Barack Obama, who is running a transition that has a 79 to 82 percent approval rating, has opened the second round of his Open for Questions tool.

Before we go into examples with links, I'd like to thank MumbaiBurns for his initial exploratory diary on the subject.  I understand that he had some trouble understanding the internet, so I'm trying to help out.

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Word is circulating this morning that Obama will name Mary Schapiro to head the SEC.  This is the first time in history a woman will steer the most powerful regulating body in our financial system.  I don't have much of an opinion about this candidate, as I understand almost nothing about the markets.  But as a father of a daughter and a citizen committed to increasing involvement of women at every level of our society, I applaud this signature moment.  

Given Obama's emphasis on high levels of competence, I believe she will be situated to make the most of the opportunity this financial crisis provides for reform.  Even if I end up differing with her on large political issues and priorities, I wish her success as all our futures depend on an administration featuring an effective economic team.

Like others, the relative absence of women from Obama's initial nominations concerned me.  Some used this as an excuse to slam him.  Some screamed that he had thrown women under the bus.  Others cautioned patience.  I share disappointment with many here regarding Warren's invitation to play a central role in the inaugural.  But Schapiro's appointment, as well as that of other highly capable women to powerful positions should offer a caution to those who jump on every disappointment to declare Obama's abandonment of progressivism or a particular constituency.  I disagree with Warren's invocation, but Obama's engagement of women in later stages of his transition process indicates that it may be premature to decide it means he has thrown civil rights and the GLBT community under his proverbial bus.  And can we dispense with that annoying bus cliche now, once and for all?

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One of the dominant narratives in past weeks involves the anxiety of progressives.  Conservative columnists who compliment Obama on his demeanor and cabinet nominees almost never fail to revel in the angst the latter must cause progressive bloggers.  Some vindictive Clintonistas, looking for any angle that will diminish the president-elect, are crowing that HRC's nomination as Secretary of State and the number of Clinton administration veterans who have been tapped prove that Obama doesn't know what he is doing and that the contrasts Obama drew with his erstwhile primary opponent were completely manufactured in order to defeat a more qualified opponent.  Of course, had Obama constructed a Clinton-free and Clintonian-free cabinet, no doubt he'd be tagged as some combination of naive, arrogant, and disrespectful.

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At his press conference announcing Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services and the "lead architect" of President-Elect Obama's health care plan, Obama did manage to get a few words in about health care despite the press's best efforts.

Not only did Obama, as Greg Sargent notes, make a point of saying reform would come "this year," but he reiterated his insistence that the economic crisis not be used as an excuse to do nothing.

"Some may ask how, at this moment of economic challenge, we can afford to invest in reforming our health care system. Well, I ask a different question -- I ask how we can afford not to....If we want to overcome our economic challenges, we must also finally address our health care challenge. "

Here again, by inextricably linking his agenda items with his vision for economic recovery, Obama makes it difficult to oppose it; if you oppose Obama's health care plan, you're opposing economic revitalization. It's also completely flipping the conservative script on anything from health care reform to environmental regulation that insists that reform will hurt the economy. No, Obama is saying, action will save the economy.

As Obama said this morning:

"This has to be interwoven into our economic recovery program. This can't be put off because we're in an emergency. This is the emergency!"

Daschle reiterated this theme in his remarks, shrewdly framing health care reform as good for health AND good for business.

Addressing our health care challenges will not only mean healthier and longer lives for millions it will also make American companies more competitive, address the cause of half of all of our personal bankruptcies and foreclosures and help pull our economy out of its current tailspin.

A bit lost in the shuffle was the other appointment Obama announced today, which was Jeanne Lambrew as Daschle's deputy in the White House. Ezra Klein cheers the pick:

Lambrew is an incredibly talented and knowledgeable health wonk, and her involvement should cheer liberals. Unlike during the campaign, when Obama's health care team seemed heavy on relatively cautious academics, Lambrew has long White House and executive branch experience, and comes to health care as a crusade as much as a topic of study. As Jon Cohn says, the importance of her presence "goes beyond the fact that she happens to know a heck of a lot about health care. She, too, has a strong commitment to what you might call the 'social justice' side of the debate."

But I'm sure somehow this was bad news for liberals...

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We expected the Bush administration to pull shenanigans before Obama could take office, and they have, from not implementing the safety protocols on the bank bailout to hiring as many partisans to career government jobs and changing as many environmental rules as possible to make the new President's job harder once he takes office.

What I didn't expect is for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which has captured the hearts and minds of children and adults alike, to be the impetus behind the most blatant refutation of the incoming presidency yet.

When I was a kid, NASA was the coolest thing ever: they sent people into outer space. I saw a space shuttle on its pad down in Cape Canavral when I was no more than 8, and I was more jazzed about that than I was about Disney World.

Little did I know that, less than 25 years later, this epic institution would arrogantly blow off the president-elect who is dedicated to restoring the rule of science over superstition to the government.

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