THE PRESIDENCY

I thought this comment by Karl Rove shed some light on the influence of the president. He was writing about the health care summit and trying to analyze what the Republicans would face as well as some of the pitfalls for the President.

It's not easy to criticize a president face to face. During my White House years, congressmen and senators would sit in my office, pound the table, and vow to tell the president he mishandled an issue. Then we'd walk the 15 steps to the Oval Office, and they would instantly turn soft. The presidency commands respect. Americans expect the president to be treated with dignity and deference, making criticizing him to his face politically risky.

And this is another good inside look at how the White House operates. While it focuses on the departure of Desiree Rogers, I liked this comment by Andrew Card from the Bush White House. One other thing Card warned those new White House workers way back in 2001: "Remember, please remember, ladies and gentlemen, that when you leave the White House, your letter of resignation will go into the National Archives forever." After a long pause, he added: "Be careful what you say."

AMERICAN ECONOMY

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton believes the growing national debt has become a security issue and is hurting American power and influence around the world. I haven't seen anybody this high up in government say this.

But if the debt level is a problem now, where will the Obama administration's future debt load lead the nation? Hopefully the US will be stronger than Mali.

ISRAELI DRONES

They have the capacity to carry a significant bomb load as far as Iran.

OBAMA'S RELIGIOUS LIFE

A discussion of Obama's spiritual and church activities since being elected.

NEW JOBLESS AMERICA

Atlantic Monthly. No one knows what shape the recovery will take. Not even Paul Krugman. This is not an optimistic article.

LEADERSHIP & INTUITION

Michael Barone comments on intuition and presidential leadership.

No president enters office knowing everything he needs to know. His experience is limited to some greater or lesser extent; his knowledge of the people from whom he will choose appointees is incomplete; his mastery of the substance of public policy, after years on the campaign trail, is likely to be out of date. And like all of us, he does not know what the future will bring.

So presidents must rely on something else, something intangible and unquantifiable, in determining what is within the realm of possibility and what is a bridge too far: intuition.

AMY BISHOP

Probably only academics are really interested in Amy Bishop's murders of fellow faculty over an apparent tenure issue. But I do like Kissinger's supposed quote (although I am not sure it just applies to academics)--I can think of some church squabbles where it is quite appropriate.

"Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

The Boston political culture: Instead, the political culture of Massachusetts taught her something very different: It’s not what you do, but who you are.

BAYH'S DECISION NOT TO RUN

I always thought he was a sensible Washington politician, but he has given up on the Senate and Obama. He recognizes Washington is not working. Reid and Pelosi share a lot of the responsibility for the failure of congress to come together to resolve serious issues. But maybe he and his wife do not have clean hands.

Five Ways to Lose the Senate Majority. Either way, the two-term senator’s departure now places 10 Democratic-held Senate seats at risk—if all are swept under by a November GOP wave, Republicans are back in control of the Senate.

A breakdown of the races.

CLIMATE CHANGE SATIRE

This Hitler movie clip is probably going to be used by every interest group at some time or other. Whoever put this one together needs a spellcheck and they even get poor Starbucks in the script!

Something with a country & western theme.

TEA PARTY COMMERCIAL

It has been interesting to see the increased use of history motifs in so-called "tea party" commercials.

CLIMATEGATE AGAIN

BBC interview. It's hard to take these experts seriously.

Sea levels are not rising--report retracted.

Left-wing Europeans attack IPCC. The German left wing press, one of the world’s strongest supporters of the ‘climate change movement’ is turning against the scientists and UN bureaucrats responsible for leading the movement. A round-up of German press coverage over the unexpected resignation of UN climate chief Yvo de Boer offers a perspective on the failures of the climate change movement that is both more scathing and more frank than anything the mainstream US press has yet brought itself to utter.

CLIMATEGATE AGAIN

BBC interview. It's hard to take these experts seriously.

Loved this quote from Instapundit:

VICTORY HAS A THOUSAND FATHERS: Robert Gibbs Tells White House Press Corps That Obama Saved Iraq (Video).

But Obama’s about as much the father of this victory as Andrew Young was of Rielle Hunter’s baby . . . .

REDUCING THE DEFICIT

A proposal. Looks as good as anything I have seen. I can't say either party has shown any determination to end it.

BEARDED WIFE

Oh, those niqabs: An Arab ambassador discovered his wife was cross-eyed and has a beard! He now wants a divorce.

OBAMA, THE PARTISAN

Peter Wehner discusses Obama's pleas for non-partisanship when he is acting the partisan and conducting himself so much differently from what he promised in the campaign.

What is disappointing about President Obama is that he has governed in a manner so at odds with his core campaign commitments. Mr. Obama has become the most polarizing first-year president in the history of Gallup.

He has allowed Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in particular to promote a deeply partisan agenda, shutting out Republicans at almost every conceivable point. Depending on your politics, you may think that is a wise thing or a disastrous thing. But it is not a unifying thing. And declaring war on Fox News and intentionally targeting and elevating Rush Limbaugh, in an effort to make him the "face" of the GOP, are hardly the actions of a man who has reconciliation on his mind. Neither is selecting Rahm Emanuel -- one of the most relentlessly partisan figures in Washington -- as your chief of staff.

And CBS news comments that what Obama wants is surrender.

NEW WEAPON

How many weapons like this are being developed?

DOOMSDAY, FEBRUARY 11th

According to Iranian leaders something big is going to happen on Thursday. I am beginning to see more speculation on this. Michael Ledeen says Israel should be prepared, but it also could include a number of other possibilities.

BROWN AD IN MASSACHUSETTS

I think this is a great ad, but I may be biased. History as political spin beats kissing babies and candidates standing in suits in front of the Capitol.

JOE BIDEN

This is one time I am with Biden and not those making fun of his lack of knowledge. . .why does knowing something about the Oscars or the movie "Avatar" really matter when it comes to governance?

CLIMATEGATE, FEBRUARY 2010

From the Guardian.

Today the Guardian reveals how Jones withheld the information requested under freedom of information laws. Subsequently a senior colleague told him he feared that Jones's collaborator, Wei-­Chyung Wang of the University at Albany, had "screwed up".

The revelations on the inadequacies of the 1990 paper do not undermine the case that humans are causing climate change, and other studies have produced similar findings. But they do call into question the probity of some climate change science.

It also emerges that documents which Wang claimed would exonerate him and Jones did not exist.

NEW DISCRIMINATION?

This item shocked me. . .a group supported by liberals and Obama want to restrict gun-ownership for blacks because they are so violent. I am not a big one on gun-ownership, but you can't reduce gun-ownership for just one group in America.

For blacks, like all victims of homicide, guns — usually handguns — are far and away the number one murder tool. Successful efforts to reduce America’s black homicide toll must put a focus on reducing access to firearms.