News Nuggets 206

Hair creations in Athens

The Ten Commandments for Ambitious Policy Wonks from Foreign Policy Magazine

"What are some “taboo” subjects in contemporary foreign policy discourse?  To say that a particular topic is “taboo” doesn’t mean that nobody ever raises the issue or challenges the reigning orthodoxy; it just means that doing so is understood to be politically risky, especially for anyone who wants an influential place in the foreign affairs establishment."

Sizing Up President Obama's Foreign Policy After 6 Months (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post

"Six months on, how is Barack Obama doing in foreign policy? Some leading experts give the new president high marks for improving America's battered image abroad, but they warn that the hard work is still ahead."

Foreign Policy by Deadline (Jim Hoagland) from the Washington Post

"If conflicts can be halted by setting deadlines and crisply reaching decision points, this president may have a lock on the Nobel Peace Prize for years to come. Critics will say that I am actually describing a process for putting off tough decisions. Here's why I disagree."

Looking Back in Anger from the Economist [of London]

"EVEN for a president as avowedly forward-looking as Barack Obama, the clamour to revisit the darker chapters of George Bush’s war on terror is proving irresistible. Congressional Democrats and civil-liberties campaigners have long craved an inquiry to finger the culprits of torture and other alleged crimes. Mr Obama, keen to avoid the partisan warfare that bogged down his two predecessors, has demurred.

That may be changing"

Were Chinese Agents at Gitmo? from the Congressional Quarterly

"A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantánamo Bay."

Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No. (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times

"Why are we in Afghanistan? Who cares about the Taliban? Al Qaeda is gone. And if its leaders come back, well, that’s why God created cruise missiles.  But every time I start writing that column, something stills my hand. This week it was something very powerful. I watched Greg Mortenson, the famed author of “Three Cups of Tea,” open one of his schools for girls in this remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say, after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write, “Let’s just get out of here.”

Obama Feels the Heat, Changes the Play from Politico

"President Barack Obama made his personal icy cool the trademark of his campaign, the tenor of his White House and the hallmark of an early run of successes at home and abroad. But as the glamour wears off and a long, frustrating summer wears on, he is being forced to improvise — stooping to respond to political foes and adjusting his tactics and demeanor for the trench warfare of a legislative agenda. "

President Obama and Black America's New Reality (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post

"This words about the deficits that still plague black America were delivered to a room full of NAACP convention delegates who are, by and large, highly educated and comfortably affluent -- men and women who already have high expectations for their children and know how to hold their elected officials accountable. Missing was the too-large segment of the black community that has been left behind."

First Lady Steps into Policy Spotlight in Debate on Health Care from the New York Times

"After several months of focusing on her family, her garden and inspiring young people, Mrs. Obama is stepping into more wonkish terrain. She is toughening her message and talking more openly about influencing public policy as she works to integrate her efforts more closely with those of policy makers in the West Wing."

Obama Campaign Arm Doubles Down, Targets House Dems On Health Care from Huffington post

"Ignoring criticism - namely from Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid - that intra-party targeting was ineffective, Barack Obama's campaign arm is expanding its health care ad buy into the districts of key conservative House Democrats."

Pharisees on the Potomac (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times

"Like cats that have lost their whiskers, the Republicans seem off balance now that they have lost their talent for hypocrisy.

They are still practicing the ancient political art of Tartuffery, of course, just without their former aplomb. ... No one had more flair than W. and Cheney, crowing about making us safe as they made the world more dangerous, and bragging about fiscal restraint while they spent us into oblivion."

America's White Men are Back and Raging from the Times [of London]

"Americans have long been used to airwaves filled with wild political rants. But with President Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats in control in Washington, the gates have been opened to what some are describing as a new age of conservative rage."

They Got Some Splainin' to do (Frank Rich) from the New York Times

"The Sotomayor show was still rich in historical significance. Someday we may regard it as we do those final, frozen tableaus of Pompeii. It offered a vivid snapshot of what Washington looked like when clueless ancien-régime conservatives were feebly clinging to their last levers of power, blissfully oblivious to the new America that was crashing down on their heads and reducing their antics to a sideshow as ridiculous as it was obsolescent."

The GOP's Sotomayor Sinkhole (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post

"Watching Sotomayor take questions about her moods from the nearly all-male Senate Judiciary Committee, one couldn't help wondering how those same fellows would hold up under similar scrutiny while a roomful of women took aim at their . . . fortitude. Obviously, we're talking about Republican chaps. Democrats were practically tossing raiment over puddles as they lobbed loving little queries her way.

It's hard to figure what Republicans could have been thinking."