Barack Obama is about to become the 44th President of the United States and like most Presidents, he will begin (if he hasn’t already) to read as many profiles and biographies of great leaders as he can pile on his night table. Or Lincoln’s.
I just learned that John Shattuck, President and CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, will be shifting from his current duties to assume the helm as president and rector of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
In considering George W. Bush’s legacy, I would suggest that Bush flamboyantly hastened America’s global decline — a decline that might have otherwise been stretched out over many decades and happened anyway. Bush sped up history and punctured America’s mystique as a superpower by showing key fundamental limits.
A lot of Middle East watchers have been stunned by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s snotty depiction of both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Bush with regard to UN Security Council Resolution 1860 calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
This is an intriguing exchange between Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-08-D) and Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn.
I will be hosting a live discussion with US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad at a meeting at the New America Foundation today between 12:15 and 1:45 pm EST.
This just in from a loyal reader. Senator Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) office is now closed. But Senator Roland Burris’ office is painted and has his name on the wall. (website still on its way) Burris will nest at Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 523 — right across from the Senate Judiciary Committee offices.
Over at Foreign Policy magazine’s website, I have a quick review of Hillary Clinton’s performance yesterday at her confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. My first reaction listening to this just one-notch-short-of-a-love-fest hearing was that Norm Coleman’s absence has made a huge difference. Coleman was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee….
Well, in the 2008 Weblog Awards Category for Very Large Blogs, The Washington Note has seen a huge surge. And with that surge, we are declaring success — in a Bush administration sort of way. In fact, TWN declares victory. . .
Free TV : Ustream This morning, from 9:00 am EST until 10:30 am, I will be chatting with journalist Elizabeth Becker and Mother Jones DC Bureau Chief David Corn on partisanship, journalism, and foreign policy. The meeting is sponsored by the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum and Search for Common Ground. More soon.
