Obamanation

the two leaders liken the effort to free Arab people from authoritarianism to the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. They liken their personal efforts to two leaders who came before them: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Most notable from the wine cellars of the famous palace: A Echezeaux Grand Cru 1990, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, that goes for $1,000 - $1,700 per bottle in the United States. There were a bunch of other wines, like Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne and a very nice $170 1963 port President and first lady Michelle Obama, who are noted for dinner dates at Washington's finest restaurants, have probably had before.

The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media & Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama's online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories....

"We don't have a lot of margin for error," Netanyahu said to the president. "Because, Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance." Netanyahu, whose father is a retired academic, offered the president repeated history lessons, saying Jews have "been around for almost 4,000 years. We have experienced struggle and suffering like no other people. We've gone through expulsions and pogroms and massacres and the murder of millions. But I can say that even at the dearth of -- even at the nadir of the valley of death, we never lost hope and we never lost our dream of reestablishing a sovereign state in our ancient homeland, the land of Israel."

One of the contentions of those opposing the effective nationalization of our healthcare system has been that the quality of care will necessarily decline as the government finds itself forced to introduce rationing to control costs. ObamaCare's supporters reply with the only rejoinder they've got: "nuh-uh."

six Republican senators wrote President Obama asking if he will comply with the War Powers Act, which says Congress must authorize action that lasts more than 60 days.

Netanyahu swiftly rejected Obama's call for Israel to pull back to the borders that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. Roughly translated from Hebrew, a statement from the Prime Minister's office said that they appreciated Obama's commitment to peace, but called the pullback to the 1967 borders "indefensible," and said that the Palestinians were less than an honest partner in the peace process.

Much of the speech was simply outdated boilerplate from the 1960s. This line, for example — "In a global economy based on knowledge and innovation, no development strategy can be based solely upon what comes out of the ground" — ignores the decades of economic diversification pursued by most of the oil producers of the Middle East. Muammar Qaddafi is an outlier and a nut; Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and the Arab nations of the Persian Gulf have all made strides in diversifying their economies. The presidential way to bring up diversification would have been to praise the efforts made already, and pledge US support to continuing or expanding them. Instead, Obama chose to lecture his audience on the need for diversification — sounding very much like someone who hasn't gotten any updated information on this topic since he was awarded his baccalaureate degree in the early 1980s

Mr. Liu co-wrote a 2008 book, "Keeping Faith with the Constitution," intended to offer a liberal alternative to conservative approaches to legal interpretation. He is a past board chairman of the American Constitution Society, a network of scholars, students and practitioners that liberals established as a counterpoint to the conservative Federalist Society. While Republican administrations often have looked for judicial nominees with academic pedigrees to promote conservative legal views, Democrats have concentrated on diversifying the bench with women and minority candidates.

the last-minute furor highlights the discord as they head into what one Israeli official described as a "train wreck" coming their way: a United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood in September. Mr. Netanyahu, his close associates say, desperately wants Mr. Obama to use the diplomatic muscle of the United States to protect Israel from the vote, not only by vetoing it in the Security Council, but also by leaning hard on America's European allies to get them to reject it as well. Mr. Obama has indicated that he will certainly do the first. But it remains unclear how far Mr. Obama can go to persuade Britain, France and other American allies to join the United States in rejecting the move, particularly as long as Mr. Netanyahu continues to resist endorsing the pre-1967 lines.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was quick on the draw Thursday in voicing clear displeasure with President Barack Obama's mideast policy speech. "Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to peace," the response began, curtly. "Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state." "That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress." "Among other things," Netanyahu reminded Obama, "those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines." "Those commitments also ensure Israel's well-being as a Jewish state by making clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel."

President Barack Obama will use his speech to the Arab world today to call for billions of dollars in financial assistance to Egypt and Tunisia as part of a comprehensive approach to the "Arab Spring" movement that he hopes will boost democratic reforms and America's reputation in the region. The aid package, which would unfold over two to three years, would include an estimated $1 billion in debt cancellation, $1 billion in loan guarantees and several billion more in financing from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, according to three senior administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

President Barack Obama is endorsing the Palestinians' demand for their future state to be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, in a move that will likely infuriate Israel. Israel says the borders of a Palestinian state have to be determined through negotiations.

slobbering and gushing over Obama reaches Matthewsian levels. One can almost feel the tingles just reading it.