World News Center
In the Loop: Obama Keeps His Critics Close
March 9, 2010President Obama's insistence on being nice to absolutely everyone -- even to new Loop Favorite Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) -- is driving the left side of his base a little batty. But hey! He's nice to them, too.
R& R Getaway Is on the Q.T.
March 9, 2010 This fall looks to be particularly hectic in Washington, what with mammoth collisions coming over health care, climate change and such. So what better time to pull out that invitation you got to New York investment firm Forstmann Little's annual weekend conference Sept. 24-27 in beautiful Aspen, Colo., and think deep thoughts with about 200 of the rich and famous? It's all very hush-hush.
In the Loop: Tracking Foreign Lobbying
March 9, 2010The Foreign Agents Registration Act, passed in 1938 to track Nazi propaganda, requires lobbyists to disclose their clients, precisely whom they've lobbied on the Hill or in the administration, and what was discussed during those contacts.
In the Loop: Even Obama Is Bashing the Bureaucrats
March 9, 2010Back on July 20, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry decried the way government workers have been "denigrated and disparaged" in recent decades. "We've been called 'out of touch, unaccountable, lazy, blood-sucking,' and worse," he said.
The Vagaries of Vetting: Goose vs. Gander Edition
March 9, 2010Back during the transition, Lael Brainard, former Clinton White House deputy national economic adviser, was penciled in to be undersecretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs at the State Department. But, with the Treasury Department looking shorthanded, she was nominated in March to be undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs.
Hagel Climbing the Ladder in Obama White House
March 9, 2010 Former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel (R), a senior administration official-in-waiting either later this term or in President Obama's second term (if there is one), is taking another step into Obama's national security team. We're hearing Hagel is in line to co-chair the important President's Intelligence Advisory Board (formerly known as the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board).
Former Attorney General Makes the Mistake of Talking
March 9, 2010In early July, when last we checked in with former attorney general Alberto "Fredo" Gonzales, he had finally landed a job at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. That -- assuming he's not indicted by special prosecutor Nora Dannehy, who's investigating the firing of those U.S. attorneys -- would be the end of his troubles, we figured.
This Summer, the 2008 Election Makes Better Reading Than Fiction
March 9, 2010It's not often that you take a nonfiction book about politics with you on a summer vacation -- unless you're having trouble sleeping. But you should take "The Battle for America 2008," the new, behind-the-scenes look at what happened in the historic presidential election. It's fast-paced and beach-worthy, as good a page-turner as any mystery thriller.
In the Loop: Uighurs Freed From Guantanamo Find Work at Bermuda Golf Course
March 9, 2010Some former Guantanamo detainees are said to have returned to their allegedly terrorist ways. Others, such as four Uighurs released from the Guantanamo Bay prison in June, have landed jobs tending the fairways and greens at Bermuda's Port Royal Golf Course, site of October's PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The island-hopping former detainees began working there last week, after a group of Philippine workers apparently failed to show up for work. (Hmmm . . . )
The Democratic Way to Handle North Korea
March 9, 2010 Deja Kim all over again? It's warming up in Washington, and the president's health-care plan looks like it's headed for a rough time; his popularity in the polls is shaky. The North Koreans are acting out again with their nuclear program and other provocations. So what does the president do? He sends his predecessor Democratic president to see the seriously ailing North Korean leader to work something out.
