Obama’s Economic Soul?

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(photo credit: Patrick Andrade/New York Times) Jason Furman, Director of the Brookings Institution Hamilton Project, has just announced that he is joining University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee as part of Barack Obama’s (paid) economic policy team.

Obama’s Happy Campaign

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This has probably been reported elsewhere, but I was heartened somewhat over the weekend by some things I had heard about Obama’s approach to the beginning of his own campaign.

Asking and Telling Sam Nunn

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“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a compromise forced on Bill Clinton’s presidency by a recalcitrant, (then) anti-gay Sam Nunn who stopped Clinton’s plans to end discrimination against homosexual men and women serving in the U.S. military.

Election Watch for Europeans?

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The German Marshall Fund has a nifty new website designed to create a portal for Europeans interested in the American elections and policy issues, particularly foreign policy. I like the site — and am pleased that a couple of TWN items have already been featured on the site’s roster.

Now It Begins

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Barack Obama has clinched the nomination. Watching his speech now. He’s being gracious to those rivals who he beat, particularly Hillary Clinton. Good show. That is maturity. I haven’t heard or seen Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight — but the blog buzz is reverberating with an echo that hers was less gracious.

Iran’s Impressive Ravand Institute Conference

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Unfortunately, I did not receive a visa in time to participate as a speaker in the 3rd Annual Ravand Institute Conference in Tehran this year. I was invited along with Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution, Michael Kraig of the Stanley Foundation, and Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group.