PostPartisan

The Obama Administration Spends Billions on the Swine Flu

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:37:08 -0500

By Adam Ross Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States will set aside billions of dollars to pursue a vaccine for H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu. The Obama administration has officially overreacted. Sure, the virus has killed -- 200 swine-flu deaths have been reported in the United States in 2009. But that's out of more than 32,000 reported cases, meaning that if you're unlucky enough to contract swine flu, you'll almost certainly survive. Of course, it could mutate and spread into something worse. But so might a completely different flu strain. So, even if a vaccine were developed and you got the shot, there’s no guarantee you’re not dying from the flu this winter. Maybe the money would be better spent sweetening Obama’s “down payment” on universal health care. That might do a lot more in the battle against the multitude of

In Russia, Obama's Limited Reach

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:57:03 -0500

By Masha Lipman President Obama spoke brilliantly and powerfully at Russia's New Economic School yesterday. And his broader effort to reach out to Russian society during his trip -- meeting with civil society and human rights activists, as well as a group of opposition politicians -- was commendable. Unfortunately, few Russians heard that speech or got more than a glimpse of the American president on the television news. If they had heard Obama's address to the New Economic School graduates, they likely would have appreciated that Obama spoke with high respect for Russian culture and history. He paid tribute to Russia’s colossal contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany -- a victory in which Russians commonly believe their role is not properly recognized abroad. Obama was delicate and subtle, yet firm and concrete. He described the end of the Cold war not as a victory of one political order over

Where Is Our Cyber Defense?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:20:03 -0500

By Alexandra Petri The prolonged assault on American and South Korean websites that began July 4 shows why President Obama declared cyber security a priority of his administration. But it also highlights that, so far, we don’t have a coherent national cyber defense. The attacks this past weekend targeted a wide array of sites within the public and private sector, from the National Security Agency to NASDAQ to Washington Post Digital. But this is no isolated incident. Literally millions of attacks occur on U.S. systems every day. The past several years have seen a spike in online attacks on government agency sites -- from 5,503 in fiscal year 2006 to 16,843 in 2008. The private sector, too, is continually under attack, with 280 million sets of data compromised last year alone. What is noteworthy about the attacks of the past week is how organized and effective they were -- some

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Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:20:03 -0500

What Not to Say in Moscow

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:53:18 -0500

President Obama’s election was supposed to usher in a new era of amity between America and a certain time-zone spanning Slavic nation that fell out with the Bush administration. But, like much else in Russia, Obama’s reception in the country this week was, well, chilly. No screaming crowds. No glaring headlines. Icy resentment at the traffic jams his motorcade produced. Perhaps, Russians and Russianists who spoke to the American press speculated, it’s because Obama’s hosts are skeptical of politicians or the sincerity of powerful people who profess to hold high ideals. It’s also hard to make a positive impression on Russians when Kremlin-run news organizations don’t spend much time covering the president’s visit. Or it could be just plain racism, a nasty problem even on the streets of cosmopolitan Moscow. But Obama probably also shouldn’t have said this. The president joked to a group of Russian businessmen about how

All Hail the King of Pop?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:07:32 -0500

In the matter of Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and his impolitic remarks about Michael Jackson, let us stipulate that your mother was right on the “if you don’t have anything good to say” front. Especially if the person about whom you don’t have anything good to say has just died. "This guy was a pervert. He was a child molester. He was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country,” King said in a video posted by his campaign committee. “There's nothing good about this guy. He may have been a good singer, did some dancing, but the bottom line is — would you let your child or grandchild be in the same room with Michael Jackson? What are we glorifying him for?" This does not strike me as a smart political

The Humorless Al Franken

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:57:49 -0500

By Alexandra Petri The relationship between politics and humor lately has been, like that between pigs and sausage, somewhat one-sided. Politics and politicians provide grist for the mill of late-night talk shows, stand-up sets and parody news sources. Sure, Barack Obama had a good set at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but everyone would probably have laughed if he’d gotten up and read the collected works of Bertrand Russell. That’s why Al Franken seemed like he had so much potential. For once, someone was going the other way. Fast forward through the Franken campaign -- variously described as “unfunny,” “serious,” and “dull” -- to his triumphant arrival in Washington. Al -- I guess we have to call him Senator Franken now -- used to be the sort of man who couldn’t write “The Truth” without adding “and Jokes.” Now look at him. Here’s an excerpt from his first speech: “I'm

The Best of Michael Jackson

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:42:32 -0500

Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. may have exaggerated when he called Michael Jackson “the greatest entertainer that ever lived,” but there’s no question that the memorial service today in Los Angeles deserved all the superlatives anyone might want to apply – biggest, most elaborate, most widely viewed. There were no half-measures for the King of Pop. In many ways, it was more a commemoration of the man’s genius than of the man himself. Funerals are not a time for ambivalence, and the one thing everyone could agree on about Jackson – the one thing, perhaps, that anyone except those closest to him could truly know – was that his artistic contributions were revolutionary, profound and lasting. In a poem by Maya Angelou, read from the Staples Center stage by Queen Latifah, there was a telling line: “Whether we knew who he was or did not know, he was ours

Barry the 'Betrayed'

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:29:55 -0500

It’s a hoot to observe the ease with which Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry cloaks himself in the mantle of the “betrayed” whenever he finds himself in a tight spot. And, true to form, that’s just what we got after he was arrested on a stalking charge over the weekend. “The best word to describe Mr. Barry at this hour is betrayed,” said the spokeswoman he trotted out. It’s hard to know what to make of this latest drama -- who’s zooming whom, why Barry and political consultant Donna Watts-Brighthaupt and Watts-Brighthapt’s ex-husband were all in Anacostia Park, and how Barry ended up in U.S. Park Service Police custody. Barry and Barry’s spokespeople and Watts-Brighthaupt and the police have all given different accounts. Perhaps we should leave it to the U.S. Attorney's office to sort out. But after writing about Barry for nearly 20 years, I do know

With Palin, Keep Your Eye on That Audible

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:24:24 -0500

Sarah Palin’s speech on Friday announcing her resignation as governor of Alaska will go down as historic: truly, it was one of the zaniest moments in American political history. It made Richard Nixon’s famous “this is my last press conference” episode in 1962 look coherent, statesmanlike and carefully considered. That’s why there cannot be any real debate over whether her strange and meandering statement hurt her: of course it did. The only open question is whether her means of exit closed off her political future entirely. I’m inclined to think that it’s a career ender, despite the insistence of so many that you never say never in politics. Yes, Nixon did come back after that last press conference of his. But Nixon had political gifts that Palin doesn’t. I understand that the standard rules of journalism require an on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand treatment of this event by way of finding some potential

Newspapers Exposed: Publications to Sell Pieces of Themselves

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:07:07 -0500

It took about five minutes after the story got out for The Post to announce it was cancelling plans to charge corporations $25,000 for the privilege of sponsoring dinners at the publisher’s house, where their executives could mingle with Post reporters and honchos from the White House and Congress. This idea certainly gets the “What Were They Thinking?” Award for the week. But these dinners may be just the tip of the iceberg. I have it on good authority that the The Post Company actually will sell entire pages of its newspaper (or smaller acreages) to almost anyone who can foot the bill. Buyers -- often corporations -- can use this space almost any way they want, be it to express a view on health care reform, or to allege that all deli meats are on sale for this weekend only. Whatever the message, the corporation is allowed to

Palin's Foolish Resignation

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:06:32 -0500

Sarah Palin, as you may well have heard, is resigning as governor of Alaska later this month in order, reports The Post’s Chris Cillizza, to focus on a 2012 presidential bid. And, in one stroke, she reconfirms many of the reasons she will never be president. First, the timing: It’s not just that there’s more time between now and the next presidential election than has yet elapsed since the last one. There’s more time between now and the next midterm election than has passed since last November. Perhaps never has a presidential hopeful so poorly disguised her overambition. Sure, it’s tough to campaign and govern a state so far away from Iowa. But she could have simply decided not to run for reelection next year. This makes her look incapable of juggling multiple tasks at once.

Of Ronald Reagan and Russian Communists

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:51:47 -0500

Shortly after the fall of the Soviet regime, the Russians began renaming their streets, towns and cities. Leningrad became St. Petersburg again, Stalingrad became Volgograd, and so on. But what in Russia took a revolution appears in America only to require a new congressional majority. The Examiner reports today on “talk” on Capitol Hill about removing Ronald Reagan’s name from Washington's Reagan National Airport. Alright, maybe my Russian-studies-major enthusiasm for historical metaphor is a little grandiose. For one thing, this probably won’t get past the vague-talk stage. And the sorts of people the Russians commemorated -- and then uncommemorated -- were often nasty mass murderers. The cult of Reagan is merely annoying.

'Victory' at Sea

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:30:04 -0500

On the eve of President Obama’s trip to Moscow, the White House is touting what an official described as a “victory” in turning around a suspected North Korean arms shipment bound for Burma. The turn-around appears to be a rare success in the long and frustrating American effort to stop North Korean arms proliferation. I learned of this incident at sea in an unlikely way, during a trip to Russia, when my cell phone rang at about 2:30 a.m. this morning, Moscow time. It was the White House on the line. The official told me that the Kang Nam 1, a North Korean ship bound for Burma with a mysterious cargo, had just turned back toward home -- as a result of what he described as a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign from Washington. The official argued that the turn-around at sea was a sign the Obama administration’s firm stand had

Sanford Channels Nixon

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:22:14 -0500

By Marisa Katz Among Gov. Mark Sanford’s many apologies this week is one with a definite Nixonian ring to it. Here’s Sanford asking for your forgiveness in a message posted on his Web site. Immediately after all this unfolded last week I had thought I would resign -- as I believe in the military model of leadership and when trust of any form is broken one lays down the sword. A long list of close friends have suggested otherwise -- that for God to really work in my life I shouldn’t be getting off so lightly. While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride. They contended that in many instances I may well have held the right position on limited government, spending or taxes -- but that if my spirit wasn't right in the presentation

The Symbolism of Obama's Limo

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:05:58 -0500

By Jo-Ann Armao White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says that the president is more interested in actually doing something about the second-class status of D.C. residents than in empty symbols like, say, putting D.C.’s “Taxation Without Representation” plates on the presidential limo. Good to know. But here’s a question: when is the president going to get serious? Despite his past support for a measure that would give the District a voting member in the House of Representatives, Obama hasn’t done a thing since being sworn in to help voting-rights advocates. He sat back in February as the Senate, with more than 20 Democrats signing on, attached a toxic gun amendment to the bill that would give the District a voting representative in the House. His administration has pointedly refused to comment about the implications of lax gun laws in the nation’s capital on homeland security. And he hasn’t lifted