Clinton Is Approved, but Vote on Holder Is Delayed  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate as President Obama's secretary of state on Wednesday, but the new president will have to wait at least a week for a vote on his choice to lead the Justice Department.

Aboard the Bush Plane  —  Britain's Leading Historian on the Genius of Obama's Unsoaring Inaugural  —  Full Coverage: Obama Inauguration, Bush Farewell  —  Blogs and Stories  —  In a Daily Beast exclusive, a former Bush advisor files his account—and his photos—from aboard the former president's flight back to Texas.

A major Bush rule gets scrapped by Obama  —  (CNN) — It's the same Oval Office.  The same desk.  Even the same curtains.  But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won't find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.

Mitchell As Envoy Could Split Center … The expected appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could split the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right.  The schism could be particularly deep if …

Experts say Obama should retake the oath  —  (01-21) 04:00 PST Washington - — Several constitutional lawyers said President Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that was flubbed by Chief Justice John Roberts.  —  The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution …

Justices Reject Pornography Law  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider attempts to revive a 1998 law intended to protect children from Internet pornography, ending a legal conflict dating to the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Obama Will Get His Blackberry  —  President Barack Obama is going to get his blackberry.  —  On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration — but that is probably the National Security Agency — added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package. …

Mohammed Jawad and Obama's efforts to suspend military commissions  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  This is a very good and important step — not only because of its substance, but also because it was something Obama did almost immediately, even before his first full day in office:

DAILY SHOW - WHAT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BUSH & OBAMA?  (VIDEO)  —  Tonight Jon Stewart rightly pointed out that there really are no differences when it comes to philosophy about national security, and he demonstrates it with sequential video clips, comparing Barack's speech with past Bush speeches.

Obama Should Quit War on Terror, Talk to Hamas and Taliban  —  Of course, I agree with my passionate friend, Bernard-Henri Levy, who writes elsewhere on this page that Gaza cannot be allowed to become an “advance base for total war against Israel.”  —  But for the current Israeli government …

Dutch MP faces anti-Islam charges  —  A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.  —  Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made a controversial film last year equating Islam with violence and has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Obama blows off Medal of Honor recipients  —  According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that's 14 Inaugurations).  —  Some background on the ball;

President Obama's First Day  —  President Obama reported to work at 8:35 a.m. on Wednesday, walking into the Oval Office for the first time as the nation's chief executive.  Jeff Zeleny is following Mr. Obama's first day on the job.  —  If so, perhaps the first official entry came this afternoon …

My “To Don't” List for the Right  —  The only thing worse than bad winners are sore losers, and we've had enough of them for the past eight years.  So with that in mind, in the wake of today's historic inauguration, here's my Handbook For The Loyal Opposition, 2009 edition - a “To Don't List,” if you will.

Judge Obama on Performance Alone  —  Let's not celebrate more ordinary speeches.  —  With the noon sun high over the U.S. Capitol, Barack Obama yesterday took the oath of office to become president of the United States.  On one level, it was a simple matter of political process — the symbolic transfer of power.

Change In the Air(waves)  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Welcome to the YouTube White House.  —  In one of many signs of “change” in the air, President Obama has officially tweaked the name of a White House institution, the Weekly Radio Address, which has been heard on stations across the nation each Saturday for years.

LET US NOW SET ASIDE CHILDISH THINGS  —  There were echoes of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, but President Obama uttered no words today that will be quoted in a hundred years.  He has never been a real stem-winder or a coiner of unforgettable phrases; what he's always been is a great explainer …

President Barack Obama willing to negotiate with Iran ‘without preconditions’  —  The new Obama administration is willing to talk to Iran “without preconditions” and will work towards the abolition of nuclear weapons, the White House said today.  —  The Obama foreign policy agenda that appeared …

Senate Progressive Media Summit Liveblog  —  digg it  —  Marcy and I are at the Hart Senate Office Building with Atrios, Jerome, Bowers, David Corn, Mike Rodgers, Natasha Chart, Chris Hayes, Brownsox and others listening to various Senators come in and talk about their issues.

Clinton Confirmed  —  The U.S. Senate confirmed Hillary Clinton to be President Obama's secretary of state in a 94 to 2 vote.  —  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was instrumental in urging Republicans to support Clinton.  Only Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) voted against her nomination.

Worshipping Obama  —  Churlish right-wingers will likely keep complaining about the “cult of Obama.”  I won't indulge in that easy cynicism.  I will note, however, that as I stumbled home, tired and scotch-afflicted for the first time in my life, I talked to one of my best friends …

Supreme Court revokes ban on Arab parties from national elections  —  Israel's Supreme court overruled on Wednesday a parliamentary panel which had decided to bar Israeli Arab parties from running in next month's parliamentary election.  —  The court issued its decision in response …

Schumer's $3-4 Trillion Horror Story  —  While questioning Treasury nominee Tim Geithner at his confirmation hearing this morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer said he spent some time calling around Wall Street this weekend, and what he heard was that if the government wants to clean out all the toxic assets …

Is dissent still patriotic?  —  Do all Americans truly have a yearning to fundamentally “remake” our nation?  There must be a subversive minority out there that still believes the United States — even with its imperfections and sporadic recessions — is, in context, still a wildly prosperous and free country worth preserving.