Friday, March 13th

The Wall Street Journal published two speculative articles today. The first, "Risks Lurk in Obama’s Poll Numbers", comments on President Obama's popularity, and how his approval ratings are positive but not exceptionally high for a president who has assumed the presidency after the term of an unpopular president. Reporter Jerry Seib warns that once the Republican party finds a new figurehead to represent the party, support for Obama may wane quickly. The second article, titled "How Obama Will Handle U.S. Attorney Posts Still Unclear", reviews the courses of action that former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush took to replace existing U.S. attorneys with ones that more closely reflected the views of their respective political parties. Obama's U.S. Attorney appointments will be important because an internal review found that some of Bush's appointments may have been tainted by political considerations.

The New York Times reports that Obama will be the first president to skip the first Gridiron Dinner of his presidency since Grover Cleveland. The dinner is held annually by the Gridiron Club, the oldest and most exclusive journalistic organization in Washington, D.C, and usually features remarks from the president. Vice President Joe Biden will attend in place of Obama.


A business front in Moneygall, Ireland, where President Obama has ancestral ties (James Baer, L.A. Times)
The Los Angeles Times carries no "hard" news articles about Obama's recent actions, but instead reports on the Irish village of Moneygall. Moneygall, population of 298, has developed Obama fever after it was discovered two years ago that some of Obama's ancestors were linked to the town. Residents have affectionately nicknamed the U.S. president "O'Bama".

- Nia