A little fun reading on this Columbus Day courtesy of the New Republic‘s Noam Scheiber (aka, my husband), who reports on the Obama economics team’s shared passion for tennis. When they’re not busy trying to save the global economy, Geithner, Summers et al like to blow off steam by heading down to Nick Bollettieri’s famous [...]
I was wrong in last week’s print column–wishful thinking on the part of my sources, I think–about the actual options that General Stanley McChrystal has presented the President for ramping up the US military presence. The real numbers appear to be: 10,000…40,000…or 80,000. I say “appear” because I’ve heard those numbers, but can’t fully confirm [...]
The Obama family attended services at St. John’s Episcopal this morning, and the Secret Service even let them walk the two blocks across Lafayette Park on this gorgeous October day. It marked the first time the family has gone to church in Washington since Easter, when they also visited St. John’s, although the Obamas have [...]
CORRECTION: Ahh, the pitfalls of technology. In the post below, I wrote about an ad that kept running Sunday morning on CNN, which I watched in the background as I scribbled away at my office. Several times, I heard an ad for Anderson Cooper’s show that included a woman’s voice talking about being a “lifelong [...]
The Vatican Press Office released a statement this morning congratulating Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize (translation courtesy of the National Catholic Reporter): The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace to President Obama is greeted with appreciation in the Vatican, in light of the commitment demonstrated by the President for the promotion [...]
Classy. Rush Limbaugh isn’t easily rendered speechless, but the conservative radio host took a few tries to get going this afternoon on his radio show. “Folks, there aren’t words for this,” said Limbaugh before pausing for a long moment. “Can you imagine, folks, how big Obama’s head is today?” he tried again. “I think it’s [...]
Unlike Joe, I did think that rejecting the prize could have been an option for Obama. But the President announced in the Rose Garden a few minutes ago that he will accept the award “as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.” And following [...]
There is a slight whiff of condescension attending the announcement that Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. There is the sense that he has won simply by not being George W. Bush. Effete Europe is congratulating rowdy America for cleaning up its act and not bringing guns to the dinner table. Well, I’m [...]
A day after surviving a GOP-sponsored vote to take away his House Ways & Means gavel, Charlie Rangel was again in the news. The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to expand their investigation to Rangel’s personal disclosure forms. Earlier this year, Rangel quietly amended these forms, reporting an additional $600,000 in income going back to [...]
