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That would be, perhaps, Daniel Gross writing at Slate, that it is not time to party like it’s 1929, because it isn’t 1929. Many of the institutions that exist now (as a result of the Great Depression), such as FDIC and Social Security, serve as ultimate economic shock absorbers, and further, unlike the 30’s, when in one year alone over 4,000 banks failed, things are bad, but not like that. (Mr. Gross fails to mention the perennial economic demand machine known as “the military industrial complex,” so I will, though of course, spending on the refurbishment of the bridge of...

In an unexpected (to me, anyway) ruling, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ordered the release of 5 (out of 6 litigating) Bosnian/Algerian detainees now held at Guantanamo Bay, granting their habeas corpus petitions. Judge Leon is actually the second judge to order detainees released. Judge Ricardo Urbina previously granted an ostensibly uncontested petition by a group of Chinese nationals who the government conceded were “not enemy combatants,” just that they had no rights anyway, and the government got a stay from an appellate court. [The plight of the Uighurs is discussed in my interview...

No, not… her. When it comes to the real choices, and not those touted by Team Clinton to keep itself relevant and pushed by the media trying to keep hopping in a naturally slow post-election news month, the real announcements from Team Obama are made in a grown-up, non-dysfunctional, and non-drama-queen way. And so it is with the Secretary of Health and Human Services designate, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Not dissimilar to his earlier choice of former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the next United States Attorney General. No need for press recriminations… No need...

Thus sayeth Tod Lindberg, in his WaPo piece “The Center-Right Nation Exits Stage Left.” Mr. Lindberg, a former Washington Times journo, a Hoover Institution fellow and an advisor to the McCain campaign, just told us… wait for it… “elections have consequences.” Well, more specifically, elections appear to have some significance as a reflection of how voters are actually thinking. In short, a 52-46 presidential win, at least 57 Senators and a double-digit pickup in the House for the Democrats leads Mr. Lindberg (and anyone without their head up their ass, i.e., those not enmeshed in the Beltway kaffeefklatschkultur) actually means...

Don’t know what to make of the announcement of significant international agreement on inter-governmental oversight of the world’s financial markets at a meeting of world leaders in Washington. It seems that the group of leaders agreed to a joint statement akin to “mistakes were made [by you miserably stupid, greedy, American bastards] for which we will all have to pay for cleaning up.” Or something. But evidently, the leaders of at least the world’s three most populous nations (that would be China, India and the United States) were present, with presumably the other 17 being pretty big themselves, i.e., most...

Well, this was one of the rare movies that Mom took me to on one playdate, and Daddy took me to on another one. I am officially an expert on matters “HSM,” and of course, getting my parents to take me to G-rated movies as many times as I want to see them (given that there are so few of them.) Daddy kept asking if the dance moves were more like the ones in Western Nights… or Subways and Rooftops… what is he talking about? Well, we’re a full week after “the Cool Guy Daddy Went to College With But...

I may be paraphrasing the last words of the Robert Redford character in The Candidate… or perhaps of Team Obama now that it holds the mantle of power; a possible laundry list of options is set forth in this Grey Lady piece, including tax cuts for the rich an economic stimulus, dealing with climate change and energy independence, expanding access to health care and numerous other matters. With the (apologies to Yogi Berra) caveat that this blog is so popular that no one reads it anymore, I invite whatever few commenters who accidentally make it over here [probably looking for...

President-Elect Barack Obama… man, those are some of the happiest words this blogger recalls typing in some time. Without doubt, the organization mastery and the near-perfect pitch discipline of his campaign prevailed in both a seemingly never-ending primary challenge from Hillary Clinton (take heart, ladies; our very next President may well be a woman), and then, a seemingly mad sprint-since-Labor-Day against John McCain (old white dudes, you’ve finally got some competition…). But it didn’t just happen since August. Indeed, it didn’t even happen since January and Obama’s primary roll-out (though, the fact is, the battle-testing that Hillary put him through...

The United States of America has defied the expectations of many, defied many of its own imperfections, and while it has hardly exorcized its centuries of racial-based demons, it did become the first First World country to elect a man of color to its highest office, as Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, in a resounding electoral victory. Spontaneous celebrations are afoot here in Brooklyn, as well as the organized celebration in Grant Park, where three weeks ago, I began and finished the Chicago Marathon. I learned much of the happy news while driving back...

And so, the Greatest Election Ever (TM) is around 36 hours or so from completion, and at least according to our friends at fivethrityeight.com, a McCain surge is under say (he appears to have doubled his chances for winning over the weekend, from around 3% to 6%)… as the late Tim Russert posited in 2000 that it was “Florida, Florida, Florida” and as John Kerry moved to Ohio in 2004, in 2008, it might be “the commonwealths,” Virginia and Pennsylvania (in our two other commonwealth/states, Mass. is in the bag for Obama and Kentucky for McCain). He who wins both...