“Closing comment from Pres. Obama: He’d rather be a one-termer who addressed real issues than a two-termer who didn’t. That went over well.”
- Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) tweeting from Obama’s meeting with Repub lawmakers
Here’s more from The Hill:

Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said that Obama was sincere and “impressive” during his meeting with Republicans Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s [...]

There is much ado today about the fact that Obama, apparently in response to conservatives’ objections, has asked House Democrats to withdraw a provision in the stimulus package that would provide family planning money for low income families. Some of the more partisan elements of the left are particularly upset about this, arguing [...]

The great writer John Updike has died at the age of 76. I say writer, because Updike was more than a novelist. He was a storyteller, an essayist, a man of letters in a way that is rare in our current age. With Updike’s passing we have one less literary great who was widely known [...]

“CBO anticipates that implementation of H.R. 1 would have a noticeable impact on economic growth and employment in the next few years.”
- From the real CBO report released last night
Kevin Drum digs in…

Specifically, they estimate that in the spending portion of the bill, $477 billion out of $604 billion would be disbursed either this fiscal [...]

Or are they just getting a lot smarter about taking away easy talking points from the Republicans by trying to find common ground?
To explain the title of the post…this is what I wrote on Twitter last night about the spending in current stimulus for family planning…
Boy, the Republicans are really hitting that $200M for family [...]

Given that his first call as President was to the President of the Palestinian Authority and his first official sit down interview with any news outlet as President is with an Arab station, it sends a pretty powerful message right off the bat that this administration is ready to reengage in the peace process in [...]

Really the only way to guarantee a ceasefire is to wait until your enemy runs out of bullets. So it’s baffling what the nutcake negotiators from Israel and Hamas are trying to achieve with these “temporary” ceasefire proposals.
The latest scoop from Israel’s Haaretz newspaper:
“Hamas’ Gaza spokesman Ayman Taha, meanwhile, has said recently that Israel [...]

Every so often, I like to look over the speech by Senator Margaret Chase Smith called “Declaration of Conscience.” It was written in response to Joseph McCarthy’s early witchhunts. Smith was a moderate Republican Senator from Maine whose claim to fame was putting her name in contention for the GOP nomination in 1964.
I [...]

We all knew there would be a stimulus package coming out of Congress. The question wasn’t “if” but “how much.” Now that there are specifics, we can add another question: is it worth it?
Republicans are crying that the bill is pork-laden and advances liberal interests over the national interest. But the Wall Street Journal hits [...]

Sen. Voinovitch said the burden of raising money had become so great that it was keeping him from doing his job. What about the other 99?
This is Lagan from ANP
Political fundraising has often been viewed as a corrupting influence in politics. Now it’s increasingly being seen by politicians [...]

We were SLAMMED by reddit today, so my apologies about the site not being accessible. That’s what happens when you get 3,000 page views per hour.
In any event, I’m working with our dev team to optimize the site in a variety of different ways so it doesn’t happen again.
Thanks for sticking with us.

Pretty self explanatory. A site dedicated to searching through all the 1,500+ pages of the new stimulus bill.
Here’s a sample…
1/23 Bill Text: PDF/TXT
1/22 Approved Amends: PDF/TXT
1/21 Telecom Amends: PDF/TXT
1/16 Tax Provisions: PDF/TXT
1/16 Health & Insur.: PDF/TXT
1/16 Energy Amends: PDF/TXT
1/15 Committee Report: PDF/TXT
1/15 Bill Text: PDF/TXT
Now, the site’s sponsors are all far right-wing sites like a [...]

This should be welcome news for all of you Federalists.
From NY Times:
WASHINGTON — President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday.
The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge [...]

The following story about DHL from 60 Minutes is absolutely heartbreaking.

And people really think we can fix the economy with tax breaks?
This is going to get a lot worse.

Just when I didn’t think I could be shocked by the previous administration’s decisions…
From Wash Post:
President Obama’s plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials — barred until [...]

I like the idea in theory, but I always thought that Governors replaced Senators because it’s too costly to have special elections and somebody needs to serve in the interim.
Still, this seems like the type of amendment that could easily garner bi-partisan support.
From Political Wire:
The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant [...]

Yes, Obama’s approval numbers are extremely high right now…

So what’s the big deal? These numbers will come down as his presidency moves forward, right?
Well, sure, but when looked at in historical context they provide an interesting glimpse into what he can get done in the near term. Especially when compared to Reagan in 1980.
Nate Silver [...]

The economy is at the topic du jour once again.
Take a look…

I wrote yesterday about Republicans needing ideas other than tax cuts, and that was based on what John Boehner said during the broadcast. And, as reported elsewhere, they can’t continue to expect Americans to support tax cuts for the wealthy. It simply won’t work.
I [...]

Obama signaled early on that he’d do this and with Geithner’s nomination all but certain, the tough work of making sure banks don’t get “too big to fail” will begin soon enough.
From NY Times:
Broad new outlines of the administration’s agenda have begun to emerge in recent interviews with officials, in confirmation proceedings of senior appointees [...]