When we were little (back in the olden days) our grandparents had a coal furnace. We loved to see the coalman come and send all that coal down the coal chute. In winter it was even better because we could search around the chute and find eyes for our snowmen. Not so sure what kids think these days. Are Frosty’s eyes charcoal briquettes? hmmm But we digress. Some did not see the humor in the Frosty the Coalman carol. In fact, someone even said: “This is the most cynical ploy that I’ve ever seen from the industry. It’s worse than Joe Camel selling cigarettes,” Oh well, so much for that ad campaign. It was pulled. We thought it was cute :)

Surprisingly enough, considering Blagojevich’s latest scandal, the political environment surrounding Obama as he prepares to enter the White House is rather calm. Leaders in the Republican party cite a “Honeymoon Phase” in which everyone would like to see Barack Obama succeed in his job has president. The seriousness of the country’s economic state seems to be kicking in, as shown in this New York Times article. Let’s hope that after a while this won’t merely be a honeymoon, but a continued spirit of responsible cooperation.

President-elect Obama is paving the way for success in working with Congress. The Hill calls it a “charm offensive on congressional Republicans.” Alexander Bolton reports, “One Republican called it the biggest effort to engage Congress since former President Ronald Reagan.” The story also provides a link to a handy table of which ranking members have gotten a call, and who has not — at least not yet!

We at Election Stocks not only keep track of stocks and sectors that are sensitive to Obama’s moves in the White House, we try and predict when these moves are going to happen. As for Obama’s plans for reforming healthcare, news from The Hill is that Congress may attempt to delay this action until 2010. Pete Stark of the Ways and Means subcommittee on healthcare is a respected expert in the field; he feels as though there are more pressing economic issues to address before Congress can turn to Obama’s priorities. Obama and the Senate would both rather do this sooner than later - perhaps their influence will hasten action from the lower house of the legislature. But until we see indication of that, it looks as though healthcare will not be addressed in the first hundred days.

Our own Jeff Miller was checking out a CNBC story on Bloomberg.com when he found some strong support for aggressive plans that Obama has in the works for the housing market. What follows below is his post from earlier today on TheStreet.com’s Real Money. Obama and Housing 12/16/2008 12:25 PM EST President-elect Obama is meeting with his economic team today. CNBC reported that they are contemplating the Hubbard-Mayer housing plan. Bloomberg stories suggest that Larry Summers has been talking with them and that Obama advisors have “embraced” the plan, already on a fast track at the Treasury. The proposal would provide a 4.5% fixed rate loan to just about anyone. It would address those under water, probably by “splitting the difference” with lenders. New home buyers could borrow up to 95%. The calculation of housing inventory is done by taking existing homes and ...

President-elect Obama’s choice of Richardson as Secretary of Commerce appears a solid pick by our judgement. Although typically seen as a lightweight cabinet position, the office really is what the president makes of it. Considering Obama’s own ambitious plans as well as the pressure on him to fix the economy, we think it’s safe to say Richardson will be instrumental in Obama’s administration. Current Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Gutierrez, had this to say: “I’m proud of the Commerce Department’s role in opening foreign markets, protecting our oceans and natural resources, strengthening American competitiveness and promoting freedom and democracy abroad. Gov. Richardson will take the reigns of a strong agency with dedicated civil servants who will continue these efforts on behalf of the American people.”

Obama’s election as president pleased many nations around the world. Amongst other things, it gives America a second chance to dramatically alter the way it is seen around the world. But by no means does that mean our negotiations with European nations will be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows from now on. John Mauldin covered this, amongst other issues with Obama’s first hundred days, in a recent blog post. The Europeans will pose another critical problem, as they want a second Bretton Woods agreement. Some European states appear to desire a set of international regulations for the financial system. There are three problems with this. First, unless Obama wants to change course dramatically, the U.S. and European positions differ over the degree to which governments will regulate interbank transactions. The Europeans want much more intrusion than the Americans. They are far less ...

Real Money’s Chris Versace had an interesting point on alternative energy today. I can understand why several of the solar stocks are up big today, but if at least one of the driving forces here is how the next presidential administration will be favoring alternative energy programs, then why not LEDs, which use 10% the energy of a conventional light bulb and are getting traction in all sorts of applications (notebook computers, PCs, televisions and autos) and wind power related companies. Potential plays here could be CREE and Rubicon Technology for LEDs and Trinity Industries for wind power. Position: Long CREE The techonology for making LED’s more efficient are rapidly improving to the point where they are actually serious competition for flourescent light bulbs. They have other serious advantages too, such as a lack of mercury and a willingness to work in tandem ...

There is a post on Yahoo finance, citing our frequent colleague Mr. Altucher, with a list of dirt cheap infrastructure stocks that are bound to go up under President Obama. These look like great picks to us - though further research is necessary on a prospective time frame to pick these up in time for them to soar.

Last night Barack Obama was on a 60 Minutes interview with no coaching, no teleprompter, and no notes; and he beautifully answered questions regarding the challenges in coming into his administration. (click post to view video) Amongst other things, we learned that he’s been reading a whole lot of briefing papers and that he does have someone from his campaign sitting in on Bush meetings to help ease the transition. As for his actual approach to future crisis, particularly regarding economics, Obama was nothing short of entirely pragmatic. His approach to policy showed a high level of civic thinking: he refused to criticize many failed Bush policies on a counterfactual basis. As for our specific focus on Obama, his policies towards the auto industry were particularly interesting. It’s very, very clear that as president, Barack Obama ...