Obama, Somali Pirates, Plus: Will the Stimulus Be Enough?

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

Pirates

A lot's happened since we discussed talk about the pirate hostage-takers on Friday, like Obama's authorization of military force to free the captain then held hostage. Joe Gandelman gives this old-and-new media summary of reactions to the operation. David Ignatius has nothing but praise for the Navy Seal snipers who killed the Somali pirates. "So what?" writes Andrew Sullivan. Tom Mahnken thinks world leaders let pirates evolve into a major issue unnecessarily. Here's the solution he recommends: "President Obama should give on-scene commanders permission to shoot pirates on sight." He goes on: "The United States is the most powerful state in the world and possesses the most powerful navy in the world. It is high time that we began to act like it." Conservative Alexander Bernard takes us back to America's fight against the pirates of yore: "Ultimately, the United States followed Bainbridge's advice and decided that the only way to keep American ships safe from piracy was a strong show of force." Here at Thomas Jefferson Street, Robert Schlesinger gets way more historical with talk about how Julius Caesar handled pirates. And Mary Kate Cary explains why crews can't bear the arms to fight the pirates themselves.

Enough Stimulus?

Few were defending the Obama administration's stimulus plans in the blogosphere today, but that doesn't mean that everyone criticizing Obama was conservative. Liberal Lloyd Chapman thinks the plans are inadequate: "If President Obama wants to stimulate the national economy and create jobs, he needs to adopt policies and legislation to direct federal infrastructure funds to America's 27 million small businesses." This op-ed by Robert J. Samuelson on the stimulus had lots of conservatives talking. Conservative Matt Welch sums up Samuelson's arguments: "Obama's big-think plans constitute the opposite of what we traditionally consider 'economic progress'; i.e., the productivity of getting more output for less money." Conservative Veronique de Rugy agrees. Mort Zuckerman argues "for yet another national stimulus program to be prepared for implementation in the event that the forces of contraction get out of control." Other bloggers move on to the role China's playing in the economic crisis. And, from the lips of one of China's top government economists, here is one blogger's quote of the day: "If you owe your bank manager a thousand pounds, you are at his mercy. If you owe him a million pounds, he is at your mercy."

... Meanwhile ...

Cuba has been killing the pets of American diplomats... The new Palin controversy... Mel Gibson's wife files for divorce... And here's why MBA's cheat so much.