DAY’S END ROUNDUP

President-elect Barack Obama’s appointment of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to become secretary of State is bad news for Clinton critics, according to her backers online. Officials declare that the country has been in a recession since last year, giving liberal bloggers more fodder for attacks on conservatives. And President Bush’s admission that he was unprepared for the Iraq war cements his legacy, according to one liberal pundit.

Monday is “victory day for Hillary” over her critics in the blogosphere who declared the Clintons finished after she failed in the presidential race, writes Taylor Marsh. Conservatives should acknowledge that the national security team that Obama rolled out, which also includes Defense Secretary Robert Gates and retired Gen. Jim Jones, is as good as they’re going to get when it comes to keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iran, stabilizing Iraq and defending Israel, writes Townhall’s Hugh Hewitt.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said that the recession started in December 2007, which was the same month that conservative pundit Larry Kudlow said that there was no recession at all, writes Anonymous Liberal. Mother Jones’s Kevin Drum reminds readers that he wrote last winter that December 2007 was the month the recession started. For those looking for reasons why Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost this year, the timing of the recessionis one place to the start, according to Matthew Yglesias.

Bush’s remark in an ABC interview that he was “unprepared for war” reminds Alan Colmes of how Bush was unprepared for Hurricane Katrina. But Bush isn’t wholly accurate about his own record, writes Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey. His administration was ready to fight the war but it clearly wasn’t ready for occupying a country, according to Morrissey.

FROM THE BLOGS:
So Much for Killing Off The Clintons – Taylor Marsh
Right Should Acknowledge Strong Team – H. Hewitt, Townhall
It Hurts to Be John Kerry Today – Mary Ann Akers, The Sleuth
Official Recession – Matthew Yglesias
Kudlow and Company – Anonymous Liberal
Recession Dating – Kevin Drum
Bush: ‘I Was Unprepared for War’ – Alan Colmes, Liberaland
Wasn’t Prepared for Occupation – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Bush: ‘I Did Not Compromise My Principles’ – ABC News
It’s Official – Obama Taps Clinton to Head State – The Hill
House to Push $500 Billion Stimulus Bill – Reuters