "Brothers should pull up their pants," he told MTV viewers in a pre-election appearance. "You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing... Some people might not want to see your underwear. I'm one of them."

"She's certainly the comedy writer's 'Person of the Year.'" [Page Six]

John McCain was right. So was Bonnie Fuller, and so were we! President Elect Barack Obama has totally become not just the great mixed-race hope for the nation, but he and his family have also evolved into tabloid-worthy celebrities. He and his wife Michelle are, in fact, "the new Brangelina." Well, that's according to Albert Lee, an editor for the bright Queen of all Glossies, Us Weekly. He recently explained to CNN that the Obamas are just what sells right now. The latest issue featuring the happy and now victorious couple smiling on the cover moved over one million copies. Because, he surmises, "everything else seems totally irrelevant right now." Which is true! But, what does this mean for American politics and, more importantly, American celebrity? We never quite got the thrust of those McCain ads that compared the senator from Illinois to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. People actually seem to be kind of into that idea. There's something almost Main Streety about not just knowing the business of an administration's policies, but also knowing where they ate, what they wore, and what those adorable little girls are up to. Plus, the old, gross vanguard of hedonistic celebrities is dead anyway. And here, as the glorious new replacements, are some nice do-gooders to focus on. It's like the Kennedys all over again! Except, you know, hopefully with a different ending. Hear Mr. Lee elaborate in his own words below.