Apparently, Obama’s BP Oil Spill performance has been a total disaster. Just check the news. He’s weak, aloof, unemotive, Maureen Down explains. “Mr. President, take command,” David Gergen urges on CNN. James Carville exhorts: “This president needs to tell BP, “I’m your daddy.” And Peggy Noonan, writes, simply, for WSJ: “I don’t see how you politically survive this.” Count me among ... Read More
The NYT’s expose on Governor David Paterson is riveting and ultimately damning. This is the kind of journalism we need more of. Maybe individual pieces of evidence suggesting Gov. Paterson is a narcissist and a flake wouldn’t hold up in court, but the preponderance of the evidence is conclusive on that score. To sum up: He can’t be reached during ... Read More
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina, and where we stand today On Aug. 29, 2005, one million people were displaced overnight when Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast. “We plan for what we’ve experienced, but you don’t even begin to understand [a worst-case scenario] until it is upon you,” Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA employee who took refuge in the Superdome along with ... Read More
Obama neglects the best stimulus of all: space exploration In the past few months President Obama has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending to lift the United States out of the recession. Employing arguably the most talented engineers and scientists and involving the most cutting-edge research, spaceflight is one of the very best ways in which Obama ... Read More
Anticipating the next pandemic In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the American Gulf Coast, killing thousands and destroying the region’s economy. Such natural disasters cannot be prevented, only prepared for, in hopes of diminishing their impact. Yet the threat posed by a hurricane pales in comparison to that of an influenza pandemic, the outbreak of an especially virulent flu strain with ... Read More
