"President Obama takes the world stage this week as a wildly popular figure among the people of Europe, but one who faces a difficult task in selling his plans to the continent's leaders."
"President Barack Obama will use a pair of campaign-style events to present a fresh view of America to youth around the globe ... during his G-20 and NATO travels next week. "
"President Obama's plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan is ambitious and expensive. It is also hard-headed."
"The policy overhaul announced by Barack Obama yesterday received a warm welcome from the Afghan government, diplomats and aid workers, many of whom have lobbied for years for a change of strategy."
An EXCELLENT analysis of Obama's foreign policy and the hopelessly insular views of the foreign policy punditocracy in DC.
"The problem with American foreign policy goes beyond George Bush. It includes a Washington establishment that has gotten comfortable with the exercise of American hegemony and treats compromise as treason and negotiations as appeasement. "
"Despite hurdles from Congress and the economy, Obama is slowly getting things done."
"Obama is following Roosevelt's approach of making early down payments on big ideas."
"There are good reasons for taking the resurgence of populism in the US seriously."
"Citizen’s for Tax Justice crunched the numbers (PDF). They conclude that a quarter of all households, most of them poor, would pay more taxes under the GOP plan, while the richest one percent would pay $100,000 less."
"For the nation’s black magazines, newspapers, and television and radio stations, the arrival of the Obama administration has ushered in an era of unprecedented access to the White House."
"His White House is working to push and control his message through new and old media, and in some innovative ways. In short, Obama has the most multifaceted communications strategy in presidential history."
In the main, Sarah Palin stories are SO six-months ago -- but this one actually may have some bearing on her political future with the GOP.
"A seemingly unending series of public relations gaffes has Sarah Palin loyalists frustrated and worried she is diminishing her stature. And they blame an inner circle they say is composed of not-ready-for-primetime players. "
"Among scholars of the American past, John Hope Franklin, who died Wednesday at 94, was a rarity: He not only studied history; he made it."
Check out the brief talk she gives here to young women at a White House Women's History Month Event!
"She’s become the spokeswoman for all sorts of issues and topics — from fitness, parenting, the environment and women’s rights, to redefining images of black women in American culture and promoting self-esteem for young girls."
This story may be too Inside-the-Beltway/Inside Baseball for some, but I think it suggests one reason why Obama has been able to move SO QUICKLY on SO MANY FRONTS and his Congressional critics can't seem to effectively focus their attacks. Like the media stories above suggest, in so many subtle ways Obama's people have SPEEDED UP the process in ways that they can still keep pace -- whereas the Republicans can't.
"The legislative liaisons — or “specials,” as they’re called — share their information with each other in real time. If someone catches wind that a member of Congress has concerns or is leaning in one direction, the news is relayed instantly to other legislative affairs staffers and senior administration officials. At the end of each week, the specials’ intelligence is distilled into a report for Obama and his senior aides, who use it as a sort of insider’s guide to finessing the president’s agenda through Congress."
HISTORY NUGGET!
Black History's Future: Grand Plans Unveiled for African American Museum on the Mall from The Root
Take a look at the design of the last museum planned for the national mall!
"The future National Museum of African American History and Culture -- as envisioned by competing teams of architects -- will most likely include water features and music halls, evocations of slave ships and the African past, and vistas acknowledging its important, monumental neighbors."
