memeorandum: President's Budget Strategy Under Fire (Lori Montgomery/Washington Post)

12:20 PM ET, March 18, 2009

Top Items:

No Boiled Carrots — Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad. — On St. Patrick's Day, the president spoke a bit of Gaelic, dyed the White House fountains green and talked about his distant relatives in the tiny Irish town of Moneygall, aptly named since money and gall are the two topics now consuming him.

Discussion: DailyHowler.com and Commentary

Edward M. Liddy / Washington Post:

Repairing AIG and Repaying the Public — The government rescue of American International Group (AIG) and other financial firms has produced a palpable wave of anger on the part of Americans and a rising public demand for accountability from corporate and government leaders.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, TalkLeft, Associated Press, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, MSNBC, Think Progress, QandO, Boston Globe, DownWithTyranny!, The Caucus, The BLT, DealBook, Emptywheel and The Democratic Daily

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

AIG staff: We deserve this money — AIG's new management team last year proposed that its employees give up their “retention” bonuses, or at least reduce them. The response from the 370 or so employees set to rake in $450 million in bonuses through 2010? — Take a hike.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Washington Post:

AIG Firestorm Raises Alarm For Other Firms — The firestorm over bonuses paid by insurance giant American International Group has triggered alarm at other financial firms, threatening federal efforts to draw private investors into economic recovery programs. — It is a critical juncture for the Obama administration.

Discussion: Achenblog, AMERICAblog News, Don Surber, Cato @ Liberty and The New Republic

David Harsanyi / Denver Post:

There are fates worse than bonuses — Here's an idea: If you stop nationalizing banks, there will be no need to engage in phony-baloney indignation over bonus payments anymore. — This cockamamie populism in Washington really hit its stride when Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley suggested …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Washington Post:

White House Calls Bonuses a Late Surprise — Congress Moves to Impose Hefty Tax on Executives Who Don't Return Money — Senior White House officials said last night that President Obama did not learn that bonuses worth $165 million were to be paid to executives of American International …

Discussion: The Fix, BBC, Real Clear Politics, Time, Democracy in America, TIME.com, The Note, The Caucus and RedState

Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Wall Street's Dangerous Refusal to Learn

Discussion: The Campaign Spot and Marginal Revolution

Lawrence A. Cunningham / New York Times:
A.I.G.'s Bonus Blackmail

Discussion: The Swamp and Washington Post

Tahman Bradley / Political Punch:
Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month

Discussion: The Note, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The New Republic, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Don Surber, NewsBusters.org, Salon and Financial Times

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, Clusterstock, Wall Street Journal, Prairie Weather and Econbrowser

Washington Post:
The Big Bash

Discussion: Commentary and The Washington Independent

The Huffington Post:
Wyden: My Bill Could Have Prevented AIG Mess

Discussion: Associated Press, MyDD, The Raw Story, Open Left, DealBook and Salon

New York Times:
Outcry Builds in Washington for Recovery of A.I.G. Bonuses

Discussion: The Plum Line, CBS News, Weekly Standard, The Note, Washington Monthly, Associated Press, Daniel W. Drezner, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Hill, New York Times, Bloomberg, Agence France Presse, DealBook, Los Angeles Times, ABCNEWS and MSNBC

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Associated Press:
Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses

Discussion: CNN, Power Line, Wake up America, The Smirking Chimp, Associated Press and The Politico

Congressman Leonard Lance:
LANCE INTRODUCES BILL DIRECTING TREASURY TO RECOUP AIG BONUSES

Discussion: Think Progress

Associated Press:

Begorra! Irish PM trips over White House speech — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar.

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, Reuters, Washington Post, Flopping Aces, Dr. Sanity, Riehl World View and The Politico

Alex Conant / The Politico:

The 5 biggest myths about Obama — By trade if not by choice, I have become something of a Barack Obama aficionado. POLITICO's Mike Allen wrote last week that I have “probably listened to more President Obama speeches than any human besides [White House spokesman Robert] Gibbs.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Taegan Goddard's …

Tim / Sky News:

The Obama 100 — Earlier in the day, the president claimed an Irish ancestry, saying his mother's family could be traced back to Ireland. — He joked to Cowen: “We may be cousins. We haven't sorted that through yet.” — Speaking in the Oval Office, he told the Irish premier …

Discussion: Big Hollywood, pw, Little Green Footballs, JustOneMinute and Cold Fury

Tom LoBianco / Washington Times:
Obama climate plan could cost $2 trillion

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Capital Commerce

Mark Steyn / The Corner:
Healing the Planet — The President of Brazil gets the Obama treatment:

Discussion: Tim Blair and Power Line

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

President's Budget Strategy Under Fire — Tactic May Break Obama's Bipartisan Pledge, GOP Says — Senior members of the Obama administration are pressing lawmakers to use a shortcut to drive the president's signature initiatives on health care and energy through Congress without Republican votes …

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Huffington Post, The Politico, The Plank, Blog entry, AMERICAblog News, TIME.com and Riehl World View

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Obama axes GOP in new budget push

Discussion: New York Times and Blog entry

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LOWERING THE BAR FOR MOB RULE.... About two weeks ago …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Can Obama's Grass-Roots Supporters Fire Up the Budget?

Discussion: The Swamp and The Caucus

Wall Street Journal:

Financial Journalists Fail Upward — “Listen, you knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months,” said “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart to CNBC superstar Jim Cramer in their much-discussed confrontation last week. “The entire network was, and so now to pretend …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com

Jon Friedman / MarketWatch:

CNBC's woes may open the door to its competitors — Commentary: Jon Stewart's criticisms could resonate with viewers … NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — When Jon Stewart excoriated CNBC on “The Daily Show,” he barely mentioned its competition. That seemed to imply that the Fox Business Network …

Discussion: Blogs and Stories, Clusterstock and TVNewser

David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
@ McGraw-Hill: NBCU's Zucker Calls Out Jon Stewart: Blaming CNBC Is ‘Absurd’

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and City Room

Rob Gillies / Associated Press:

Bush says it's ‘essential’ to help Obama — CALGARY, Alberta - Former President George W. Bush, making his first public speech since leaving office in January, says he wants Barack Obama to succeed and that it's “essential” to support the new leader. — Bush declined to critique …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Little Green Footballs, The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Washington Monthly, Newsweek Blogs and Jules Crittenden

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Bush promises not to attack Obama

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Associated Press, The Swamp, The New Republic, Wake up America and Political Machine

Associated Press:
Bush says Obama ‘deserves my silence’

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Hot Air, Wonkette, MSNBC, NewsBusters.org and Democracy in America

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Stayin' Alive — The inside story of health care reform's near-death experience. — In early January, most of Barack Obama's senior staff assembled with the president-elect for a meeting inside a windowless, eighth-floor office at the transition headquarters in Washington.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Democratic Strategist and Ben Smith's Blog

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Some Members of Evan Bayh's New Anti-Progressive Caucus Too Frightened to Admit Membership — It's been known for a while now that Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) has been planning to form a caucus of “moderate” Senate Democrats hoping to soak up special interest cash in exchange for blocking the progressive agenda.

Discussion: Think Progress, Washington Monthly and Brian Beutler

Aaron Blake / The Hill:

Specter won't rule out run as an Independent — Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent. — The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TPMDC and MyDD

Ira Iosebashvili / themoscowtimes.com:

At G20, Kremlin to Pitch New Currency — The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.

Discussion: QandO