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Interpreting Headline News While Stuck at the Airport
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2011 Comment (4)I spent most of the day yesterday trapped in the airport by the new storm in the Northeast. But it gave me the chance to watch CNN’s Headline News channel. I wasn’t close enough to listen to the commentary, but I could read the “crawls” at the bottom of the screen. Over and over and over again. If you have any complaints about the “crawls,” I didn’t write them. CNN did.
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Gun Control Opponents Have Nothing to Worry About
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2011 Comment (21)The answer to the question of why Democrats aren’t upset about gun control is obvious. What’s perplexing is why those opposed to gun control are worried about it.
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Obama Doesn't Seem Worried About the Looming Deficit Crisis
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2011 Comment (4)Here’s what was missing from the State of the Union address, and by that I mean both literally and figuratively:
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Obama Tried to Please Too Many in State of the Union
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2011 Comment (6)Did the president state the"state" of the union? In a word, yes. But did he please the union? Two words: yes and no. Depends on which side--er, who you were sitting next to.
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Obama's State of the Union Was Tantamount to Plagiarism
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2011 Comment (269)If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what can be said of plagiarism? President Obama’s second State of the Union address contained enough recycled ideas and lines lifted from speeches of others to make historians wince. I suppose this is what one does when one not only has nothing new to say, but is required by custom and Constitution to come forth with a report of some kind by a certain time and day.
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State of the Union Bipartisan Seating Made a Difference
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2011 Comment (2)It was a show. A charade, arguably. A public relations ploy that was all about trying to look bipartisan in the wake of the Tucson tragedy, without the true substance of cross-party cooperation behind it.
And I still loved it.
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Instant Polls Very Positive for Obama State of the Union
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2011 Comment (27)The insta-returns are in and the president knocked the State of the Union out of the ballpark.
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Obama's Not the First to Use 'Sputnik Moment'
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2011 Comment (6)Sputnik is back, baby. In one of the State of the Union sound bites leaked ahead of time, and one of the lines for which the speech will be remembered, President Obama said that this generation is encountering its “Sputnik moment”--a shocking turning point which spurs the country to step up its efforts to meet an unforeseen, startling challenge.
It’s a theme that the president has toyed with on and off for some time, and it’s one that other pols—including Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney--have used for several years as well.
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To Succeed, Obama's State of the Union Needs Optimism
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (5)To be magisterial, President Obama must speak from his head and his heart tonight in the Capitol as he addresses Congress and the nation in the annual State of the Union speech.
To give a great soaring speech, he must blend poetry into the prose.
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Obama Should Call for Restructuring of Education Funding
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (1)As the president addresses the nation tonight and proposes domestic spending freezes among other centrist initiatives, he will also urge Congress to pass the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the reconstructed and rebranded version of No Child Left Behind). Obama likely will note that there is a broad middle ground on education policy, and that we must reform our schools if we wish to maintain our global competitiveness.
