By Steve Clemons

When I was last in Haiti, I learned how ignorant I was of some of the missing building blocks for national wealth creation in that poor island country.

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Tonight, about 8:15 pm EST, I will be chatting with Keith Olbermann about Afghanistan, terrorism, and Republican leadership attempts to undermine trust in Obama’s management of America’s security.

Opinions are mixed on whether Timothy Geithner will hold his position as Secretary of the Treasury much longer. While I have always liked Geithner personally (he’s an old Asia hand), his leadership in the eyes of many is uncompelling.

This is a guest “note” by Chas Freeman, President of the Middle East Policy Council and former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia as well as former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

(photo credit: Marc Pachter) There is something intriguing to me that the long-time, now former director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Marc Pachter, took this picture of Ronald McDonald in Bangkok.

I normally don’t buy chachkis, but I couldn’t resist this one. It will be a priceless relic someday of this era’s destructive hyperventilation and fear-mongering. I landed in New York this morning and stopped in one of the greatest stores I’ve ever been to — the Pearl River Mart on Broadway. I paid $7.

The Washington Note is posting this monthly update from business executive Leo Hindery, who has been focused like a laser over the last year on the fact that the administration has been underperforming on job creation and has been engineering a GDP recovery rather than a recovery plan focused on deep infrastructure investments and jobs….

The clip above is one of several excellent news clips done by Al Jazeera English‘s Clayton Swisher. As i was watching this, I realized that Americans hardly see images form the field and front lines in Afghanistan. Americans don’t feel directly the financial costs of the war.

Here is a challenge to those of you who want to give me some counsel on an essay I am doing on Obama’s team of rivals.