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Obama tells his veep to focus “day and night” on getting Senate approval for the seriously endangered nuclear arms treaty.
PS Republican foreign policy mandarin Dick Lugar (last seen trying to prevent a horrible Outbreak-type bioterror scenario) is ticked off about the START holdup. I’d never known Lugar to raise his voice before. But at this press conference yesterday with Hillary Clinton and John Kerry the almost ridiculously mild-mannered Hoosier was practically shouting. Sign of the times.
When President Obama endorsed gay marriage earlier this month, the media grappled with two basic political questions: Was his personal “evolution” a case of a politician transparently following a national trend toward accepting same-sex unions (accelerated, perhaps, by his chatty number two), and would it hurt his re-election chances by alienating socially conservative voters like black churchgoers? Sure, there was a recognition that it marked a gratifying moment for gay marriage advocates—as well as some grumbling about the President’s view that it remains a state issue, not a federal one. But by and large, there were few suggestions that one man, even the President, would shift public opinion on the issue or affect public policy. Based on a new Public Policy Polling survey out of Maryland, it seems this possibility was underestimated.
Apparently, Massachusetts voters don’t mind that Elizabeth Warren foolishly identified herself as a Native American early in her academic career–it was, apparently, a case of family pride and wishful thinking about a Cherokee ancestor. That’s good. Warren may be the best public figure when it comes to explaining the depredations of the financial industry and [...]
