memeorandum: Obama Ponders Outreach to Elements of the Taliban (New York Times)

8:30 PM ET, March 7, 2009

Top Items:

Tim Shipman / Telegraph:

Barack Obama ‘too tired’ to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown — Barack Obama's offhand approach to Gordon Brown's Washington visit last week came about because the president was facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Discussion: Power Line, Pajamas Media, Flopping Aces, QandO, Six Meat Buffet and Macsmind

New York Times:

Obama Ponders Outreach to Elements of the Taliban — WASHINGTON — President Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Blogs and Stories, Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER, Clusterstock, AMERICAN DIGEST, MyDD, The Caucus, Calculated Risk, Wizbang, Booman Tribune, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Atlas Shrugs, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Weasel Zippers and MSNBC

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Great news: Obama fumbled Brown visit because he's in over his head — After insulting Gordon Brown during the British prime minister's visit this week by ignoring protocol and cheaping out on the traditional gift exchange, the UK media has erupted in outrage.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, PoliGazette and Cold Fury

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

New Poll Reveals 56 Percent Of Americans Favor Bank Nationalization — A new Newsweek poll finds that 72 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of President Obama, 58 percent approve of the job he is doing, and 65 percent are very or somewhat confident that he will be successful in turning the economy around.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Wonk Room and D-Day

Martin Kramer / Sandbox:

Chas Freeman and 9/11 — How important has resentment of Israel been to Al Qaeda's terrorism? Here is one side of the argument, by an American who knows Saudi Arabia well: … And here is the opposing view, by an American who knows the Kingdom equally well: … So now you've heard two sides of the debate.

Discussion: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Little Green Footballs, Winds of Change.NET, PoliGazette, Weekly Standard, The New Republic and Commentary

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

A Freeman Time-Line — Jon Chait argues that the opposition to Chas Freeman is largely about the rigidity of his realism, his connections with Saudi Arabia, and his brutal realpolitik with respect to China. And he has argued against the notion that this contretemps was initiated and pursued …

Discussion: The New Republic, Israel Matzav, Jeffrey Goldberg, Eunomia, Riehl World View and James Fallows

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

Fathers and Sons: A Spirited Defense of Chas Freeman by his Politically Divergent Son — This is a guest post for The Washington Note by CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies Charles Freeman. The entry first appeared on Freeman's facebook page. Freeman previously served as assistant U.S. trade representative (USTR) for China affairs.

Discussion: Informed Comment and TPMCafe

New York Times:

Obama's Interview Aboard Air Force One — President Obama spoke in a 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday afternoon as he traveled from Columbus, Ohio to Andrews Air Force Base. This is an edited transcript, as recorded by The New York Times.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Beltway Confidential and Ben Smith's Blogs

Jackson Diehl / Washington Post:

George W. Obama? — Washington has spent the past couple of weeks debating whether Barack Obama's ambitious agenda and political strategy are more comparable to those of Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan. Oddly, hardly anyone is talking about the ways in which Obama is beginning to resemble the man who just vacated the White House.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Daily Kos, TBogg, TalkLeft, The Strata-Sphere, Balloon Juice, Commentary and The Washington Independent

Ben Feller / Associated Press:
Obama: Crisis is time of ‘great opportunity’

Discussion: Don Surber, Donklephant and Below The Beltway

Christi Parsons / The Swamp:
Obama to visit Turkey

Discussion: The Politico

CNN:
Obama to visit Turkey in next few weeks

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

The Politico:
Obama to visit Turkey

Discussion: Associated Press and Reuters

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Specter faces make-or-break shift as challenge looms — Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) does not have the fall-back option of running as an independent should he lose his 2010 primary election, giving the senior lawmaker strong incentive to abandon his party this year.

Discussion: Hot Air, Open Congress, Think Progress and Riehl World View

BBC:

Hillary Clinton left red-faced by Moscow gift translation gaffe — Russian media have been poking fun at the US secretary of state over a translation error on a gift she presented to her Russian counterpart. — Hillary Clinton gave Sergei Lavrov a mock “reset” button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

Discussion: Cafe Talk Aggregator

Mark Landler / New York Times:
Lost in Translation: A U.S. Gift to Russia

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, The Swamp, JustOneMinute, Wake up America, Jules Crittenden and Closing Velocity

Robert Pear / New York Times:

In Divide Over Health Care Overhaul, 2 Major Unions Withdraw From a Coalition — WASHINGTON — Two labor unions have pulled out of a broad coalition seeking agreement on major changes in the health care system. — The action, by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees …

Discussion: Associated Press and DISSENTING JUSTICE

Sally C. Pipes / Wall Street Journal:
Health ‘Reformers’ Ignore Facts

Discussion: Wonk Room

Benjamin Duer / Repository:

Stark's hottest job: Janitor — Lack of work. — How hungry are people for work in today's sinking economy? — Nearly 700 people have applied for a single job as a school custodian. — Perry Local Schools have an open position — full time with benefits — at Edison Junior High School after its afternoon janitor retired.

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and PoliGazette

Aljazeera:

Iran and Hamas back Sudan's Bashir — A delegation of senior Middle Eastern leaders has travelled to Sudan to express international support for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur. — Officials from Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah joined Syria's parliament speaker …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice