January 9, 2009 – 7:17 pm
Continuing with Josh’s theme of … uh … indecorous utterances, Chinese dairy producers have finally provided a firm answer to the question, “What should you absolutely never, ever communicate to someone via text message?” And the winner is: Sorry we killed your children. According to the BBC, “Chinese dairy companies involved in the tainted […]
January 9, 2009 – 2:08 pm
I promise not to make any more stimulus jokes, but I couldn’t resist this. Seems that Larry Flint is asking for a bailout for Hustler Magazine. Why not? From a purely economic view, it makes about as much sense as many of the other companies that are bellying up snout first at our ever expanding […]
January 8, 2009 – 10:40 pm
I was fortunate to be able to attend a White House reception this evening, hosted by President and Mrs. Bush to thank the people who worked in their Administration over the last eight years. The very idea is silly, of course: The president doesn’t owe us any thanks at all; it’s very much the opposite. […]
January 8, 2009 – 6:39 pm
It sure would have been nice to see a Ford among all those Buick dealers, not to mention a Reagan. But your sentiment about the historic change represented here is one we all deeply share. It brought to mind the graphic above that somebody created shortly after Election Day. Talk about dramatic. Also, not a […]
January 8, 2009 – 11:22 am
I hate to dwell too much on visuals and symbolism, but the pictures coming out of Wednesday’s lunch with President-elect Obama and Presidents Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Carter were pretty cool. To understand how cool, just picture John McCain standing there instead of Barack Obama. Wednesday afternoon bridge club? Meeting of Buick owners? Yes and […]
January 7, 2009 – 5:55 pm
Economists may find trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see to be exciting. Personally, it takes me right out of the mood. It seems every one has decided that Richard Nixon was right after all, and we’re all Keynesians once again. Just so the Democrats realize: when the inevitable inflation follows, it’s […]
January 7, 2009 – 11:49 am
At Barack Obama’s press conference today, NBC’s Chuck Todd asked the president-elect to please, please, please say something about the current situation in Gaza. Obama didn’t take the bait, patiently explaining to Todd that when he says, “There’s only one president at a time,” he means it. Kudos to Obama. The press and plenty of […]
January 6, 2009 – 7:36 am
While Barack Obama is putting the finishing touches on his Inaugural Address, the candidates for chairman of the Republican National Committee are discussing how to rescue the Republican Party. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank quotes RNC candidate Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, “You have Republicans scratching their head, going: ‘Who are we? What […]
January 4, 2009 – 6:03 pm
In a State of the Union address the president can set out the details of his new federal policy on widgets and waterworks. In the Inaugural Address, however, Barack Obama will need to be as much of a poet as his friend, Elizabeth Alexander, a prize-winning poet who will read the celebratory poem. The new […]
January 3, 2009 – 6:05 pm
Anne Applebaum makes some good points in her op-ed today on the similarity in Presidential rhetoric across time and parties. I can’t help but feel, however, that when she compares conservative hero Ronald Regan to liberal icon John Kennedy, Reagan comes off by far the best. Both gave moving speeches at the Berlin Wall, but […]
January 3, 2009 – 5:03 pm
In a world of tepid editorial pages, The Washington Post remains a standout. Its writers are truly diverse, incisive and smarter about policy than the readers who actually make it. If we took economic advice from Robert Samuelson, legal and constitutional advice from George Will, and let Charles Krauthammer direct U.S. foreign policy, we’d have […]
January 2, 2009 – 6:02 pm
Eli Saslow’s Washington Post profile of Barack Obama’s chief speechwriter, 27 year-old Jon Favreau, lays the groundwork for Favreau’s DC media persona. Young? Check. Guitar hero, text messaging, Red Bull, rumpled and unshaven, mildly inappropriate partying. Successful? Check. Quick on his feet, trusted by the president-elect, associated with the best speeches of the last year. […]
January 1, 2009 – 6:01 pm
The goal of Podium Pundits is to bring together former presidential speechwriters from both Democratic and Republican administrations to analyze major speeches and messaging strategy. The initial contributors to the blog will come from the White House Writers Group (WHWG) and the West Wing Writers (WWW). WHWG was founded by former Reagan and Bush 41 […]
