Yesterday was a big day for women’s issues in Washington. President Obama announced the formation of an interagency advisory council on women and girls, headed up by Valerie Jarrett to help coordinate policy across government; the official release states that “The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the […]
With the thrill of passing a trillion dollar porkapalooza bill past them, it seems many Democrats are getting that queasy, hangover feeling as they wake up to the realization that they’re going to have to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Newsweek’s Howard Fineman reports today that the “establishment” is already in major […]
In line with what Ed says below about the tone of POTUS’ comments to the New York Times, a very excellent and very short book has just come out from the Hoover Institution Press. Getting off Track by Hoover scholar John Taylor traces the origins of the current global crisis and concludes that ill-considered government […]
A few notes from the week: Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a terrific speech to a Joint Session of Congress this week. Among the many lovely sections, a moving tribute to our shared sacrifice in the darkest days of the last century: Cemetery after cemetery across Europe honours the memory of American soldiers, resting row […]
Lately, Republicans have been united in opposition to two public figures: Barack Obama and George Bush. While conservatives have tripped all over themselves to praise Rush Limbaugh’s leadership and vision, they wasted no time distancing themselves from the man who may turn out to be the most conservative president elected in this century. Bush was barely mentioned at the recent CPAC […]
Why is the Obama Administration talking so much about opinion journalists? A couple weeks ago, press secretary Robert Gibbs tore into CNBC’s Rick Santelli after Santelli riled up traders in Chicago opposed to the president’s homebuyer bailout plan. This past weekend, White House officials and other Dems did their best to anoint Rush Limbaugh leader […]
Jake Melville, one of our talented young associates at West Wing Writers, has the lead feature in the latest issue of The Influential Executive newsletter. His topic? How to Bridge the Generational Communication Gap — with pointers every Boomer executive can use on how to keep it real, drop the formality, and find humor that […]
Proving that soul can make anything sexy, new Late Night host Jimmy Fallon and his house band, The Roots, Slow Jam news about the stimulus.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is on the “inherited” beat today, as he testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee. Geithner’s an interesting case because, on the one hand, he wasn’t in Washington as recent spending was turning into deficits; on the other hand, he was an architect of the TARP program that made a substantial contribution […]
February 27, 2009 – 7:00 pm
Before we say goodbye to February and our bicentennial celebration of Lincoln’s birth, I wanted to post this piece of magnificence — a reminder that great communication comes in many forms. Thank you Maira Kalman!
February 25, 2009 – 12:11 pm
It is one of the hardest assignments in politics–to give the official response of the loyal opposition following the State of the Union address. The SOU, by contrast, is a guaranteed lovefest. All the president has to do is to deliver one well-crafted applause line after another, lines designed to compel Members of Congress to […]
February 24, 2009 – 5:33 pm
Last week, new RNC chairman Michael Steele generated some buzz when he said in a Washington Times interview that Republicans would be developing an “off-the-hook” messaging strategy to connect to a wider cross-section of voters. More interesting, I thought, was Steele’s assertion that developing a deep bench of prospective GOP candidates would be his top priority, rather […]
February 24, 2009 – 10:23 am
I’ve written before about the increasing disjunction between what Obama says and what he does. As Ed points out, however, the problem may be more basic – a complete inconsistency in thought that allows him to state two completely incompatible ideas in the same speech, if not quite the same sentence or paragraph, to wit: […]
February 23, 2009 – 5:23 pm
“I would like to thank” is one of those standard phrases used in just about any speech in which acknowledgments are necessary. But it always sounds … wrong. Too clunky or indirect. Yet it’s hard to come up with better options. “Thank you, X” sounds a bit too robotic. I remember early in the most recent Bush Administration a directive went […]
