Obama Visits Iraq, Robert Gates's Budget, and the End of the Housing Market Drop

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

Obama's in Iraq: Surprise!

You should be surprised, of course, that Obama's in Iraq—unless you work for the Iraqi government, as conservative Moe Lane points out. "Conditions in Iraq have obviously improved of late, but the president's visit was a reminder that the country is still obviously dangerous," writes liberal Steve Benen. "No one, as far as I can tell, tried to hit Obama with a shoe, so I suppose this visit will be considered more of a success than the last presidential visit to Iraq." Conservative Michelle Malkin resents Obama's self-confidence and the confidence the media seems to have in the president: "It appears that Obama thinks his mere presence and aura will help 'resolve problems.' " She's also hoping he won't tell the troops Iraq is a dumb war. Liberal BarbinMD looks at the numbers behind the public's support of Obama's trip, angry as he is that the press won't give Obama the benefit of the doubt. (And you thought only conservatives could criticize the media for its Obama bias?) Writing on the same polls, Tony Campbell worries that Obama has too much of a carte blanche: "If there is one covertly negative aspect about the legacy of George W. Bush, it is that the American people were so hungry for 'change,' they never really bothered to find out what kind of change Obama really meant. As the saying goes ... be careful what you wish for..." And conservative Victor Davis Hanson just hates it when the president apologizes.

Cutting Down on Defense

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates held a press conference in which he laid out the Pentagon's 2010 budget that bloggers are still slowly digesting. "Bob Gates is Tyler Hansbrough ... only shorter and better at what he does than the basketball all-American," writes David Rothkopf. A longer excerpt from Rothkopf's post, because, well, it's a damn good parallel: "Furthermore, like Hansbrough, Gates proved his own value and his toughness yesterday ... although the former Aggie did it by unveiling substantial military budget reprioritizations that will certainly have him facing a vastly tougher, more seasoned defense than Michigan State could manage last night. In fact, the defense Gates will have to overcome is the world's number one defense, the U.S. military-industrial complex." Conservative Conn Carroll writes that with Gates's new budget, America's decline on the world stage has been all but confirmed: "A narrowly-focused approach that looks only to the present and what we can hope to predict of the future is a strategy unbecoming of a nation that counts itself as the world's indispensable nation." Fred Kaplan is a fan of the budget, as is this liberal blogger.

Notes on the Recession

A few interesting angles on the recession from bloggers today. Annie Lowrey summarizes Paul Krugman's thoughts on the comparison between the current economic crisis and the Great Depression. Economics blogger Carpe Diem thinks the housing market has finally bottomed out. More than a few bloggers are telling their readers to check out this interactive chart put together by MSNBC and Moody's Economy.com. Others are talking about George Soros's dire predictions about the economy, like Blake Hounshell and liberal Ethan Brown. And what is possibly the most interesting thought on the recession—if we do say so ourselves—is its effect on journalism, which conservative Patrick Ruffini devotes a whole post to here. Plus, Dan Amira feels bad for the increasingly large class of j-school grads.

... Meanwhile ...

Eminem hearts Sarah Palin (way too much, if you ask us)... World's oldest woman turns 115 years old, loves crispy bacon... Spontaneous display of public dancing occurs in Belgium... Plus, the best opening storyline ever: "Meet Kyle Joseph Campbell. Just call him Original Kreeam Shabazz."