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12:15 PM ET, February 5, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Barack Obama / Washington Post:
The Action Americans Need  —  By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression.  Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished.
Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:
Obama losing the stimulus message war  —  At this crucial juncture in the push to pass an economic recovery package, President Obama finds himself in the most unlikely of places: He is losing the message war.  —  Despite Obama's sky high personal approval ratings, polls show support …
RELATED:
Jonathan Allen / CQ Politics:
White House to Bypass Commerce on Census  —  The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.  —  The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary …
David Rogers / The Politico:
Obama 1-on-1 with swing senators  —  Working to get the last Senate votes for his economic recovery plan, President Barack Obama reached out Wednesday to his old rival, Sen. John McCain, even as he warned Republicans against making “perfect the enemy of the essential.”
RELATED:
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Senate Adds Homebuyer Tax Credit to Stimulus Bill  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday voted to expand the economic stimulus package with a tax credit for homebuyers of up to $15,000, a provision championed by Republicans as addressing a root cause of the recession.
Hotline On Call:
Sessions: GOP Insurgency “May Be Required”  —  Frustrated by a lack of bipartisan outreach from House Democratic leaders, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Republicans — who voted unanimously last week against the economic plan pushed …
RELATED:
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: BACK TO CANDIDATE OBAMA  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Back to candidate Obama: The president is ramping up the rhetoric as he tries to get back on offense to sell his economic stimulus plan.  It started yesterday with two events …
Discussion: Top of the Ticket
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Romney to headline Senate GOP dinner
Discussion: Boston Globe and TPMDC
Ed Glaeser / Wall Street Journal:
The GOP Has a Dumb Mortgage Idea  —  It contradicts the ideals of Republicanism and good economics.  —  Few philosophers have done more good than Locke and Montesquieu, whose advocacy of divided government inspired America's Founders.  Our history, and the less happy past of nations without checks …
RELATED:
Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Tax Credit for Homebuyers Passes
Fox News:
Bill Gates Unleashes Swarm of Mosquitoes on Crowd  —  Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at an elite technology conference to make a point about the deadly disease malaria.  —  “Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” Gates said while opening …
Bloomberg:
Volcker Chafes at Obama Panel Delay, Strains With Summers Rise  —  Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Paul Volcker has grown increasingly frustrated over delays in setting up the economic advisory group President Barack Obama picked the former Federal Reserve chairman to lead, people familiar with the matter said.
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Cooper in doghouse for remark  —  Rep. Jim Cooper is the Al Gore of financial collapse.  —  For decades, the Tennessee Democrat has warned that the country will be in dire straits if the government keeps borrowing billions from foreign creditors.  —  Those doomsday forecasts haven't always …
RELATED:
The Politico:
The Blue Dogs bark
Discussion: Booker Rising
Washington Post:
Citing Geithner's Tax Error, Critics Say Obama's Ethics Standards Are Flexible  —  As he insists that ethical standards should be the same for both the powerful and the people, critics say that President Obama is looking the other way when it comes to his Treasury secretary.
Discussion: ProPublica and The Campaign Spot
RELATED:
The White House:
New rules  —  “Shameful.”  That was the President's response last week to the news that Wall Street had doled out $18 billion in bonuses, even after the government had propped up many of the Street's most prominent firms.  —  Today, he and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took action …
William Kristol / PostPartisan:
The Republicans' Opportunity  —  “This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending — it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education.”  —  With this key sentence from his op-ed in the Washington Post today …
Discussion: Weekly Standard and Sadly, No!
The Politico:
Reporter jumps ropeline after signing  —  A reporter was escorted out of a White House event by Secret Service agents on Wednesday afternoon after he approached President Obama to seek an autograph.  —  At the end of an East Room signing ceremony for legislation funding …
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Time to Play Hardball  —  The irony of President Obama's Blue Tuesday is that the wall-to-wall television interviews he granted were designed not to apologize for Tom Daschle's fall from grace but to fight back against the Republicans' success in tarnishing his stimulus package.
The Hill:
Sen. Klobuchar steals show at Congressional dinner  —  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) surprisingly caustic humor elicited belly laughs from much of the Washington press corps Wednesday night at the Washington Press Club Foundation's Annual Congressional Dinner.
Discussion: Political Machine
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
White House ‘hopeful’ on appointing Zinni  —  Despite Anthony Zinni's evident perception that he had the job of ambassador to Iraq proffered and then taken back, a senior White House official signaled that the retired Marine General is still a leading candidate for some administration post.
Discussion: Wizbang and ATTACKERMAN
Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
AN INSTAPUNDIT EXCLUSIVE: A report from Michael Yon.  —  It's Raining  —  By Michael Yon  —  05 February 2009  —  There had been a light, cold drizzle just before the Muslim taxi driver picked me up in Jerusalem.  It should be a 90-minute drive to Sderot, in southern Israel.
Discussion: Power Line
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Panic!  —  Michael Hirsh sounds the alarm: … Theda Skocpol says the same: … I hope I'm not being blithe but I don't see it this way.  Obama still has majorities in both Houses.  The GOP surely won't filibuster the bill in the Senate.  What matters is the end-result, for which the president will ultimately be accountable.
Discussion: Weekly Standard and Balloon Juice
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
White House Cheat Sheet: Bypassing the Media Filter  —  During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and his team learned a very important lesson that they are seeking to put into practice in the White House: the power of the media is overrated.  —  Time and again during the campaign …
CNN:
FEMA food kits may contain tainted peanut butter  —  (CNN) — Food kits recently distributed as part of a disaster relief effort in Kentucky and Arkansas may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella linked to a nationwide outbreak, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.
Discussion: Townhall.com and Stop The ACLU
James Ridgeway / MoJoBlog:
Digital Divide: The Winners and Losers in the Switch to DTV  —  In order to keep some 6.5 million TV screens from going dark two weeks from now, both houses of Congress have voted to postpone the deadline for a changeover from analog to to digital television transmissions from February 17 to June 12.
Discussion: Associated Press
Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
RFK Jr.: Hog farms bigger threat than Osama  —  WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said he thinks hog farmers are a greater threat to Americans than Osama bin Laden.  —  Mr. Kennedy, son of the the slain New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental law attorney …
Chris L. Jenkins / Washington Post:
Deluge Is Holding Up Benefits to Unemployed  —  Decline in Funding Forces Staff Cuts as Claims Swell  —  Thousands of people in the Washington area and hundreds of thousands more across the country are waiting longer than they should for unemployment benefits at a time when they need the money …
Discussion: Wonkette, ProPublica and Obsidian Wings
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
An Obama A-Team for Iran  —  Whom should President Obama appoint as his emissary to Iran, to take on what may be the most important diplomatic mission in decades?  The right person (or persons) would have the stature and experience to engage Iran at the highest level …
Discussion: Wonk Room
 
 
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 More Items: 
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's faith-based office: No ‘blurring’
Discussion: The Politico
Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
Macroeconomic Effects of the Senate Stimulus Legislation
Discussion: Matthew Yglesias
Scott Mayerowitz / ABCNEWS:
Obama's Perks: Private Jet, Chef Tax-Free
Discussion: Townhall.com and Dealbreaker
Nat Hentoff / Cato Institute:
Senior Fellow  —  Nat Hentoff is one of the foremost authorities on the First Amendment.
 Earlier Items: 
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Honeybees!
Gateway Pundit:
Robin Carnahan Linked to Criminal Outfit That Hired Rapists …
Discussion: Townhall.com
BBC:
Israel seizes Gaza-bound aid ship
Menzie Chinn / Econbrowser:
Why Can't We All Just Get Along? The Great Multiplier Debate
CNN:
Trump: Obama ‘absolutely right’ on pay limits