Bill Clinton Still Not Ready to Endorse Obama

We know that Clinton took the nomination battles personally. While Hillary Clinton managed to make a strong speech endorsing Obama after she lost, Bill does not appear ready to move beyond the primaries. At least he is willing to say he prefers the views of Obama over McCain on one issue. Reuters’s reports on Bill Clinton’s first public appearance since his wife conceded:

The former first lady endorsed Obama, urged her supporters to rally behind him and is scheduled to campaign with him later this week.

But her husband has not publicly endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee to succeed President George W. Bush. Asked by journalists when he might do so, Clinton smiled and shook hands with spectators without acknowledging he heard the question.

In his speech, Clinton predicted Congress would pass a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions.

“Because I believe so strongly in this, I favor Senator Obama’s position, which is to go to 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses over Senator McCain’s position, which is to go to 70 percent,” he said. “But that’s light years ahead of where Republican’s have been.”

Tom Brokaw to Host Meet the Press Through the Election

With Tim Russert as moderator, Meet the Press was the dominant Sunday news show. Russert’s death opened the possibility of losing a share of the audience to others such as George George Stephanopoulos. Tom Brokaw will be taking over as moderator through the election. As long as Brokaw agreed, this was the by far the smartest move for NBC. Brokaw is the only one at NBC with the stature to maintain the position of Meet the Press during the period when the Sunday talk shows will be receiving the most attention.

This will also give the network more time to consider replacements. Once they do decide upon someone, they could be given increasing prominence as the number two person under Brokaw on the show, increasing the chances of keeping viewers with the new host after the election.