City - Tuesday, November 3, 2009 11:20 - 1 Comment

Obama’s Campaign Manager David Plouffe at Union Square Tonight

David Plouffe, President Obama’s presidential campaign manager, will be discussing and signing his new book Audacity to Win (witty title, huh?) at the Union Square Barnes & Noble tonight at 7:30 p.m. If your Obamafied self is disappointed that you missed OMB Director Peter Orszag’s address this morning, here’s a great opportunity to make up lost time with the White House.

Plouffe’s new book reveals behind-the-scenes stories of the Obama 2008 campaign and its impact on American politics, which evidently is a big impact. Plouffe has also served as political strategist on other high-profile campaigns and remains influential within the administration. In other words, he’s sort of a big deal.

On Campus - Tuesday, October 27, 2009 10:46 - 0 Comments

White House OMB Director To Address Recovery at NYU

Next Tuesday, White House Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag will give an address regarding “Rescue, Recovery, and Reining in the Deficit” in Kimmel at 11 a.m. J-Sex and Wagner Dean Ellen Schall will also be on hand to introduce Orszag.

In case you hadn’t heard Orszag’s name during national stimulus discussions, he’s sort of a big deal. Prior to being appointed by President Obama as OMB Director, Orszag served as the Congressional Budget Office Director near the end of the Bush administration. Now he’s one of the most influential voices in the White House, especially on economic recovery and health care reform. He’s so cool, in fact, that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said that Orszag has “made nerdy sexy.” Did it just get a bit warmer in here?

RSVP here, especially if you’re a (potential) White House groupie.

National - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:00 - 0 Comments

DoJ to Avoid Cracking Down on Marijuana Use that Complies With State Law

On Monday, the Justice Department issued a policy memo discouraging the prosecution of those using medical marijuana for “medicinal purposes”, if they are in accordance with state law. This is a dramatic break with Bush administration policy, which demanded the prosecution of marijuana distributors, even those acting in accordance with state law.

Marijuana use is prohibited for any purpose at the federal level, meaning that no matter your state’s laws, it is still a federal crime to use marijuana. The Obama administration is saying that it will simply not enforce federal laws, as long as you are legal in your state, meaning they have effectively legalized marijuana in the thirteen states with medical marijuana laws.
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National - Monday, October 12, 2009 15:05 - 4 Comments

Obama to Gay Rights Group: “Wait, Just a Little Longer”

President Obama spoke to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night, giving the keynote address at its annual dinner. He addressed virtually every major LGBT issue, to his credit, though he often did so implicitly, or even misleadingly. Of course, this makes perfect sense given his tense relationship with gay rights groups.

Since taking office, Obama has struggled to please socially conservative members of his own party, the electorate, and gay rights groups like HRC. Recently, it has looked like he might be in trouble with his liberal base, a notion he moved to quickly dismiss this Saturday night.
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National - Friday, October 9, 2009 15:00 - 2 Comments

Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

But of course, you knew that already.

A lot of the national conversation is over whether or not Obama “deserves” the prize, but I’m going to steer clear of that because I’ve never really found debating award results of any kind particularly interesting. This isn’t the World Series, and there’s no metric beyond my own prejudices that I can use to quantify something like that. Besides, Suri’s going to have a more comprehensive write-up on Monday, and I don’t want to step on her toes.

I will say this, though: I think Obama was right to accept the prize, and I’m encouraged that it was given to him in the first place. Again, not because I think he deserved it; instead, I’m encouraged because of what this says about how rapidly global public opinion of the United States has shifted since Bush left office. It’s kind of nice living in a world where not everybody hates us.

National - Thursday, October 8, 2009 12:00 - 4 Comments

Obama to Address Gay Rights Group; Awkwardness to Ensue

President Obama will address the Human Rights Campaign’s Annual Dinner on Saturday, where he will …. reiterate his strong support for gay marriage? No? What about his his objection to the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law requiring the federal government not to recognize same-sex marriages? Not that either?

It’s not clear what Obama will have to say to the group, whose members he has alienated over the past eight months, first with his refusal to endorse same-sex marriage, and then with his stunning legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. That would be the same Defense of Marriage Act that Barack Obama, junior Senator from Illinois, opposed during the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

It’s likely the President will harp on traditional moderate liberal positions on gay rights, like “federal benefits and protections for same-sex couples” (because separate but equal works every time!) and ending the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy towards gay soldiers.
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Featured, National - Tuesday, September 29, 2009 6:20 - 0 Comments

Secret Service Gets “Should Obama Be Assassinated?” Facebook Poll Removed

Well thanks for that, Internet.

According to TPM LiveWire, the offending poll was first brought to the attention of the Secret Service by the writers of a blog called The Political Carnival. Since then, the poll was removed from Facebook, at the Secret Service’s request.

If anyone’s curious, the four possible responses were, “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe,” and, puzzlingly, “Yes if he cuts my health care.”

In the meantime, this other poll (pictured) popped up. Last time I checked, it was the most popular one on the poll application.

National - Wednesday, September 9, 2009 9:18 - 0 Comments

Sentinels Against Socialism Fail to Stop Obama From Speaking to Schoolchildren

Obama’s speech to students yesterday was even less shocking than most, as the full text was released yesterday on the White House’s website. But it was still rousing when—in a quintessentially Obama-esque moment—the President bounded up to the platform at Arlington’s Wakefield High School and delivered a way-cooler-than-Presidential handshake to the student who’d introduced him.

Obama’s decision to speak to students scandalized many conservatives, who were apparently concerned about the potential for socialist brainwashing.

Jim Greer, the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, was one of the more prominent figures who used the “s” word. His rant referred to “President Obama’s socialist ideology” and called the speech “an invasive abuse of power.”
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National - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 13:25 - 0 Comments

White House Green Jobs Czar Resigns

The above video is of Van Jones, a top White House adviser (until recently) on environmental matters saying that Republicans are “assholes,” and suggesting that liberals need to be bigger assholes too, if they want a progressive agenda enacted.

Under normal circumstances, of course, that’s the sort of tempest that’s barely large enough to fit in a tea pot–but put this together with his past support for Mumia Abu-Jamal and, most of all, the fact that in 2004 he put his name on a 9/11 Truther petition, and you’ve got a mighty potent recipe for a forced resignation.
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Featured, National - Thursday, November 6, 2008 6:00 - 6 Comments

Obama Administration Might Have Its First West Wing Staffer

There are some confused reports coming in that congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has either accepted, or is seriously considering accepting, the role of President Obama’s chief of staff. (UPDATE: It’s official.)

As a former senior adviser to the Clinton administration, and current chair of the DCCC, that would be a pretty high-profile pick. And assuming that, unlike Karl Rove as Deputy Chief of Staff, he stays out of policy discussions, then it’s probably a really smart pick.
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