Talking optimistically despite the recession, Obama also said, “We have everything we need to renew our economy, we have the ingenuity and technology, the skill and commitment — we just need to put it to work.”

The president-elect called Richardson a leading “economic diplomat for America. During his time in state government and Congress, and in two tours of duty in the Cabinet, Bill has seen from just about every angle what makes our economy work and what keeps it from working better.”

Richardson, 61, was United Nations ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration, and he is in his second term as New Mexico’s governor. He also served seven terms in the House of Representatives.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would take over a sprawling department that oversees the National Weather Service, the Census Bureau, economic development programs and more.

One of the nation’s most prominent Hispanic politicians, Richardson pledged — in English and Spanish — to work to renew the economy.

He will become the latest former Democratic primary opponent to join Obama’s Cabinet. The incoming chief executive has chosen another adversary-turned-ally, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to be his secretary of state. Obama also chose former rival Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.

Obama is considering another Hispanic politician, California Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra, to be U.S. Trade Representative, according to two Democratic officials speaking on a condition of anonymity ahead of an announcement for the position.

New Mexico’s Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, a Democrat will become the state’s first female governor when Richardson leaves to assume his new post. Denish will take over for the remainder of Richardson’s term, which runs through 2010.

In neighboring Arizona, the ascension of a Democratic governor will put the state in the hands of a Republican governor.

Under Arizona state law, the move of Gov. Janet Napolitano to secretary of Homeland Security will mean a Republican, Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer, will assume the reins there.

The president-elect has moved quickly to fill out his Cabinet, having named more than half of it in the month since he was elected the country’s 44th president.

An energy secretary and United Nations ambassador in President Bill Clinton‘s administration, Richardson was a contender for the State Department job, but Obama offered him the post as commerce secretary after choosing the former first lady as his top diplomat.

Among those Cabinet posts yet to be disclosed if not chosen: the heads of the Interior, Transportation, Labor, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments. Obama also has yet to name his intelligence team, including his director of national intelligence and CIA chief.

Read Susan E. Rice’s Bio Here

Rice is considered a Washington star by many of her peers, and hopes to enact change quickly and drastically as the U.N. relationship with the United States has soured since the Iraq War.

From NYTimes:

he choice of Ms. Rice to represent the United States before the United Nations will make her one of the most visible faces of the Obama administration to the outside world aside from Mrs. Clinton. It will also send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years.

To reinforce his intention to work more closely with the United Nations after the tensions of President Bush’s tenure, Mr. Obama plans to restore the ambassador’s post to cabinet rank, as it was under President Bill Clinton, according to Democrats close to the transition.

Click here for the article from slate.com about the most powerful women in Washington all being Michelles!

The Secret Service would not comment or provide the number of cases they are investigating. But since the Nov. 4 election, law enforcement officials have seen more potentially threatening writings, Internet postings and other activity directed at Obama than has been seen with any past president-elect, said officials aware of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue of a president’s security is so sensitive.

Earlier this week, the Secret Service looked into the case of a sign posted on a tree in Vay, Idaho, with Obama’s name and the offer of a “free public hanging.” In North Carolina, civil rights officials complained of threatening racist graffiti targeting Obama found in a tunnel near the North Carolina State University campus.

And in a Maine convenience store, an Associated Press reporter saw a sign inviting customers to join a betting pool on when Obama might fall victim to an assassin. The sign solicited $1 entries into “The Osama Obama Shotgun Pool,” saying the money would go to the person picking the date closest to when Obama was attacked. “Let’s hope we have a winner,” said the sign, since taken down.

In the security world, anything “new” can trigger hostility, said Joseph Funk, a former Secret Service agent-turned security consultant who oversaw a private protection detail for Obama before the Secret Service began guarding the candidate in early 2007.

Obama, of course, will be the country’s first black president, and Funk said that new element, not just race itself, is probably responsible for a spike in anti-Obama postings and activity. “Anytime you’re going to have something that’s new, you’re going to have increased chatter,” he said.

The Secret Service also has cautioned the public not to assume that any threats against Obama are due to racism.

The service investigates threats in a wide range. There are “stated threats” and equally dangerous or lesser incidents considered of “unusual interest” — such as people motivated by obsessions or infatuations or lower-level gestures such as effigies of a candidate or an elected president. The service has said it does not have the luxury of discounting anything until agents have investigated the potential danger.

Racially tinged graffiti — not necessarily directed at Obama — also has emerged in numerous reports across the nation since Election Day, prompting at least one news conference by a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Georgia.

A law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly said that during the campaign there was a spike in anti-Obama rhetoric on the Internet — “a lot of ranting and raving with no capability, credibility or specificity to it.”

There were two threatening cases with racial overtones:

• In Denver, a group of men with guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats against Obama and sparked fears of an assassination plot during the Democratic National Convention in August.

• Just before the election, two skinheads in Tennessee were charged with plotting to behead blacks across the country and assassinate Obama while wearing white top hats and tuxedos.

In both cases, authorities determined the men were not capable of carrying out their plots.

In Milwaukee, police officials found a poster of Obama with a bullet going toward his head — discovered on a table in a police station.

Chatter among white supremacists on the Internet has increased throughout the campaign and since Election Day.

One of the most popular white supremacist Web sites got more than 2,000 new members the day after the election, compared with 91 new members on Election Day, according to an AP count. The site, stormfront.org, was temporarily off-line Nov. 5 because of the overwhelming amount of activity it received after Election Day. On Saturday, one Stormfront poster, identified as Dalderian Germanicus, of North Las Vegas, said, “I want the SOB laid out in a box to see how ‘messiahs’ come to rest. God has abandoned us, this country is doomed.”

It is not surprising that a black president would galvanize the white supremacist movement, said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies the white supremacy movement.

“The overwhelming flavor of the white supremacist world is a mix of desperation, confusion and hoping that this will somehow turn into a good thing for them,” Potok said. He said hate groups have been on the rise in the past seven years because of a common concern about immigration.

From newser.com:

Fashion experts have their eyes on Barack Obama with a burning question: Can he inspire the young men of America to pull up their pants?

The president-elect himself has said it’s time to end the low-ride movement, and some have trotted out the (disputed) comparison of JFK single-handedly killing the hat industry. Clyde Haberman of the New York Times makes the rounds and finds there’s at least some hope for change on the pants front.

Click here for the full story.

Obama may have inherited the dream, but they own the brand, says the MLK nephew who heads King Center,  who adds that the estate is entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees—maybe even millions. “Some of this is probably putting food on people’s plates. We’re not trying to stop anybody from legitimately supporting themselves,” says Isaac Newton Farris Jr. “But we cannot allow our brand to be abused.”

Of course policing the MLK image and actually collecting any fees could prove to be a legal nightmare; because he’s an elected official, Obama’s image is in the public domain. Farris says he plans to license some King-Obama merch himself in coming weeks.

Although President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign centered around predecessor George W. Bush’s failed policies, the two men met to discuss the transition to power for the 44th president. The soon-to-be and former leaders of the Free World surely differ on policy but, a friendly tour couldn’t be too bad.

From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) The Bushes welcomed the Obamas to the White House on Monday, visiting for nearly two hours and offering the nation a glimpse of a new first family at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

President-elect Obama and President Bush met in the Oval Office, their first substantive one-on-one session, while first lady Laura Bush and Obama’s wife, Michelle, talked in the White House residence.

The president later escorted his successor to his limousine. Obama’s wife was leaving separately after her discussions with Laura Bush.

None of the four spoke to reporters.

It was Obama’s first visit to the Oval Office. The agenda was kept private, although he and Bush were expected to discuss their transition of power and such pressing issues as the war in Iraq and the country’s economic downturn.

The Obamas arrived at the South Portico 11 minutes early with Bush and the first lady waiting for them. Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama greeted each other warmly while the president and his successor exchanged smiles and a handshake.

Taking a bit of prerogative, the president-elect put his left hand on Bush’s back as the two couples entered the Diplomatic Reception Room.

Bush and Obama then strolled along the Colonnade and waved for the cameras.

The president-elect’s arrival had the look of a head-of-state state visit, although there were no fife and drum bands, speeches or official pageantry.

Changes from candidate to president-elect were evident earlier, when Obama stepped off his plane and was greeted by transition manager John Podesta, the former chief of staff to President Clinton.

Obama climbed into a black limousine with tinted windows, instead of his normal SUV; the limo looked just like the one that the president rides in, without the seal or flags. The entire motorcade was upgraded from campaign mode to presidential-level, with an identical decoy limousine, a black haz-mat truck, a communications truck and the counter-assault team hanging out the back of an SUV.

Mrs. Bush was to give Mrs. Obama a tour of the first family’s living quarters, including the bedrooms used by children of past presidents. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the two women were expected to talk about living in one of the world’s most famous buildings, from family life to the help provided by executive staff.

The Obamas have two daughters: Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. Obama started his day in Chicago, dropping the two girls at school, each with a kiss, and then going to a gym for a workout.

Obama told reporters last week that he was headed to the White House meeting with “a spirit of bipartisanship.”

He ran a campaign in which he relentlessly linked Republican opponent John McCain to Bush and presented his ideas as a fresh alternative to what he called Bush’s failed policies. Yet the tone changed almost immediately after Obama’s win last Tuesday.

Bush, who had endorsed McCain, lauded Obama’s victory as a “triumph of the American story.” He warmly invited the Obama family to the White House.

Obama, in turn, thanked Bush for being gracious. The president-elect has made clear in public that there is only one president and for now that’s Bush. Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20.

Josh Bolten, Bush’s chief of staff, said Bush and Obama probably each had a list of issues to discuss.

“I know the president will want to convey to President-elect Obama his sense of how to deal with some of the most important issues of the day,” said Bolten, interviewed on C-SPAN by reporters from The Associated Press and The Washington Post. “But exactly how he does that, I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody will know.”

Unlike the incoming president, Bush knew his way around the Oval Office by the time he was elected in 2000 — his father had been president. Still, like many before them, President Clinton and President-elect Bush had their own private meeting, keeping up a tradition that temporarily puts the presidency above politics.

Obama has been to the White House before, including an emergency leadership session to deal with the financial crisis in September.

But an Obama spokeswoman said the president-elect had never been in the Oval Office.

Aside from all the cordial moments, there was some tension the two tried to smooth over with plenty of physical contact and smiles for the cameras. For all their differences, the men could not be more similar in their manipulation of charisma and media.

Bush, who will return to Texas soon after completion of his two terms in office, publicly directed employees Thursday to ensure a peaceful and cooperative transfer of power. The transition is a delicate dance, in which the White House keeps the president-elect in the loop, and even solicits his input, but the decisions remain solely the president’s.

On Monday’s discussion list: the financial crisis, the war in Iraq and the future of the country.

“We face economic challenges that will not pause to let a new president settle in,” Bush told a gathering of hundreds of employees from the presidential bureaucracy, gathered on a White House lawn.

“This will also be America’s first wartime presidential transition in four decades,” he said. “We’re in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us, and they would like nothing more than to exploit this period of change to harm the American people.”

That sobering depiction came as Bush and Obama firmed up plans for their first meeting Obama defeated Republican John McCain in Tuesday’s election.

Bush and first lady Laura Bush will greet Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the White House on Monday afternoon. The current and future president will meet in the Oval Office while the first lady gives Mrs. Obama a private tour of the White House residence.

The Obamas’ two children won’t be there, but White House press secretary Dana Perino said “we very much look forward to meeting them.”

Bush’s comments to his staff, under a gray sky on the South Lawn, also had the feel of an early goodbye with 75 days left in office.

He stood with the Cabinet, the first lady, and the vice president and his wife by his side. By the time he finished speaking and offered a wave to the crowd, Bush grew emotional. Laura Bush leaned in to give him a hug.

The White House signaled that after months of staying out of the politics of the 2008 election – often enduring a pummeling from Obama – it would soon start speaking up to defend Bush’s record on education, energy, the economy and other issues. The focus will be a natural turn to Bush’s legacy.

Meanwhile, the shift from one White House to the next is fully under way, with Bush setting a serious tone and expectations for his staff.

The Bush administration has already arranged security clearances for key Obama transition staffers and is providing working space and policy briefings as well. Career employees, who keep their jobs even when administrations change, have taken on extra work to prevent any disruption in essential services.

“We must keep our attention on the task at hand, because the American people expect no less,” Bush directed the executive employees.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security caution that the U.S. is in a heightened state of alert against terrorism. The fear is that enemies could exploit the transition period to test the country’s defenses, as Bush himself warned. No specific threat has been presented to the public.

Preparation for the complex transfer of power has quietly been unfolding for about a year. It accelerated with the landslide election of Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois, over Republican John McCain.

Obama on Thursday got the first of what will become regular briefings on highly classified information from top intelligence officials.

World leaders are seeking out Obama by calling Bush’s government. Perino said officials are working with Obama’s team to make the connections.

Bush also suggested there will be no tolerance of pranks during the transition.

When he took office in 2001, some aides found their computer keyboards were missing the W key – a nod to the middle initial in George W. Bush. Staff members of outgoing President Bill Clinton were suspected and criticized for acting immaturely.

Bush told the big gathering of employees on Thursday: “I know that you will continue to conduct yourselves with the decency and professionalism you have shown throughout my time in office.”

During the campaign, Obama relentlessly blistered the Bush administration for what he called failed, tired policies that have harmed the country. The White House has sought to make clear that politics will not affect the transition in any way.

Bush sounded wistful as he looked out at a lot of familiar faces, including some people he’s seen at work each day for nearly eight years.

The president recalled that before his 2001 inauguration, he said that he and his wife would never quite settle in Washington.

“While the honor is great,” Bush said, “the work is temporary.”

Politico reports:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a wily, aggressive West Wing strategist under President Bill Clinton, has accepted the post of White House chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials tell Politico.

Click here for the full exclusive.