Entries for March 2009

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

It seems they were preaching to the choir. Singer Josh Groban, diva Linda Ronstadt, and jazz great Wynton Marsalis were on Capitol Hill today trying to convince lawmakers to budget $200 million for the National Endowment of the Arts. But it wasn't lawmakers who needed to be persuaded—it was their constituents who seemed to stand in the way.

"How do we convince the American public that investment in historic preservation, that investment in the arts are important?" asked Rep. Mike Simpson, who had taken some heat from constituents for funding a theater project that some have characterized as pork. "I was elected—I can take the heat," he added.

By Alex Kingsbury, Washington Whispers

The 60 Minutes segment on the Conficker Worm that aired Sunday night had all the ingredients of compelling television: a public safety hazard, clever thieves, and suitable villains in a group of Russian teens bent on stealing your identity and your bank account number.

And the doomsday date for the computer virus? April Fools' Day.

But 60 Minutes and its source, the Internet security company SecureWorks, may have played the fool in a case of mistaken identity. Not long after the segment hit the Internet, viewers in Finland pointed out that a picture of the alleged hacking masterminds in the segment looked an awful lot like a group of Finnish teenagers. An expert from SecureWorks who was quoted in the segment reportedly was the source for the photograph. SecureWorks didn't immediately return calls for comment.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Baseball's opening day is just a few days away, and Americans, through Whispers, have a suggestion for which game President Obama should choose for tossing his ceremonial first pitch: Sunday's game in Philadelphia between the Atlanta Braves and the world-champion Phillies. Will he? He should. since 36 percent in our Synovate eNation poll said he should. We don't know what he will do, but there are reports that he instead will attend Monday's opener for the Washington Nationals, the second choice in our poll at 28 percent. Surprisingly, those responding to our poll seemed to care less about Obama's hometown teams. Just 20 percent said he should throw his first pitch at the Cubs opener April 13 against the Colorado Rockies, and even fewer, 16 percent, said his first game should be his beloved White Sox against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

If Congress won't listen to the real president push for the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act, maybe the popular fake president from TV's West Wing can win passage of the bill. Cast members of The West Wing, including Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff, will hit Capitol Hill Tuesday to debut a new grass-roots campaign to boost support for the controversial "card check" labor legislation. It was dealt a blow last week when Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, most likely the deciding Senate vote, said he wouldn't vote for the bill. "I think it couldn't be a more appropriate time for them to be coming to town to help draw focus to this issue and draw focus to the workers," says Josh Goldstein, a spokesperson for American Rights at Work, which is hosting the event.

By Thomas Omestad, Washington Whispers

President Obama gets his first chance to size up Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a quick London meeting April 1. But with the intent of fixing years of hurt feelings, some U.S. officials are thinking about a bigger meet-and-greet with a bang—a full-fledged bilateral summit in Russia. "We think it will have a lot more impact," a U.S. official says of a Moscow stop. One reason: Huddling in Russia would take advantage of Obama's high standing overseas and his rhetorical gifts. And it's best for Obama to bring his message of new and improved ties directly to the Russian people, the official says.

By Andrew Burt, Washington Whispers

We really don't know if former Ukraine Ambassador Carlos Pascual will be President Obama's ambassador to Mexico, as some are reporting, but we do know that he likes one element of the country's culture. We asked Pascual, who is now at the Brookings Institution, about the reports, but he wouldn't bite, following the normal protocol not to comment on jobs not officially offered. "I'd rather not have any comments on anything related to Mexico," he said. "There's just too much speculation. Anything I say that touches even on the word Mexico just leads to speculation." So we took another angle, asking the well-regarded diplomat what he thought of Mexico's luscious margaritas. "The margarita is a great drink," he gushed, "and a great contribution to international culinary experience."

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

President Obama's snub of the annual spring Gridiron Dinner hosted by big-deal old-school reporters has inspired new-media bloggers. Steve Clemons, Washington Note blogger and director of the New America Foundation, is pushing for the creation of a highbrow blogger club and a rival annual presidential dinner for his ilk. Our own opinion editor and blogger Robert Schlesinger tagged it Blog-Iron. At a dinner where Clemons raised the possibility, Gridiron members feigned outrage. But likely Blog-Iron members said they felt confident that Obama, who chatted online himself this week, would attend.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

They knew the dissing of W was coming, since both presidential candidates used former President Bush as a punching bag last year. So when Barack Obama took over, some Bushies vowed to play defense when W's record was maligned. Thus was born www.43alumni.com, an online community of former Bush team members. "In the age of Facebook," says Bush spokesman Rob Saliterman, "it made sense to create the page to stay in touch with each other." Besides networking, 43alumni will be countering stories about Bush that his team feels are unfair. A section called Setting the Record Straight, says Saliterman, "will be responding to misleading and inaccurate comments about the president's record." The site is still under construction but will be up and running by summer. It will be funded with dues paid by Bushies.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Going organic in the White House was easy. Both Bubba's and W's kitchens did that with purchases from local farms and a nearby organic market. But homegrown fare, like what first lady Michelle Obama hopes to produce with her new spring vegetable garden on the South Lawn—now, that's more complicated. And not just because crops have to be planted and tended. Washington isn't really known for its population of honeybees, the buzzy bugs needed for pollination. So—you guessed it—the first-ever White House beehive has been installed.

By Andrew Burt, Washington Whispers

It was a very important trip for Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he traveled earlier this month through South America. During his trip through several countries (detailed on his Webpage titled Travels With Mullen), he talked about boosting U.S. ties in the region. But his trip had some lighter moments, too, like when he met a jaguar and munched on grubs. And when he toured the Amazon and faced some bloodsucking bugs (mosquitoes) that could carry malaria. "I went to Manaus and spent a day in the Amazon," Mullen says in a reference to Brazil's Amazon state and the largest city in the north. "I was handed this tube of special [bug-repellent] gel for the Army, and as we went out there they said please rub this on you every day or you may die. So I rubbed it all over."

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

President Barack Obama's methodical approach to addressing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is winning him strong support among Democrats in Congress. "There's no chest thumping, there's no 'Bring it on,' there's no 'Mission accomplished,' " Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at a media breakfast roundtable. Instead, he said, Obama is "stressing things that should have been stressed" before. Specifically, Reid welcomed Obama's announcement today of the deployment of some 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan. Reid said that the Afghan Army is better than the Iraqi Army and that the trainers should have a big impact on improving the military conditions there. He also said that Obama's approach is more comprehensive than that taken by former President Bush. He noted that Obama is beefing up U.S. agricultural aid, and not just in programs to eradicate poppy farming for drugs. The senator said that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been involved in developing an agriculture plan for Afghanistan. "I am satisfied with what's going on in Afghanistan," Reid said.