Howard Kurtz thinks all the Senate seat goings-on are a bit “weird,” and, when combined with the Bill Richardson flap, give off an”unflattering aroma.” I’d say: we’ve had the President-elect interviewed by the FBI, a cabinet nominee dumped and a senator-designee thrown out of the Capitol. And it’s still January! So much for no-drama-Obama.

What happened to the golden touch? The Obama team “forgot” to inform key Senate Democrats about selecting Leon Panetta for CIA Director, and they “missed” the pay-for-play Richardson scandal. Maybe governing is harder than campaigning.

Marty Peretz has a variation on “Option B: Win.” He says: win and then have the Europeans police the settlement. Why am I sensing the latter is going to be a tough sell?

What is the meaning of “earmark“? Not since Bill Clinton’s “is” have we had such a useless semantic argument. The pork is already going to be stuffed into the stimulus plan so they’ll be no need to “slip it in during the middle of the night.”

Sen. Diane Feinstein declines the role of rabid partisan. Roland Burris has a right to be seated, she declares. Maybe Caroline Kennedy could give her one of those Profile in Courage Awards.

Speaking of Caroline: she, you know, might, you know, not be able to hold the seat in 2010, you know. But it would be fun to see the Princess face off against the King (Peter, that is).

Whose idea was it to let Joe Biden out in public? “Joe Biden hasn’t said much in public since the election, but one of Washington’s most prolific talkers is back – and making news whenever he speaks. In fewer than five minutes on Tuesday, Biden criticized his own incoming Obama administration and disclosed information his aides have kept secret for security reasons. And on Monday, Biden declared, ‘We’re at war!’ and compared the economic turmoil to 9/11.Team Obama kept Biden under wraps immediately after the election, but with his Senate swearing-in and upcoming Iraq trip, he’s back in front of the microphones.” Forget Eric Holder and Bill Richardson — Biden was by far the worst personnel pick to date. (Could Hillary get the number two slot in 2012 if this keeps up?)

Does Norm Coleman put his image at risk by contesting his race? At some point yes, although  a much more contentious fight didn’t much harm Al Gore with the public at large. (Conservatives then did seem to protest the sore loser-ism, but this is totally different, right?) We’ll know soon enough if Coleman’s legal theories will fly.

A pro-Israel resolution is in the works in the House. It is always interesting to see who, both in and out of Congress, opposes these. Sometimes clarity is useful.

But alas the President-elect is anything but clear. Well, if he’s going to be squishy, better to let Israel do its thing for a couple more weeks. All of this confirms that Israel’s offensive was well timed — for its own sake and Obama’s.

Israel learned some key lesson in the 2006 Hezbollah war. “This time, Israeli military commanders are leading from the front, not trying to direct the infantry from television screens. This time, the military has clear plans, in stages, drawn up with a year’s preparation. This time, there is no illusion about winning a war only from the air. This time, the military chief of staff has kept his silence in public, all cellphones have been confiscated from Israeli soldiers, and the international press has been kept out of the battlefield.”

Is Big Labor looking for face-saving substitutes for card check legislation or are they only getting warmed up? So long as Arlen Specter is iffy I think it’s the former.

And if there weren’t enough reasons to push card check to the back burner, it looks like Andy Stern, head of the SEIU, did meet with Blago about that Senate seat. Oh, and before his arrest Blago was getting close to signing a bill to help SEIU organize health care workers. Hmm. Who is going to want to be carrying water for Big Labor while that story is in the news?

Face off of the high tech gurus for Governor of California! Why aren’t there more of these people in Washington? It seems like we could use some super-smart successful entrepreneurs in D.C. and fewer sub-par heirs of political dynasties.