memeorandum: The Bernanke Conundrum — A funny thing happened on the way … (Paul Krugman)

11:55 PM ET, January 23, 2010

Top Items:

Obama Moves to Centralize Control Over Party Strategy — WASHINGTON — President Obama is reconstituting the team that helped him win the White House to counter Republican challenges in the midterm elections and recalibrate after political setbacks that have narrowed his legislative ambitions.

Discussion: The Politico, Political Punch, Pajamas Media, NewsReal Blog, Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, The New Republic, Steve Kornacki and New York Magazine

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Plouffe stepping up role as adviser to White House — David Plouffe, the man who managed President Barack Obama's campaign, will be taking on an expanded role as an outside adviser to the White House, according to sources familiar with the plan, a move that comes just days after a stunning defeat …

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Hill, Liberal Values, Moe Lane, The Lonely Conservative, AMERICAblog News and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

David Plouffe / Washington Post:
November doesn't need to be a nightmare for Democrats

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and The Political Carnival

Chris Frates / The Politico:
Reid, Pelosi work to save reform

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Lonely Conservative, Firedoglake, Liberal Values, The Reaction, Another Black Conservative, Joust The Facts, American Conservative …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Page, Weasel Zippers and Paul Krugman

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE TALKS THAT MAY SAVE HEALTH CARE REFORM.... Over the last few days …

Discussion: Riehl World View, The Daily Dish, The Mahablog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, PostPartisan and TPMDC

Patterico's Pontifications:

Ellie Light: Obama Astroturfer? Or Very, Very, Very Energetic But Independent Letter Writer? With Houses All Over the Nation? — A woman has written the same letter defending Obama to dozens of publications across the country, getting them published in at least 42 newspapers in 18 states …

Discussion: Another Black Conservative, NewsBusters.org, YID With LID, Left Coast Rebel, Riehl World View and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Patterico / Hot Air:

Ellie Light: Obama Astroturfer? — Someone appears to be doing a little Astroturfing for Obama. — In recent days, a letter defending Obama has appeared in dozens of newspapers throughout the country — all signed by an “Ellie Light.” In the letters, which all use identical language …

Discussion: Big Journalism, NewsReal Blog, Left Coast Rebel, HazZzMat, Pajamas Media and Conservatives4Palin.com

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

White House Is Confident Bernanke Will Be Confirmed — WASHINGTON — After a full-scale mobilization, White House and Senate officials expressed confidence on Saturday that they had successfully contained a populist uprising among Democratic senators that had threatened President Obama's nomination …

Discussion: Grasping Reality …, Wall Street Journal, The Page, Calculated Risk, Economix and New York Times

Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario:
Paul Krugman For The Fed

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Matthew Yglesias, The Politico, The Daily Caller, Vox Popoli, Eschaton, Grasping Reality … and Capital Gains and Games blogs

Paul Krugman:
The Bernanke Conundrum — A funny thing happened on the way …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Capital Gains and Games blogs, Econbrowser, Matthew Yglesias, Open Left, Grasping Reality …, The Baseline Scenario, Calculated Risk, Economist's View, The New Republic and Wall Street Journal

Edward Luce / Financial Times: White House nightmare persists

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Obama Turns Up Heat Over Ruling on Campaign Spending — WASHINGTON — President Obama took aim at the Supreme Court on Saturday, saying the justices had “handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists” with last week's 5-to-4 decision to lift restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Daily Pundit

Dave Johnson / Seeing the Forest:
Supreme Court Shifts Business Playing Field Away From Marketplace

Discussion: Ian Welsh

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama vs Boehner: Power to the people

Discussion: The Hill, 73 Wire, The Confluence, The Caucus and D.C. Now

Nathaniel Cary / TheSunNews.com:

Bauer: Needy ‘owe something back’ for aid — GREENVILLE - Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to “feeding stray animals.” — Bauer, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn …

Discussion: Think Progress, New York Magazine, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Liberal Values

Greenville News:

(2 of 2) — “We don't make you take a drug test. We ought to. We don't even make you show up to your child's parent-teacher conference meeting or to the PTA meeting,” Bauer said. — “You go to a school where there's an active participation of parents and guess what? They have the highest test scores.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:

Bill's Late Father Irving Kristol: ‘My Poor Son Has Got It Wrong Again’ — Despite all the failures of the neoconservative movement in foreign policy over the last eight years, Newsweek writes that we are witnessing “the return of the neocons.” However, the article provides little hard evidence …

Discussion: Newsweek, The Political Carnival and The Impolitic

Anthony Shadid / New York Times:

U.S. to Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal, Biden Says — BAGHDAD — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised Iraqi leaders on Saturday that the United States would appeal the dismissal of manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors involved in a deadly shooting …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Jeffrey Kahn / The Huffington Post: Cut the Red Tape: Why Haitians Need Humanitarian Parole Now

Carol E. Lee / The Politico:

Obama's evolution as commander-in-chief — Never a soldier himself, but suddenly their commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama wanted to learn the job from the ground up. — Including the salute. — Under the guidance of an expert, aides say Obama privately repeated his salute over and over again until he got it down.

Discussion: American Conservative …

Michael Sneed / Chicago Sun Times:

Jury duty for President Obama? — To serve or not to serve? Is that the question? — • Translation: TV titan Oprah Winfrey may have honored her Cook County Circuit Court Jury summons, but it's a good bet President Obama won't. — • To wit: Sneed has learned Obama's name …

Discussion: Politics Daily, JammieWearingFool and The Political Carnival

Amanda Lee Myers / Arizona Daily Star:

J.D. Hayworth says he'll run against John McCain — Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he is planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat. — Hayworth, a Republican, told The Associated Press late Friday he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix.

Discussion: National Review Online, Scared Monkeys, American Conservative …, Left Coast Rebel, The Hill, Scorecard's Blog, Riehl World View, The Page, The Lonely Conservative, RedState and Michelle Malkin

CNN:
Hayworth says he will challenge McCain

Discussion: Daily Kos, Townhall.com and Hotline On Call

Dan Nowicki / Arizona Republic: J.D. Hayworth gives up radio talk show

Danny Shea First / The Huffington Post:

Phil Griffin's Memo To MSNBC Talent: Stop Fighting With Each Other — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — On the heels of yet another public incident between his anchors, MSNBC president Phil Griffin reined in his talent in a staff memo Friday afternoon. — Griffin sent a memo …

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog, American Conservative …, Mediaite, YID With LID and New York Magazine

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Justice Kennedy was key to conservatives' win in campaign finance decision — If there was a new boldness from the Supreme Court's conservative majority in last week's landmark ruling on campaign finance laws, there was also an underlying and familiar truth: