Entries for May 2007

So a holiday weekend approaches (translation: no news), and suddenly the contents of two books about Hillary Clinton are poured into a piece on the front page of the Washington Post. One book is by two former New York Times investigative reporters; the other is by Carl Bernstein, of Watergate fame. And, in unison, the HRC folks claim that the books are too boring for words--and what isn't boring is just wrong. Have a nice weekend.

It's become a problem for John McCain in this presidential race: He's now too inside Washington, people say. He's gone Establishment. His support for the war is killing him with those independent voters he wants to attract. And now, his support of an immigration reform measure is hurting him with his party's conservative base.

So the White House—which has had a hard time lately with its image—has finally done something to applaud. The president wants to increase the fuel efficiency of the cars we drive and yesterday ordered up new rules governing that. That means something very simple: Automakers need to start producing cars that give us more miles for the buck, and oil producers need to get with the ethanol program. And fast.

Honestly, the queen could not have come to Washington at a better time. We are all completely worn out with the congressional tug of war over Iraq, and now it seems like the fight will go on at least through the summer. We haven't seen a lot else accomplished, even though the one instruction the voters gave during the last election was this: Get something done. We've been watching 18 presidential contenders debate and wondering why we still feel like there's got to be something more out there (you feel that way more acutely, according to the polls, if you're a Republican). To top it off, the spring weather started out cold–and only now has it begun to warm up.

While the immigration rallies attract thousands, while those who rant against immigration attract their base voters, there are secret talks going on between the White House and Capitol Hill to actually get something done on immigration this year.