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- In a speech today at Camp LeJeune, NC, President Obama announced the withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, and a complete withdrawal of all remaining non-combat soldiers by the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has denied there will be a surge in Afghanistan, and The Washington Post and Politico both look at disagreement between the White House and Congressional Democrats over the withdrawal plan. Also, expanding the NSC.
- Both this Dan Balz piece in the Post and a similar Bloomberg article make the point that Barack Obama's ambitious restructuring of budget priorities carries risk but potentially big rewards for Democrats in coming elections. It's hard to disagree with this analysis, but the most significant thing about the budget is encapsulated in this New York Times piece that argues that the Obama budget essentially undoes three decades of Reaganomics. Perhaps most significant is Paul Krugman's column, which enthusiastically approves of where Obama's budget is taking the country, particularly because Krugman has consistently been the biggest critic on the left of Obama-the-candidate and Obama-the-president's economic policy.
- Rasmussen has a couple of new polls that cast some public doubt on the progressive economic agenda. The first finds that a plurality (42 percent) believe reducing the deficit is a top priority, even though a majority (56 percent) believe that reducing the deficit won't actually happen any time soon. The second poll is a more frivolous, finding that 59 percent of voters "agreed with Ronald Reagan that 'government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.'"
- Democrats and organized labor are continuing to push the meme that the party of Lincoln is now the party of Limbaugh (no argument here), but they could do just as well by placing a stationary camera at CPAC, where, in addition to Michael Steele's agonizingly painful and inexplicably continued attempts at being hip (this time with an assist from Michele Bachmann), we learn that Mr. Wurzelbacher believes some members of Congress ought to be shot, conservatives continue to believe they are the natural party of the working class, and socialism is the hot new buzzword for conservative activists.
- When Bobby Jindal lies, baby Jesus cries.
- Daphne Eviatar has been doing some great national security reporting for The Washington Independent, and has a great story on the Obama administration's subtle nods to Bush on invoking "state secrets" privileges. She also reports on the push by civil liberties groups to open the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's inquiry into the Bush administration's interrogation techniques to the public, and Senate Intelligence Chair Diane Feinstein's green lighting of an inquiry into the CIA's use of those techniques.
- Remainders: Dobson calls it quits; libertarians find more evidence that America is embracing them; please God let Sarah Palin be the 2012 frontrunner; the netroots get serious about finding 2010 primary challengers; and a clueless California mayor can't understand why people can't find the humor in an email picturing the White House with a lawn full of watermelons.
--Mori Dinauer
