February 6, 2009 – 1:02 pm
The power of the podium was in evidence this morning as President Obama announced his new team of economic recovery advisors. The president jumped on today’s dismal labor report to urge action on a stimulus bill. He also got in a few lashes at obstructionists in the Senate. While he did not identify Republicans explicitly, […]
February 5, 2009 – 6:22 pm
Maybe I’m just used to hearing President Bush talk about Iraq all the time, but it seems like President Obama has been awfully quiet about Iraq’s provincial elections. To recap, on Saturday Iraq undertook what have to be considered spectacularly violence-free elections for provincial councils across the country. Prime Minister Maliki, once written off by […]
February 5, 2009 – 1:25 pm
Obama’s warning yesterday that failure to act quickly on the stimulus “will turn crisis into a catastrophe” demonstrates both the President’s great strengths as a communicator and what may well become his fatal flaw. First the strengths: I don’t know who writes this stuff, Obama himself, his ace speechwriter, or some symbiotic combination of the […]
February 5, 2009 – 10:24 am
Former vice president Dick Cheney sat with Politico for a wide ranging interview earlier this week, going on the record more forcefully than I expected to see just two weeks after the new team’s inauguration. Cheney asserted that the Bush Administration’s controversial post-9/11 security policies were responsible for preventing attacks on the United States, and suggested that in […]
February 4, 2009 – 2:53 pm
The AP recently examined President Obama’s efforts to shift away from the phrase “War on Terror”: Since taking office less than two weeks ago, President Barack Obama has talked broadly of the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism.” Another time it was an “ongoing struggle.” He has pledged to “go after” extremists and “win this […]
February 4, 2009 – 11:35 am
I don’t want to be nitpicky, but I think it’s important to set the record straight on an issue that frequently gets misremembered, including in Thomas Daly’s post earlier this morning. I’ve written before about how “Mission Accomplished” became a message nightmare for the Bush Administration. But it’s important to note that “Mission Accomplished” was […]
February 4, 2009 – 10:10 am
By Thomas Daly, Guest Contributor It was so refreshing to hear the president yesterday. No big press conference, no convoluted statement just when talking about the Tom Daschle appointment for health secretary in an interview he said, “I screwed up”. I was so excited by this. Not by the fact that he “screwed up.” But […]
February 3, 2009 – 10:47 pm
Tuesday afternoon President Obama tackled head-on the question of who’s to blame for the problems surrounding some of his nominees, including Tom Daschle. “I think I messed up,” the president told Katie Couric. “I screwed up in not recognizing the perception that … ordinary people are out there paying taxes every day and whether it’s […]
February 3, 2009 – 5:52 pm
With Tom Daschle now a victim of, among other things, his unreported use of a car and driver over the last few years, this video is making the rounds and getting laughs.
February 3, 2009 – 12:51 pm
Quick follow up to my post on Tom Daschle yesterday. The New York Times today called for Daschle to step aside, citing both his tax screw-ups and his close, enriching ties to the health care industry. Daschle would be a big bird for the Times to take down. We’ll see how things develop. UPDATE: As of 12:50 […]
February 2, 2009 – 2:44 pm
Is President Obama’s good government message running off the rails? As much as the president may be trying hard to back up his words with actions, he seems to be falling short of the mark now that two Cabinet nominees have been caught playing fast and loose with their tax returns. Latest victim: Tom Daschle, […]
