Recession Over, Obama Takes Credit

As widely expected, the Powers That Be have declared the recession  over, while cautioning that the economy still has a long way to go.  And, of course, the Obama administration is crediting its stimulus packages for the good news. It might not feel like it to most voters, but the U.S. economy is growing again after a more than a year ...

Is Barack Obama Too Manly?

Mark Liebowitz had a piece for NYT over the weekend titled "Man’s World at White House? No Harm, No Foul, Aides Say." At first blush, it reads like some feminists are genuinely concerned about a male-dominated culture in the West Wing. After awhile, however, one begins to suspect it's a PR exercise to make President Obama seem more ...

Politics of Spite

Paul Krugman continues to demonstrate that brilliance in one field doesn't necessarily translate into sound insights into others. He's upset that some Republicans took pleasure in President Obama's embarrassment in not landing the Olympics for his adopted Chicago and their cynicism in positioning themselves as the defenders of Medicare in order to fight his health care reform proposals. ...

Clinton and Jordan: Great Jerks

Bill Clinton is joining Gavin Newsom's campaign for governor of California in what Michael Finnegan argues is payback for Jerry Brown's snub way back in 1992. Seventeen years after fellow Democrats Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown clashed in the 1992 race for the White House, the former president made clear today that bygones will not be bygones in the 2010 campaign ...

Ken Bacon Dead at 64

Former Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon has died.  He was only 64. Kenneth H. Bacon, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who became chief Pentagon spokesman under President Bill Clinton, died Saturday at age 64. Bacon had been battling melanoama, and was on leave was his job as president of Refugees International, a Washington-based group he joined in early 2001. [...] "Prior to working at ...

Bill Clinton Interrupted at Netroots Nation

Lane Hudson felt justified in interupting former President Bill Clinton's remarks at Netroots Nation to scream questions about Don't Ask, Don't Tell and Defense of Marriage Act on the grounds that there was no Q&A session scheduled and he was therefore "being held as a captive audience." Julian Sanchez, also in attendance and quite sympathetic to Hudson's views on both ...

Bill’s Excellent Adventure

I've refrained from rapid reaction to the controversy over Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists because I've been torn between competing maxims.  I agree with the critics who say rewarding despots who have seized American citizens is bad precedent, incentivizing illegal behavior.  Yet, Bob Manning is right, too:  our leaders have no ...

OTB Radio – Tonight at 5:30 Eastern

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern. Dave Schuler and I will be talk about the Cash for Clunkers program, the Birthers, Bill Clinton's North Korea trip, and other topics in the news. We'll also be taking calls at (646) 716-7030. Owing to a high trolls to legit callers ratio, however, ...

If You’re Gonna Play the White House, There’s Gotta be a Fiddle in the Band

"I know folks think I’m a city boy, but I do appreciate listening to country music. It’s about folks telling their life story the best way they know how." - President Barack Obama Via Norm Geras, I see that the president hosted Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, and Charley Pride as part of the White House Summer Music series. “They grabbed the contemporary ...

Sotomayor and Affirmative Action

Julian Sanchez argues that, while Sonia Sotomayor was given special consideration because she's a Latina at various stages in her life, her case is "pretty close to the ideal of how affirmative action is supposed to work." From a pool of highly qualified candidates, you let ethnicity act as a tiebreaker. It seems self-evident to me that John Smith with Sonia ...

Obama Revamps White House Communications

Danny Glover reports on President Obama's total restructuring of the White House message machine in a piece ominously titled "The Cost of Controlling The Press." Barack Obama's White House is spending more than $80,000 a week to staff its old and new media offices. Add the price of speechwriters and the White House communications tab reaches nearly $100,000 a week, or ...

‘Watching the Fall of Islamic Theocracy’

The protests in Iran have entered a third week and the state media acknowledges that the death toll has reached 19 and that hundreds have been injured. Fareed Zakaria, a man not noted for idle leaps, proclaims, "we are watching the fall of Islamic theocracy." In an interview with CNN, he explains: No, I don't mean the Iranian regime will fall soon. ...

Court Rejects DADT Challenge

Gays looking to get the Supreme Court's help in being allowed to openly serve in the military have been rebuffed. The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting a request by the Obama administration.  The court said it will not hear an appeal from former ...

Ted Rall: Obama Should Resign

It's been years since I've quoted Ted Rall here. He hasn't appeared in a post title since September 2005's "Rall: Charities are for Suckers."  The man's eminently quotable, if in a train wreck sort of way, but constantly pointing out that some commentators are crazy attention whores really doesn't advance the debate much. But you've got to hand it to ...

Titles for Former Officials

Josh Marshall has noted something peculiar in the recent media tour of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich: He seems to insist with members of the press that he still be referred to as "Speaker Gingrich." And actually his website is speakergingrich.com. Not former Speaker Gingrich, Speaker Gingrich. And it goes beyond him. On Meet the ...