President Elect

The poet in the soul of the President-elect must be muttering, "The world is too much with us. " Perhaps the problem is something only the ghost of Martin Van Buren understands. But for whatever reason, we are witnessing a remarkable extra-constitutional occurrence. George Bush's presidency has begun two months before his inauguration. From a beach in Florida to a hall in Algiers, the world, in the form of market forces and men of force, is pestering him and he is responding in ways that constitute governing.

One fragment is a poster-size patch of discolored red-and-white cloth, the other little more than threads and fibers. Both pieces come from the same source. And both are more than what they seem. "Relics," said Andrew Coldren, curator of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia, "of Lincoln's epic train journey. " Both swatches were snipped from a giant U.S. flag that President-elect Abraham Lincoln raised at Independence Hall during the 1861 rail voyage that took him through Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration.

With "Ben Franklin" looking on, Mayor Rendell rings the Liberty Bell at 6 p.m. yesterday as part of a national bell-ringing ceremony for world peace. Simultaneously in Washington, President-elect Clinton and Vice President-elect Al Gore rang a replica of the historic bell.

I FOR ONE have had it. I'm sick and tired of a bunch of idiots foaming at the mouth regarding President-elect Obama having no experience. Unless I've lost my mind, neither did Ronald Reagan. He was a Hollywood actor. Need I say more? Ann Townson Philadelphia

Having spent four years in Washington with the Clinton administration, former Common Pleas Court Judge Nelson Diaz may return for a second extended stay. Diaz, who served as city solicitor under Mayor John F. Street, is among a handful of high-profile Latinos rumored to be possible picks to serve as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President-elect Barack Obama. Diaz said yesterday that shortly after Election Day, he received a call from Obama's transition team to gauge his interest in a Washington position.

Bonnie Kushner of Penn Valley has been appointed a director of the Philadelphia Association of Life Underwriters. The PALU is a professional organization whose members are in the life and health insurance field. Kushner is with Karr Barth Associates of Bala Cynwyd. Frank J. Sammartino of Bala Cynwyd, a clinical professor at the Temple University School of Dentistry, is president-elect of the Philadelphia County Dental Society. He is a graduate of Temple and is in general practice in Philadelphia.

"I thought I knew everybody in America," the President-elect said in frustration as he began talking about his Cabinet one morning late in November. "But all I know is a few politicians. " That was November 1960. The next president was John F. Kennedy, who knew how to become president but not how to be president. Only 40 men know that, and President-elect Bill Clinton is not yet one of them. "Nine strangers and his brother," was one fairly accurate description of the men Kennedy finally chose.

George Bush seems to be having a wonderful transition. So are the rest of us. He is acting kinder and gentler, displaying grace under no pressure. At the same time, the nation (or at least its elected representatives) seems to be developing a consensus on issues that Bush did his best to suppress or subvert during a year of graceless campaigning. Moderate in tone and style, moderate in appointments, Bush has shown a gift for transition. President Reagan has gracefully stepped into the background, leaving his chosen successor in the glow of command without responsibility.

In 1988 we greeted the New Year with a slew of resolutions for the famous and infamous among us. To our surprise and satisfaction, some of them actually came to pass. Mikhail Gorbachev really is getting out of Afghanistan, just like we told him to. Gary Hart really did let the people decide and quietly accepted the verdict. Gov. Casey actually got well, "both physically and politically. " But Michael Dukakis, to his ultimate regret, failed to "remember that what worked for Massachusetts may not work for America.

The subdued loser called on the cheery winner yesterday, and afterward Michael S. Dukakis vowed to cooperate with President-elect George Bush but also to fight for the populist causes of his presidential campaign. "We want to work together," an unsmiling Dukakis told reporters outside the vice president's official mansion after his first meeting with Bush since the election. "But we think these challenges ahead are important. They involve people. . . . We want our government on the side of average Americans and American families, and that's what we're going to work on. " Bush, appearing in better humor, said the 35-minute session produced "a good discussion of the issues that are facing this country in a spirit of, I'd say, good will.

CAIRO - In front of tens of thousands of cheering supporters, Egypt's first Islamist and civilian president-elect vowed Friday to fight for his authority and symbolically read an oath of office on Cairo's Tahrir Square on the eve of his official inauguration. Mohammed Morsi's strongly worded speech was a show of defiance as he gears up to struggle with the country's ruling generals who passed a constitutional declaration taking over major presidential powers in the days before election results were announced after a bitter campaign.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan's president-elect said Tuesday that the U.S. air base there needs to close by 2014 because its presence on Kyrgyz soil puts this former Soviet nation at risk of retaliatory strikes from those in conflict with the United States. Almazbek Atambayev, who won more than 60 percent of the ballots in Sunday's vote, said Kyrgyzstan would honor a contract allowing the United States to lease the Manas base through mid-2014. The United States has used Manas, within Kyrgyzstan's main civilian airport, as a key logistical hub for operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001.

As the nation celebrates the inauguration of its 44th president, there will be no shortage of megawatt star power in Washington. Beyonc?, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Jamie Foxx, the Jonas Brothers, John Legend, Bono, Shakira, Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder, among many others, will honor the incoming chief executive. There'll be no question, however, as to who's the most omnipresent pop cultural icon on the banks of the Potomac. That would be Barack Obama, the self-described "skinny kid with a funny name" who shares the cover of the sold-out current issue of Marvel Comics' "The Amazing Spider-Man" with another web-savvy superhero.

As the nation celebrates the inauguration of its 44th president, there will be no shortage of megawatt star power in Washington. Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Jamie Foxx, the Jonas Brothers, John Legend, Bono, Shakira, Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder, among many others, will honor the incoming chief executive. There'll be no question, however, as to who's the most omnipresent pop cultural icon on the banks of the Potomac. That would be Barack Obama, the self-described "skinny kid with a funny name" who shares the cover of the sold-out current issue of Marvel Comics' "The Amazing Spider-Man" with another web-savvy superhero.

One fragment is a poster-size patch of discolored red-and-white cloth, the other little more than threads and fibers. Both pieces come from the same source. And both are more than what they seem. "Relics," said Andrew Coldren, curator of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia, "of Lincoln's epic train journey. " Both swatches were snipped from a giant U.S. flag that President-elect Abraham Lincoln raised at Independence Hall during the 1861 rail voyage that took him through Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration.

Nearly 150 years ago, a newly elected president from Illinois rode a train through Philadelphia on his way to his inauguration, pausing to speak to people here. Barack Obama plans to do the same. In a trip that will echo the 1861 journey of Abraham Lincoln, officials announced yesterday that Obama will travel to his inaugural by railroad, departing from Philadelphia and hosting events along the way in Wilmington and Baltimore. Inaugural planners depict the trip as the last leg of a journey that has taken the president-elect from the steps of the Old State Capitol in Illinois to the steps of the Capitol in Washington.

President-elect Barack Obama is set to nominate New Jersey's Lisa P. Jackson, Gov. Corzine's chief of staff and for nearly three years his top environmental official, to lead the federal government's environmental protection efforts, according to published reports. Jackson, who has a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton, would bring to the job more than 20 years of experience as an environmental officer at federal, regional and state levels. She will be the first African American to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Having spent four years in Washington with the Clinton administration, former Common Pleas Court Judge Nelson Diaz may return for a second extended stay. Diaz, who served as city solicitor under Mayor John F. Street, is among a handful of high-profile Latinos rumored to be possible picks to serve as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President-elect Barack Obama. Diaz said yesterday that shortly after Election Day, he received a call from Obama's transition team to gauge his interest in a Washington position.

FIVE MONTHS AGO, Barack Obama made history in Philadelphia with a speech on race prompted by reports about his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Today, he has another chance to make history when he meets at Independence Hall with at least 40 of the nation's governors to hear how they're coping with the economy. It's already historical that such a newly minted president would meet with the governors' group before his administration even started, and the move gives us great confidence that President-elect Obama recognizes the importance of states and cities.

I FOR ONE have had it. I'm sick and tired of a bunch of idiots foaming at the mouth regarding President-elect Obama having no experience. Unless I've lost my mind, neither did Ronald Reagan. He was a Hollywood actor. Need I say more? Ann Townson Philadelphia