Amidst all the chatter about the upcoming Week of Palin, you may have noted that President Obama is part way through an important trip to Asia. The President, and the press corp. traveling with him, landed in China Sunday and are scheduled to depart Tuesday. Yesterday the President addressed a group of students about the importance of a free and unfettered Internet; the Chinese place strict rules on how much information is available online, and many sites we take for granted here are banned there, for example, Twitter, something the President has apparently never used: (more...)

Here's what working for an enormously popular (in terms of general good will, since Obama's approval ratings have actually taken a hit of late) President gets you: a big target on your chest. Over the weekend the Times ran a cool-ish profile of chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that noted, once again, his aggressive style, which is so at odds with the President's (also that Rahm now likes puppies more than dead fish, and maybe didn't qualify for a recent inner circle invite to Camp David because he hadn't technically suffered through the campaign). Today at The Daily Beast, Lee Siegel is turning a sharply critical eye on press secretary Robert Gibbs. Blame the messenger! (more...)

Is the White House overreacting to an overreaction? Last Thursday, you may recall, Fox News' Major Garrett got into it with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs over Garrett's questioning of White House email procedures. He asked Gibbs a question that there was only one way to answer, then attacked him for trying to answer it. On the air later, Garrett admitted there was a problem with his question. (more...)

Two high-profile stories about the intersection of racism and the Republican Party are exploding all over the internet. The flap over comments at Free Republic and the Young Republicans' election of a new president make for a sour cocktail this weekend. (more...)