Obama Visits Viers Mill School in Maryland Video

Obama says school visits lift his spirits. He also visited his daughters' school, Sidwell Friends, today.

President Obama paid a surprise lunchtime visit to Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring Monday.

Montgomery County schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison said the visit lasted just 30 to 45 minutes, and that officials had been told to keep it secret. Obama "really just wanted to interact with students and he wanted to do it during lunch," Harrison said.

According to a pool report, the president visited with third- and fifth-graders. Ben Finkenbinder, a White House press aide, said Obama chose Viers Mill because in 2005 it became the first Montgomery County school with a large population of low-income students to be designated a National Blue Ribbon School for significantly closing the achievement gap. Such schools qualify for Title I federal funding. WaPo

Obamas Are Off To School

Malia and Sasha head off to their first day of school at Sidwell Friends. photos.
Raw video

All about Sidwell Friends, where the Obamas will be able to be normal kids, well, somewhat:

The Obamas Big Day on Monday

The kids go to school, Obama heads to the hill and the Obamas begin a new way of life. By way of the Swamp, their temporary home, the Hay-Adams Hotel is slightly haunted.

Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander

Update 1-20 Transcript/video of Alexander's poem.
Elizabeth Alexander studied under poet Derek Walcott, apparently a favorite Obama's. Here is her website. Read some of her poems.

WaPo: Next month, the little girl, Elizabeth Alexander, now 46, a prize-winning poet and professor of African American studies at Yale University, is scheduled to stand at the other end of the Mall before what will probably be an even bigger throng and read a poem at the inauguration of the nation's first African American president.

They are two moments in Washington history, more than four decades and about two miles apart, that on Jan. 20 will bracket a part of one poet's life, along with a chapter in the country's narrative.

"It was one of the iconic stories of my childhood," Alexander said yesterday of her attendance at the March on Washington. She said of her duty next month: "It will be hard, but it will be a privilege."

Alexander, who grew up in Washington and attended Sidwell Friends School, was named by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies as the poet to read at the swearing-in.

Other performers at the inauguration:

Alexander will join soul singer Aretha Franklin, civil rights figure Joseph E. Lowery and classical musicians Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill on the program.

She will be only the fourth poet to read at a swearing-in, after Frost, who read at John F. Kennedy's in 1961, Maya Angelou, who read at Bill Clinton's in 1993, and Miller Williams, who read at Clinton's second inauguration in 1997, according to government officials.

Alexander's bio at Poets.com:

Elizabeth Alexander was born in 1962 in Harlem, New York, and grew up in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from Boston University (where she studied with Derek Walcott), and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her collections of poetry include American Sublime (Graywolf Press, 2005), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Antebellum Dream Book (2001); Body of Life (1996); and The Venus Hottentot (1990).

Alexander’s critical work appears in her essay collection, The Black Interior (Graywolf, 2004). She also edited The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (Graywolf, 2005) and Love’s Instruments: Poems by Melvin Dixon (1995). Her poems, short stories, and critical writing have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Callaloo, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her work has been anthologized in over twenty collections, and in May of 1996, her verse play, Diva Studies, premiered at the Yale School of Drama.

Young Scary-Smart Guy Geithner Chosen as Treasury Secretary

Hillary decided to be secretary of state. The official announcement is expected after Thanksgiving. The young, scary smart guy, Timothy Geithner, has been chosen as treasury secretary, announcement possible on Monday, and Bill Richardson has been selected to head up commerce. Larry Summers, who was the other contender for Treasury Secretary, may be considered for Fed chief. 

Michelle Obama has her chief of staff, Jackie Norris. Jill Biden also has hers, Catherine Russell. 

The Obama girls get a school, Sidwell Friends, a private school. 
NYT's conservative columnist David Brooks praises Obama's team so far. Here are recent appointments: 

Jackie Norris, chief of staff to the First Lady
Norris joined Obama’s presidential campaign in January 2007 and served as the Iowa Senior Advisor during the caucus campaign, later serving as the Iowa State Director for the successful 2008 general election campaign. Originally from Ossining, New York, Norris started her career in the office of Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter. She later served as Vice President Al Gore’s scheduler and events planner and as Director of Scheduling and Advance for HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo. Norris served as finance director for Governor Tom Vilsack’s 1998 gubernatorial campaign and as Gore’s political director for the Iowa caucuses during his 2000 presidential bid. In 2002, Norris became a classroom teacher for history and government at high schools in Perry, Ames, and Johnston, Iowa. Norris, a 1992 graduate of SUNY-Geneseo, obtained secondary education teacher certification in 2002 from Iowa State University and Masters in Political Science in 2008. Norris is the 2005 award recipient of the James Madison Fellowship and serves as Vice Chair of the Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa Freedom Fund Board. Norris and her husband John are residents of Des Moines, Iowa and have five-year-old twin boys, Hunter and Cole, and a two-year-old son, Sam.

Patrick Gaspard, Director of the Office of Political Affairs
Gaspard currently serves as the Associate Director of Personnel for the Presidential Transition Team and served as National Political Director for Obama’s presidential campaign. Previously, Gaspard served as the Executive Vice President of Politics and Legislation for Local 1199 SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East, the largest local union in America, where he helped coordinate political activity and government relations on behalf of 300,000 members. In 2006, Gaspard served as the acting political director for SEIU International during the national union’s successful effort to help Democrats capture majorities in the House and Senate. In 2004, Gaspard was the National Field Director for America Coming Together. Gaspard worked for Governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and numerous congressional candidates, and campaigns going back to the historic Mayoral election in New York in 1989. Gaspard is a former community organizer around school reform issues. He is married with two children.

Catherine (Cathy) M. Russell, Chief of Staff for Dr. Jill Biden
Cathy Russell is a long time advisor to Dr. Biden and advocate for the prevention of violence against women, both at home and abroad. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Ms. Russell served as Chief of Staff for Dr. Biden. Previously, she has been a Senior Advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on international women’s issues. In the Clinton Administration, she served as Associate Deputy Attorney General. On Capitol Hill, she was Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee and also served as senior counsel to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT). She received her J.D. from George Washington University.

Cynthia Hogan, Counsel to the Vice President
Cynthia Hogan has been a legal advisor to Vice President-elect Biden for nearly 20 years, first joining his staff in 1991 as his Counsel for Constitutional Law on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, then as Staff Director and finally as Chief Counsel, during his tenure as Chairman. During her time working for then-Chairman Biden (1991-1996), the Committee successfully passed the landmark 1994 Violence Crime and Control Act and the Violence Against Women Act. She also advised Chairman Biden during the Supreme Court nominations process for both Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Cynthia Hogan is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. She graduated in 1979 from Oberlin College and received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984, where she served as an editor on the Virginia Law Review. She clerked for the Honorable Edward Cahn on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and was an associate at the Washington, D.C. law firm Williams & Connolly. She currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband Mark Katz and their two children.

Moises (Moe) V. Vela, Jr., Director of Administration for the Office of the Vice President
Moe Vela will bring a wealth of business management skill and outreach experience to the Obama-Biden Administration. From 1996-2000, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Advisor on Hispanic Affairs for Vice President Al Gore. Most recently, Vela was the founder and a partner at The Comunidades Group, a multi-family acquisition and operations company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Vela received a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas, a J.D. from St. Mary’s Law School, and is a member of the State Bar of Texas. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado and is a Denver Civil Service Commissioner, appointed by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Vela is a native of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and hails from a pioneer South Texas family.

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