In the ArenaUncategorized
Various conservatives have jumped on my support for President Obama’s attempt to negotiate with Russia–and my belief we should keep in perspective Russia’s various attempts to intimidate its near-neighbors. My favorite is Michael Goldfarb, who served as a McCain pistolero during the campaign and now blogs for the Weekly Standard. As we …
As a renter who has long had no real hope of affording any house or condo in my D.C. neighborhood, I have some sympathy for Joel Stein’s point here about the housing bailout.
A lot of optimistic people bought houses near the historic height of the market, say November 2005, for absurdly high prices, say $1.12 million, in places like the
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My story about Barack Obama’s speech last night is here.
So at least we have an answer. There are indeed limits to the Slumdog Millionaire touch of gold. Not every tale of a plucky Indian lad can capture the hearts of Americans.
How bad was Bobby Jindal tonight? On “Charlie Rose,” David Brooks called the Louisiana Republican’s remarks the worst response to a speech ever, and added–as if …
When I saw Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) leaning over the aisle as Obama entered the House chamber before the speech, my first thought was, Awkward. But when the President made his way over to Shelby, I’m pretty sure the Republican apologized for the whole we-don’t-know-if-he’s-an-American-and-a-legitimate-president thing. I’m hoping …
Viewers at home may wonder why, when the camera pans to the audience, most of the members of Congress, cabinet, Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs have their heads down. The answer is simple: they’re reading along in prettily bound commemorative copies of Obama’s speech. Why, you may ask, would the the audience be given copies of the speech …
The White House has put out this excerpt from tonight’s speech:
But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than
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In the ArenaUncategorized
AP is reporting that the Obama Administration will opt for a 19-month timetable for leaving Iraq. I’m told that the President will give a speech on Friday. The withdrawal will still leave 30-50,000 U.S. troops in place to continue training the Iraqi military and for special ops. There will, no doubt, be carping from the right–and …
A bunch of news outlets, including the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal, are excited about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony that the economy may be in recovery by 2010.
“Irrational Exuberance” HuffPo blares. “Bernanke Suggests Recession Will End This Year. . . 2010 ‘Will Be A Year Of Recovery.'” Well that’s …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Ahmed Rashid–one of the world’s most fearless journalists and the very best working the Af/Pak beat–files this, depressing update on the slow-motion collapse of Pakisan for the Los Angeles Times.
My TIME.com story is here. Speech begins at 9 p.m. EST.
Also, don’t miss Joe’s preview, which is the next post, below.
In the ArenaUncategorized
As he heads into his big budget speech tonight–the rookie equivalent of a State of the Union Address–Barack Obama gets high marks from the public in both the New York Times and the Washington Post polls. The Republican attempt to play politics as usual at a time of national crisis receives low marks. Indeed, a staggering 79% believe …
Here’s a web story from me on Eric Cantor. My favorite quote that didn’t make the story: “I do particularly look forward to being constructive not obstructive because the problems facing this country are so large.”
