Doonsbury explains it all to us!

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Obama's voice

Obama's 27 year old speech writer Jeff Favreau is moving into the White House.   I don't know if he's old enough to shave, but he sure can write.  Here is a great profile. 

Elections do matter!

A long, but very worthwhile piece about why elections matter from veteran Washington journalist Elizabeth Drew.  Money quote:

Obama understood the point—which eludes some presidential candidates—that running is about governing, that there should be a seamless connection between the two. The best way to judge presidential candidates—aside from whether one basically agrees with their values—is to try to envision them governing. Will they inspire people to follow them? What kind of people do they have around them? How do they run their campaign? The wise candidate, the one who sees long, will run the campaign as a preparation for the presidency. In Obama's case, from what we have been able to observe up to this point, there will be a straight line from his campaigning to his governing.

"Palling around with terrorists"

My conversation  with former anti-war activist and 60's radical William Ayers.  We discussed his book Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist just reissued, plus the panoply of his past and present views.

My conversation with Bill Ayers:

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Kerry Kennedy talks about Catholisism and her father

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, talks about modern day Catholicism, her faith and a special memorial for her father.  Her new book BEING CATHOLIC NOW reveals the ideas of prominent Americans talking about their Catholic faith.

She also tells us about an effort to build a memorial for her father. Check out the online auction.

My conversation with Kerry Kennedy:

Obama skips church, heads to gym

Some of us knew why we liked this guy.  In addition to policy and smarts, he's got his priorities straight. Politico reports.

45 Years and still no clarity

Saturday marks the 45th anniversary of the JFK assassination. It still amazes me how many "theories" still proliferate about what really happened. Today I interviewed two of the leading theorists.

Lamar Waldon is the country's leading assassination researcher. His work was the primary source for Oliver Stone's movie "JFK." He is a staunch believer in the involvement of the Mafia and the Cubans. His latest 800+ page tome is Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination

My interview with Waldron:

James A. Douglass is a relative newcomer to the conspiracy theory ranks. In his new book  JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters he lays out the case that Kennedy was done in by our own government, specifically the CIA, because he sought detente with the Soviets.

My interview with Douglass:

The Best and the Brightest Redux

Forty Five years ago tomorrow, the era of the "The Best and the Brightest" came to an abrupt end. David Brooks thinks it's back.

The Jedi Mind Trick

In just two weeks Obama has convinced both the left netroots and the thinking conservatives that he's serving both of their interests. It's amazing. Read these two posts and see if they are talking about the same President-Elect. Al Girodano is reassuring the left that Obama is making all the right personnel moves and that the whole Daily Kos crowd should be satisfied. On the other hand Ross Douthat, the intellectual, conservative columnist for The Atlantic thinks that the Obama transition, so far, has been great for conservatives.  This really is the Jedi mind trick.

Education, Education, Education

Five visionary educators have joined together to share their personal stories of the challenges and triumphs they faced in the classroom, and their ideas of what education can and should be for every student. THOSE WHO DARED: Five Visionaries Who Changed American Education serves as an inspirational guide to action for those looking to be more involved in the urgent and continuing efforts to restore America s public schools.

I recently spoke to Carl Glickman, the books editor who is Scholar-in-Residence in the Educational Administration and Policy Program at the University of Georgia.

NO BAILOUT

This is why there shoud be no bailout of the auto companies.  Will Rogers said during the depression that "we were the first nation in the history of the world to go to the poor house in an automobile."   Only the auto company executives can cry poverty from their luxury corporate jets. I afraid to say, Mitt Romney is absolutely right!

2008, Not the Year of the Woman

Even with Hillary Clinton and Sara Palin, it was not a good year for the progress of woman in public life. Amanda Fortini explains it all in her New York Magazine article.

Is Obama really this smart!

After a huge and historic victory, what better way to go about the hard work of selecting a Cabinet and a White House staff in relative peace and quiet then to have Hillary Clinton as a decoy. Whether she accepts SOS or not, the usual Clinton psycho drama, Bills' problems, Hillary being decided vs. undecided, and the press complicity in it, have taken all the air out of talking about the economy, economic advisers, Treasurer Secretaries, etc. Obama has gone about picking a White House Council, other members of Sr. staff, apparently an Attorney General and all the focus is still on Hillary. If there is a better cover for getting real work done, I haven't seen it in politics. Obama really is the smartest guy in the room.

Hitchens shares the love..

The pugnacious Christopher Hitchens explains to Chris Matthews why Hillary for SOS is a really bad idea.  Hard to argue.  The New York Post has more on Matthews views of Hillary.

A war of choice that also didn't work!

McGeorge Bundy was the the principal archetect of the war in Vietnam. One of Kennedy's best and brightest, he never spoke of the war or its consequences until close to his death. At that time he said he had "made mistakes of perception, recommendation and execution."

He begun his memoirs with Gordon Goldstein, inorder to tell his side of the story. He died before ever finishing them. Gordon Goldstein has written the story he thought that Bundy would have wanted to tell.

This is a piece of the puzzle that is needed to help us better understand America's tragic collison with it most fateful war of choice. Maybe we should have had this book five years ago!

My conversation with Gordon Goldstein, author of Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam

What we can lean from a very special Gray Parrot

Sometimes we get to push politics and the world aside, no matter how bad things look, and appreciate both the progress of science and the essence of humanity.  On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot name Alex died.  His last words to his owner, Dr. Irene Pepperberg were "You be good. I love you."  This was headline news. Alex had his obituary in The New York Times.  Alex and Dr. Pepperberg opened unprecedented windows into the hidden world of the animal mind and into human/animal interaction.  Dr. Irene Pepperberg talks to me about her memoir Alex & Me:

How Newspapers might think about reinventing themselves.

If Radio and Bicycles can still exist, why not Newspapers. It's not really the same, but Catherine Rampell, editor of the New York Times' Economix blog,  makes the case.

Why the Federal government can't work!

This article in today's New York Times, as to why Obama may not be able to use something that dramatically increase everyone productivity and is now in integral part of every executive's life is an example of how bad things may really be in Washington.  This does not look like change we can believe in.

The End of Wall Street?

Michael Lewis, of Liar's Poker fame returns to Wall Street to examine what went wrong. His article in Portfolio.

Howard Dean was at the cutting edge! Who knew?

N.Y. Times Magazine political writer Matt Bai writes in this Sunday's Magazine Section about how Howard Dean may have been prescient in his 50 State strategy and in understanding generational and technological change for the Democratic party.

My conversation with Matt Bai.