Robert Gibbs’ Twitter Account: Lost Opportunities

-

26

Jim Pinkerton sent a clip from White House spokesman Robert Gibb’s Twitter Account to me today stating: Imagine how the political climate would look today if Obama had spent the last year announcing these kinds of projects. Couldn’t agree more.

John Podesta: Obama Has Lost Control of National Narrative and Needs to Regroup

-

71

Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce has posted a very good video interview and an analysis of his exchange with Center for American Progress President and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. The robustness of Podesta’s critiques of the White House’s performance is growing.

Evan Bayh Out

-

23

With $13 million in campaign funds at his disposal and this week the deadline by which other Democratic candidates must file for the Indiana Senate race, Senator Evan Bayh — who was runner up to Joe Biden to be Obama’s vice presidential running mate — is bowing out of the 2010 U.S. Senate race.

Needing to Get Beyond Valentine’s Day

-

21

When I was younger, Valentine’s Day was one of the worst days possible of the entire year. When I had girlfriends, I’d usually be dumped either on Valentine’s Day or the day before. I broke my foot on Valentine’s Day. Another year, I was hit by a car while on my bicycle in Westwood, California….

Like the Viet Cong? Where Did Taliban Disappear To?

-

33

There is a potentially eery, disconcerting passage in Dexter Filkins’ interesting report on the Afghan, British and American push into the Taliban stronghold of Marja in Helmand Province. Filkins notes that the opposition didn’t really materialize, despite reports that they had recently received reinforcements.

On Good Authority. . .

-

49

John Podesta on Obama team. I am hearing that Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce has a pretty significant interview with Center for American Progress President and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta coming out on Monday. Luce recently did a video interview with Senator John McCain.

If You Could See America Through China’s Eyes

-

11

Several years ago, I met with the Deputy Director of the Policy Planning staff of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I asked him what he was working on — and what China’s grand strategy was. His reply: “We are trying to figure out how to keep you Americans distracted in small Middle Eastern countries.

Guest Post by Johanna Mendelson Forman: From Misery to Poverty? Haiti’s Reconstruction Dilemma

-

4

(Photo: United Nations Development Programme’s Photostream) This is a guest note by Johanna Mendelson Forman. She is a senior associate of the Americas Program and the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.