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Thursday, December 18, 2008

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS?

Bush, Obama to Meet Before Inauguration

President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama have scheduled a luncheon meeting for Jan. 7, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, and they hope to be joined by the other living presidents. The purpose of the meeting will be to "give advice and share stories" before Obama is sworn in Jan. 20, an aide said.

Bush and Obama met Nov. 10, just days after the election, and discussed a future meeting at that time. It is unclear, however, whether the three ex-presidents -- Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter -- have signed off on the get-together.

Obama has been holding a steady stream of private meetings in Chicago in recent days, in addition to his public Cabinet selection announcements and news conferences. On Tuesday, he convened his economic advisers to discuss the handling of a stimulus package; earlier in the week, he saw his national security team. Obama leaves for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii this weekend and is expected to arrive in Washington around Jan. 5.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

PERSON OF THE YEAR

Surprising Nobody, Time Picks Obama

Long shot steamrolls into the White House, erasing racial barriers, rejuvenating America's image and bringing campaign organizing into the Internet age.

Is there any surprise that President-elect Barack Obama was chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year? As the magazine says in its main essay on the incoming commander in chief, "He hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order."

The runners-up may have offered good sport. As Obama overhauled American politics, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. rewrote the rules of American capitalism. And just as Obama broke through a once unassailable barrier, the Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, played her own historic role in the 2008 election.

-- Howard Schneider

POLLS APART

A Confidence Gulf Between the Parties

Just 23 percent of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said they trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the main problems facing the nation -- the lowest level reached by either party in surveys dating back to 1982.

A majority, 56 percent, trust the Democrats to handle the nation's top issues over the next few years, also a record in Post-ABC polling. But the GOP's recent losses have not translated into big Democratic gains; instead, the proportion who trust neither party has climbed to 15 percent.

Trust in the GOP has fallen nine points since May, driven by a 19-point decline among conservatives. Nearly a fifth of those in that group said they trust neither party.

Among independents, nearly twice as many said they trust neither party to cope with the nation's problems than trust Republicans -- 28 percent to 17 percent. Nearly half -- 46 percent -- have more confidence in the Democrats, down seven points since May.

Republicans last held a significant advantage on this question in 2002.

-- Jennifer Agiesta

SADDLEBACK PASTOR

Rick Warren to Give Inauguration Invocation

Evangelical mega-pastor Rick Warren has been selected to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration next month, inaugural organizers announced Wednesday.

Warren, a best-selling author and the founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., hosted a presidential forum at his church this summer at which he questioned Obama and Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee, on a variety of faith-related issues.

Warren has been credited with helping to broaden evangelicals' focus beyond such social issues as gay rights and abortion to include global warming, poverty and the AIDS epidemic. He drew criticism from many evangelicals when he invited Obama to his conference on AIDS in 2006.

But he has earned the ire of liberals with his opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research -- stances that are well in line with his faith as a Southern Baptist preacher.

On Wednesday, gay-rights bloggers were already criticizing the choice of Warren as invocation pastor, citing his vocal support of California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in the state that was approved by California voters last month.

-- Jacqueline L. Salmon