White House Watch

White House Watched

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:22:16 -0500

Today's column is my last for The Washington Post. And the first thing I want to say is thank you. Thank you to all you readers, e-mailers, commenters, questioners, Facebook friends and Twitterers for spending your time with me and engaging with me over the years. And thank you for the recent outpouring of support. It was extraordinarily uplifting, and I'm deeply grateful. If I ever had any doubt, your words have further inspired me to continue doing accountability journalism. My plan is to take a few weeks off before embarking upon my next endeavor -- but when I do, I hope you'll join me. It's hard to summarize the past five and a half years. But I'll try. I started my column in January 2004, and one dominant theme quickly emerged: That George W. Bush was truly the proverbial emperor with no clothes. In the days and weeks after

Still Fighting

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:05:22 -0500

It says a lot about this presidency that there is so much else going on that the public has almost forgotten that our troops are still fighting two wars. And yet, there is big trouble on both fronts. In Iraq, where our troops are at least in the process of withdrawing, a recent spate of bloody attacks indicates things may be about to take an ugly turn. Even more disturbingly, in Afghanistan, where Obama has decided to escalate rather than extricate, there is still not even the glimmer of an exit strategy. Tomorrow will be White House Watch's last day at The Washington Post. One of my many regrets is that I didn't get around to writing more about Obama's Afghanistan policy, its extraordinarily bloody ramifications, how it threatens to sink the nation in a Vietnam-like quagmire -- and, most significantly, how the president has never really made the case

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Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:05:22 -0500

Quick Takes

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:14:47 -0500

Colum Lynch writes in The Washington Post: "The United Nations' top human rights advocate, Navanethem Pillay, on Wednesday appealed to the Obama administration to release Guantanamo Bay inmates or try them in a court of law, and said officials who authorized the use of 'torture' must be held accountable." From her statement: "As [the Convention Against Torture] makes clear, people who order or inflict torture cannot be exonerated, and the roles of certain lawyers, as well as doctors who have attended torture sessions, should also be scrutinized.... Equally importantly, victims of torture must be helped to recover from one of the worst ordeals that a human being can face.... Victims of torture must be compensated and cared for – for as long as it takes to enable them once again to lead a relatively normal life." Mother Jones writer Bruce Falconer interviews Spanish attorney Gonzalo Boyé, who "has turned his

Late Night Humor

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:40:23 -0500

Jon Stewart shows a clip of Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer criticizing Obama for his restrained response to the Iranian crackdown. Stewart's response: "You can't believe Obama puts our national security in front of moral outrage?.. You know what I can't believe? That this bothers you -- Charles Krauthammer -- given your views on torture." The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cHard Corpswww.thedailyshow.com

Cartoon Watch

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:36:45 -0500

Rob Rogers on Obama's timidity, Eric Allie on Obama's slow response to Iran, Tim Eagan on how Obama should have handled Iran, Pat Oliphant, Stuart Carlson, Matt Wuerker and Dave Granlund on the health-care debate, Joel Pett on Obama's bad habit, Russell Hodin on Predator drones, and Jimmy Margulies on Cheney's book-signing party.

Obama Withdraws the Open Hand

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:20:22 -0500

President Obama's I'll-talk-to-anyone approach to international diplomacy does, it turns out, have exceptions. One is for leaders who are in the middle of brutally repressing anti-government protesters. Most of the talk about yesterday's press conference today is either about Obama's increasingly harsh criticism of the Iranian crackdown or about the hysterical response by some traditional-media journalists to Obama calling on a blogger bearing a question from an actual Iranian. But the bigger news, it seems to me, is how Obama has now imposed some conditions on what used to be an unconditional offer to talk to Iran's leaders. Here's how Obama put it -- ever so diplomatically: We are going to monitor and see how this plays itself out before we make any judgments about how we proceed. But to reiterate, there is a path available to Iran in which their sovereignty is respected, their traditions, their culture, their faith

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Public Actually Supportive of Health Plan

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:02:51 -0500

How troubled are Americans by President Obama's proposed health-care overhaul? Less than you might think after reading Ceci Connolly and Jon Cohen's story in The Washington Post today. They write: A majority of Americans see government action as critical to controlling runaway health-care costs, but there is broad public anxiety about the potential impact of reform legislation and conflicting views about the types of fixes being proposed on Capitol Hill, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Most respondents are "very concerned" that health-care reform would lead to higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices, a bigger deficit, diminished insurance coverage and more government bureaucracy. About six in 10 are at least somewhat worried about all of these factors, underscoring the challenges for lawmakers as they attempt to restructure the nation's $2.3 trillion health-care system.... As for the finding in other polls that there is widespread support for a "public

Quick Takes

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:00:38 -0500

Via thinkprogress.org, Ian Pannell reports for BBC News: "Allegations of abuse and neglect at a US detention facility in Afghanistan have been uncovered by the BBC. Former detainees have alleged they were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs at the Bagram military base. The BBC interviewed 27 former inmates of Bagram around the country over a period of two months. The Pentagon has denied the charges and insisted that all inmates in the facility are treated humanely." I missed this last week, but it's worth a read. Joseph L. Galloway writes in a commentary for McClatchy Newspapers: "There was one thing Obama absolutely had to do, even before tackling an economic meltdown and the Wall Street and big bank rip-offs: He had to reassure Americans that we all live under the rule of law; that no one by virtue of holding the highest offices in the land, or

Late Night Humor

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:55:20 -0500

Stephen Colbert on the GOP demand that Obama ratchet up his Iranian rhetoric: "Exactly! Seeing these protesters struggle and not speaking boldly and loudly is like seeing a drowning man and not standing on the shore shouting: 'Hey, look at me! I'm a lifeguard!'" The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cBarack Obama's Response to Iranwww.colbertnation.com

Cartoon Watch

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:51:16 -0500

Pat Oliphant on Obama's Iranian tightrope, Donna Barstow on media strategy, Tom Toles on GOP protests, Ken Catalino on rethinking things, Scott Stantis on Obama's garden, Bruce Plante and Steve Kelley on Obama's mixed message on cigarettes, Matt Wuerker and Ann Telnaes on transparency, and Victor Harville on Cheney's memoirs.

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Obama vs. the News Cycle

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:39:09 -0500

President Obama, making his most extensive and personal remarks yet condemning the crushing of dissent by the Iranian regime, also stressed today that it's not his job to satisfy the 24-hour news cycle, with its rapacious appetite for conflict and ultimatums, but rather to advance the interests of the country on his own clock. Responding to insistent questioning at today's press conference from NBC News's Chuck Todd about why he wouldn't "spell out the consequences" for the Iranian government, Obama shot back: "We don't know yet how this thing is going to play out. "I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. OK?" And when CBS News's Chip Reid recounted criticism from Republicans including former presidential candidate John McCain that Obama had thus far been timid and weak in his comments about Iran, Obama fired back: "You know, I think John McCain has genuine passion about

Obama, Slayer of the GOP

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:31:55 -0500

The coverage of the latest wave of public-opinion polls has focused mostly on President Obama's ostensible political weaknesses. But the more important story may be the increased marginalization of his Republican opposition. Three major polls out in the past week tell the same story: Of a Republican party that is widely disliked and mistrusted -- and that is becoming essentially irrelevant. Notably, on the single most polarizing aspect (the "public option") of the biggest political issue of the moment (Obama's proposed health-care overhaul), the public overwhelmingly supports Obama's position. Republicans have essentially no power in the House. And even in the Senate, their ability to effectively block Obama is minimal without the cooperation of a handful of unreliable center-right Democrats. In fact, the only real power Republicans have left is granted to them by a media culture that consistently clamors for bipartisan solutions, even as one of the parties increasingly

Quick Takes

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:30:43 -0500

Bob Herbert writes in his New York Times opinion column: "It was thought by many that a President Obama would put a stop to the madness, put an end to the Bush administration’s nightmarish approach to national security. But Mr. Obama has shown no inclination to bring even the worst offenders of the Bush years to account, and seems perfectly willing to move ahead in lockstep with the excessive secrecy and some of the most egregious activities of the Bush era." Scott Wilson writes in The Washington Post: "Iran's post-election tumult has exposed the sharply divergent ways in which the Obama administration and its Republican opponents view the nature of American power and the president's role in speaking to political dissent outside the borders of the United States... In recent days, GOP leaders have invoked the unambiguous Cold War rhetoric of Ronald Reagan as the model for the message Obama

Cartoon Watch

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:28:59 -0500

Stuart Carlson, Matt Wuerker, Rob Rogers, Matt Davies, John Auchter and Tim Goheen on health-care reform, Rex Babin, Jimmy Margulies, Pat Bagley and Chan Lowe on Obama and Iran, Joel Pett on Obama's leadership, Mike Luckovich on Obama's struggle with cigarettes, and Lee Judge on the Bush legacy.

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Some Things Obama Must Explain

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:40:44 -0500

Even as President Obama spends most of his time trying to fix the problems former President George W. Bush created or overlooked, his administration is nevertheless embracing the Bushian way of doing business on a handful of issues, most notably those that involve secrecy. Obama's approach to transparency, for instance, can charitably be described as schizophrenic. When it's good, it's good, but when it's bad, it's really, really bad. See Friday's post for a real howler. The big question, then, is: Why? When Obama's Justice Department, for instance, puts forth a legal opinion full of the kind of arguments Obama formerly characterized as extreme -- startling even rather jaded federal judges -- what is going on? Is this just inertia at work? Are holdovers from the Bush era still somehow holding out? Are top Obama appointees being circumvented or outwitted? Is this just a temporary phenomenon? Or is this actually