Category: Media Beat column

The mosaic of Barack Obama’s cabinet picks and top White House staff gives us an overview of what the new president sees as political symmetry for his administration. While it’s too early to gauge specific policies of the Obama presidency, it’s not too soon to understand that “triangulation” is back. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton…

On Friday, columnist David Brooks informed readers that Barack Obama’s picks “are not ideological.” The incoming president’s key economic advisers “are moderate and thoughtful Democrats,” while Hillary Clinton’s foreign-policy views “are hardheaded and pragmatic.” On Saturday, the New York Times front page reported that the president-elect’s choices for secretaries of State and Treasury “suggest that…

It’s been 16 years since a Democrat moved into the White House. Now, the fog of memory and the spin of media are teaming up to explain that Barack Obama must hew to “the center” if he knows what’s good for his presidency. “Many political observers,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported days ago, say that…

Two days before he lost the election, John McCain summarized what had become the central message of his campaign: “Redistribute the wealth, spread the wealth around — we can’t do that.” Oh yes we can. The 2008 presidential election became something of a referendum on “spreading the wealth.” “My attitude is that if the economy’s…

It could be a start — a clear national rejection of the extreme right-wing brew that has saturated the executive branch for nearly eight years. What’s emerging for Election Day is a common front against the dumbed-down demagoguery that’s now epitomized and led by John McCain and Sarah Palin. A large margin of victory over…