November 6 Edition

Good Morning All,

I am sure that many of you have either read or heard of the late David Halberstam's study of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations entitled "The Best and the Brightest" first published in 1972. It is a book , as I remember it, that is both hopeful in its essence and tragic in its outcome, as it moves from the assembly of a very smart people team to the assassination of JFK and beyond to the devestating errors of the Vietnam War. Obama, unlike the present occupant of the WhiteHouse, is likely aware of all this important history, and through employing such knowledge as a template for his own administration it is not a stretch for us to believe that many of the mistakes made in that other time will be avoided in this one.

News on Barry's boys and girls will be forthcoming over these coming days as most stories have had Obama ahead of the curve for some time in this regard. We are dealing with a very different leader this time around, one who is in charge rather than one who has been put in place by agendized ideologues; and most importantly....one who is both lucid and informed. The Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary appointments appear imminent, as well as a replacement at Homeland Security, Rahn Emmanuel and Timothy Geithner look set to fill the first two although there is no dearth of emminently qualified names being bandied about. What a refreshing change. Across the aisle it may be about former Republican Senators Lugar or Hegal, or even Colin Powell. Enough speculation for now however as what will be will be and it will be a vast improvement.

Markets took a much deeper breath yesterday than I had bargained for but what the hell, they were coming off an 18% pre election splurge and apullback was likely healthy. London cut rates by 150 beeps this A.M. and Europe by 50. LIBOR will tell the short term tale. We are headed for 1200 S&P soon from these 940 levels despite the bad economic news.