In Poll, Obama Is Seen as Ineffective on the Economy  —  A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care …

Just Tell the World, ‘Go Hang’  —  Events in Iran catch President Obama flat-footed.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  “Wading into Iranian politics, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday there appeared to be few policy differences between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and rival Mirhossein Mousavi,” Reuters reports.

Obama on Iran, McCain on His High Horse  —  Here's Obama's response to events in Iran.  As Spencer Ackerman notes, just about pitch-perfect:  —  Now look at what John McCain said in contrast: … Take a moment to think about how the current government in Iran is going to react to this …

Why are Iranian police markings written in English?  —  Post-election protests continued in Tehran for the fifth day on Wednesday.  In many photos, riot police wear uniforms with the English word police on them.  Ambulances, too, bear the word ambulance in English.

White House refuses to answer Senate questions on AmeriCorps IG firing  —  Norman Eisen, the White House Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, met with investigators on the staff of Republican Sen. Charles Grassley at Grassley's offices Wednesday morning.

Out of Washington, Edwards Finds Worries Remain  —  John Edwards says he has few illusions.  He knows the picture many Americans hold of him is not a pretty one.  He also knows that even before he was engulfed in tabloid scandal, his electoral appeal had limits.

ABC REFUSES OPPOSITION ADS DURING WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL  —  ABC is refusing to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, including a paid-for alternative viewpoint!  —  The development comes a day after the network denied a request …

Hillary Clinton Fractures Her Elbow  —  The Secretary of State will undergo surgery to repair the damage next week  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell down on her way to the White House late Wednesday afternoon, fracturing her right elbow, her Counselor and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills …

Bachmann Boasts About Breaking The Law: I'm Refusing To Fill Out The Census  —  Next year, the 2010 Census will be sent to every American household, as required by the U.S. Constitution.  The far right has issued dire warnings of the Census; on a May 29th episode of Bill Bennett's radio show …

Barney Frank throws us under the bus.  Lauds incest brief.  Says language was appropriate.  —  Well, it seems a trip to the Oval Office is all openly gay congressman Barney Frank needs to stab his community in the back.  After criticizing the DOJ's anti-gay DOMA brief this morning …

Krauthammer's Take  —  From last night's “All-Stars.”  On Obama's reaction to the situation in Iran: I find the president's reaction bordering on the bizarre.  It's not just little and late, but he had a statement today in which he welcomed the Iranian leader's gesture about redoing some of the vote, as you indicated.

Outcry on Federal Same-Sex Benefits  —  WASHINGTON — The package of domestic partnership benefits that President Obama established for federal workers on Wednesday drew the loudest protests from some of those it was intended to help, gay men and lesbians who criticized the move as too timid.

Healthcare CEOs Shoot Themselves in the Foot  —  Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations decided to investigate the practice of recission.  This is when you pay your premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled.

Paul Krugman's Prophetic Prescience  —  Wow.  Just . . . wow. … As Arnold Kling says, there's a paragraph I'm sure glad I didn't write.

President Obama Announces Appointments to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships  —  Washington, DC - Today, President Obama appointed 28 members to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.  This accomplished group of citizens representing a broad range of backgrounds …

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Primary  —  Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Specter 51% Sestak 32%  —  Senator Arlen Specter leads Congressman Joe Sestak by 19 percentage points in an early look at the 2010 Democratic Senatorial Primary in Pennsylvania.

An Interview With Paul Samuelson, Part One  —  I've spent the last six months, off and on, trying to interview Paul Samuelson.  Samuelson has a long list of accomplishments — A John Bates Clark Medal, a Nobel Prize — that I won't try to recap here.  But by most accounts he is responsible …

Crying To God For Freedom  —  They may not have any cell-phones; or news.  They may be being squeezed off the web.  But they have their voices.  Through the darkness of the night, in the face of great force, sustained by unimaginable courage: listen to the audacity of hope:  —  God bless them.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Beautiful Eyes  —  Of the many reckonings that black people of honest political consciousness must endure, the appointment with black slavery is the most agonizing.  I don't mean the appointment with the notion of white people as the enslavers of our ancestors …

Report on Bush Interrogation Policy ‘Weeks’ From Release, Holder Says  —  Probe Is Focused On Interrogation Program's Approval  —  A Justice Department report focusing on possible ethics violations by Bush administration lawyers who approved waterboarding of terrorism suspects is still …

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off  —  SADLY, AND TO my horror, I am divorcing.  This was a 20-year partnership.  My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work.  I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued.  This turn of events was a surprise.