Saturday Pre-Inaug Roundup (excerpts)

"Barack Obama channels Lincoln, down to the pre-inaugural train trip" (Chicago Tribune):

As Barack Obama prepared for his arrival in Washington, he embraced the same historical imagery that he used to kick off his presidential campaign: the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.

Obama was traveling to the capital by retracing the final stages of the train trip Lincoln made to assume the presidency, beginning the fanfare for an inaugural celebration in which the Great Emancipator will be an unmistakable presence. With an official theme for the festivities taken from the Gettysburg Address, Obama will appear at the martyred president's memorial for a televised concert, take the oath of office on a Bible used by Lincoln and even attend an inaugural luncheon that will feature favorite Lincoln foods.

"Obama gives wide-ranging interview" (Political Intelligence-Boston Globe political blog):

CNN just released an interview that President-elect Barack Obama gave today to CNN’s "State of the Union" anchor John King.

Obama talked about the historic nature of his inauguration and how he choked up during the Democratic National Convention when he mentioned Martin Luther King Jr.'s journey.

Among other subjects, the president-elect also defended the cost of his economic recovery plan, said he always believed President Bush was "a good guy" despite blasting his policies, and said he hoped the press would respect his two young daughters' privacy.

"Obama pitches nuts, bolts of stimulus" (LA Times):

Reporting from Bedford Heights, Ohio -- Campaigning for the top priority of his upcoming presidency, Barack Obama pitched his economic recovery plan on Friday by using an old-economy plant now finding new business in alternative energy.

"Hail to the reader in chief: Barack Obama" (Ishmael Reed-SF Chronicle):

Barack Obama, a Celtic African American with a golden tongue and a golden pen, will not be the first literary president.

John Quincy Adams wrote an essay about Hamlet. Franklin Pierce palled around with Nathaniel Hawthorne. High school graduate Harry Truman might have been the most well read of all of the presidents. John F. Kennedy could quote the Greeks and entertained James Baldwin and Langston Hughes at the White House.

But to see a black man who is literary and is the president sends a powerful message to young people who are abandoning books for the iPod and other gadgets that a curmudgeon like me has given up trying to keep up with.

"In Final Pre-Presidential Tour, Obama Touts Stimulus" (WaPo):

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio, Jan. 16 -- Barack Obama launched his final trip with little fanfare and no glamour Friday morning. He flew on a chartered United Airlines jet -- Air Force One still belongs to President Bush -- and arrived at an unheated industrial park on the outskirts of Cleveland. Obama wore safety goggles and toured a manufacturing plant. Then he delivered a 10-minute speech and shook a few dozen hands before returning to the airport.

Howie P.S.: The Wapo story (above) says Obama will be doing more domestic stops to tout his recovery plan. Halperin left out the "blasting his policies" part of his comments about Bush that the Boston Globe summary includes. Trippi linked to the Halperin blurb and got some people pissed off at Obama on my Facebook home page. Sidebar: In LA, it's a "pitch" not a speech.

Barack Obama