After a long day of work, Obama gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel the Medal of Freedom. View photos of the elaborate outdoor White House state dinner.
Surrounded by eminent German Americans, President Obama gave a toast to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House Tuesday night. Merkel was given the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a civilian. The two heads of state apparently have a warm relationship; they've met 10 times before. Earlier in the day, they talked about Libya, the economy, and other issues, putting on a unified front.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Should We Hit Gaddafi Next?
Photos: The Obama-Merkel State Dinner
Plus: Leslie H. Gelb on What Germany Can Teach Obama and Joshua Hammer on Merkel's Quest to Save Europe
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Surrounded by eminent German Americans, President Obama gave a toast to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House Tuesday night. Merkel was given the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a civilian. The two heads of state apparently have a warm relationship; they've met 10 times before. Earlier in the day, they talked about Libya, the economy, and other issues, putting on a unified front.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Should We Hit Gaddafi Next?
Photos: The Obama-Merkel State Dinner
Plus: Leslie H. Gelb on What Germany Can Teach Obama and Joshua Hammer on Merkel's Quest to Save Europe
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
For inquiries, please...
- 6/8/2011
- by The Daily Beast
- The Daily Beast
Anemic jobs numbers, cratering home prices, stock market plunges-the only upside to all these depressing figures, says Gary Rivlin, is they may force Washington to stop obsessing over the deficit and fix unemployment.
It was only a month ago that the Obama administration was reassuring us that the economy was on the right track.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Boehner's Voodoo Economics
Then the Department of Labor (Pdf) released its latest jobs numbers. Now the only reason for optimism might be numbers so frighteningly bad that maybe they'll start talking about unemployment again in Washington and spend less time worrying about the impact of the deficit in the year 2030.
The U.S. economy added only 54,000 jobs in May. That compares to the 220,000 or so jobs the economy had added in each of the last three months.
May's numbers were so anemic that the president, speaking at a Chrysler plant in Toledo,...
It was only a month ago that the Obama administration was reassuring us that the economy was on the right track.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Boehner's Voodoo Economics
Then the Department of Labor (Pdf) released its latest jobs numbers. Now the only reason for optimism might be numbers so frighteningly bad that maybe they'll start talking about unemployment again in Washington and spend less time worrying about the impact of the deficit in the year 2030.
The U.S. economy added only 54,000 jobs in May. That compares to the 220,000 or so jobs the economy had added in each of the last three months.
May's numbers were so anemic that the president, speaking at a Chrysler plant in Toledo,...
- 6/6/2011
- by Gary Rivlin
- The Daily Beast
Fed up with the stalled peace talks, the Palestinian leader defies Israel and vents about Obama. With unfettered access, Dan Ephron profiles Mahmoud Abbas in this week's Newsweek. Plus, Ephron's Q&A with Abbas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is disillusioned by President Obama. He tells Newsweek's Dan Ephron that Obama, who seemed open to helping the Palestinian cause before his election, quickly cooled once he got into office-and at a crucial moment, betrayed him.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Palestinians React to Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington Speech
Things came to a head earlier this year when Obama called Abbas before a critical United Nations vote on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For almost an hour, Abbas says, Obama tried to get the Palestinian leader to withdraw the resolution-using first carrots then sticks, threatening that Congress might not approve the hundreds of millions of dollars America gives to the Palestinians in aid.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is disillusioned by President Obama. He tells Newsweek's Dan Ephron that Obama, who seemed open to helping the Palestinian cause before his election, quickly cooled once he got into office-and at a crucial moment, betrayed him.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Palestinians React to Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington Speech
Things came to a head earlier this year when Obama called Abbas before a critical United Nations vote on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For almost an hour, Abbas says, Obama tried to get the Palestinian leader to withdraw the resolution-using first carrots then sticks, threatening that Congress might not approve the hundreds of millions of dollars America gives to the Palestinians in aid.
- 4/25/2011
- by The Daily Beast
- The Daily Beast
While domestic birthers think Obama is kin of the devil, the new "foreign policy birthers"-including John McCain, who urged more action in Libya this week-think he's a dithering Jimmy Carter, says Leslie H. Gelb.
Those who are convinced that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a fabrication and believe he is the emission of some Kenyan voodoo ceremony, see the president as a black Damien, the offshoot of the Devil who can only do evil. No evidence will ever alter their revelation. And day after day, the news media actually gives these racist and political cynics air and print space. There's no excuse for this.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Democrats' Negotiator in Chief
Then there are the foreign policy birthers, who see Obama as Jimmy Carter, a vacillating over-intellectualized liberal who can't make up his mind. To them, whatever Obama does abroad is wrong-seriously and dangerously wrong.
Those who are convinced that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a fabrication and believe he is the emission of some Kenyan voodoo ceremony, see the president as a black Damien, the offshoot of the Devil who can only do evil. No evidence will ever alter their revelation. And day after day, the news media actually gives these racist and political cynics air and print space. There's no excuse for this.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Democrats' Negotiator in Chief
Then there are the foreign policy birthers, who see Obama as Jimmy Carter, a vacillating over-intellectualized liberal who can't make up his mind. To them, whatever Obama does abroad is wrong-seriously and dangerously wrong.
- 4/24/2011
- by Leslie H. Gelb
- The Daily Beast
As the Obama team debates arming Libya's rebels, Defense Secretary Gates has staked out a clear position: No way. Leslie H. Gelb on why the Pentagon wants to start disentangling-fast.
Pentagon civilian leaders and the military brass see nothing but trouble looming as the Obama administration takes one step after another into the Libyan morass. The next step appears to be arming the Libyan rebels, a move that would inevitably entail pressures to send U.S. trainers and even more potent arms-and a move that Defense Secretary Robert Gates flat-out rejected in testimony before Congress on Thursday. "What the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control, and some organization," Gates said. As for providing weapons, that is "not a unique capability for the United States, and as far as I'm concerned, somebody else can do that."
Related story on The Daily Beast:...
Pentagon civilian leaders and the military brass see nothing but trouble looming as the Obama administration takes one step after another into the Libyan morass. The next step appears to be arming the Libyan rebels, a move that would inevitably entail pressures to send U.S. trainers and even more potent arms-and a move that Defense Secretary Robert Gates flat-out rejected in testimony before Congress on Thursday. "What the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control, and some organization," Gates said. As for providing weapons, that is "not a unique capability for the United States, and as far as I'm concerned, somebody else can do that."
Related story on The Daily Beast:...
- 4/1/2011
- by Leslie H. Gelb
- The Daily Beast
Will the no-fly zone work? The Daily Beast offers a cheat sheet of opinion on the U.N.-backed intervention.
• Peter Worthington at the Frum Forum wonders whether the U.N. knows what it's doing. "Pity the U.N. vote came three weeks late," he writes. Though he thinks the U.S. and U.N. may have dithered for too long, instituting a no-fly zone when after it was too late to do much good, he thinks it's a good think the U.S. Didn't take the lead. Speculating on whatever regime follows Gaddafi, he doubts it will be democratic.
Related story on The Daily Beast: My Harrowing Libya Escape
• Julian Borger at the Guardian, says "the time pressure is intense" if the U.N. intervention is to have an effect, but it also has to look like a cooperative effort between Europe, the United States, and the Arab League,...
• Peter Worthington at the Frum Forum wonders whether the U.N. knows what it's doing. "Pity the U.N. vote came three weeks late," he writes. Though he thinks the U.S. and U.N. may have dithered for too long, instituting a no-fly zone when after it was too late to do much good, he thinks it's a good think the U.S. Didn't take the lead. Speculating on whatever regime follows Gaddafi, he doubts it will be democratic.
Related story on The Daily Beast: My Harrowing Libya Escape
• Julian Borger at the Guardian, says "the time pressure is intense" if the U.N. intervention is to have an effect, but it also has to look like a cooperative effort between Europe, the United States, and the Arab League,...
- 3/18/2011
- by The Daily Beast
- The Daily Beast
Oilmen may be cheering the results of the Mideast revolution. But, in this week's Newsweek, Leslie H. Gelb contends the revolts overseas aren't good for the U.S. and Israel.
The biggest potential losers in the still-roiling revolutions of the Middle East and North Africa are the people themselves. Many are democrats at high risk of being overwhelmed over time by new dictators and organized religious extremists. But the uncontested winners are already quite clear: those who own, sell, and bet on oil. In the last month alone, oil prices have leaped almost 10 percent, even with only tiny dips in supply.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Four Journalists Held in Libya
While these revolutions have produced daily thunderclaps worldwide about a new democratic future for the Middle East, power structures remain largely intact. Almost every country in the region looks as if it's marking time, waiting. So far, those...
The biggest potential losers in the still-roiling revolutions of the Middle East and North Africa are the people themselves. Many are democrats at high risk of being overwhelmed over time by new dictators and organized religious extremists. But the uncontested winners are already quite clear: those who own, sell, and bet on oil. In the last month alone, oil prices have leaped almost 10 percent, even with only tiny dips in supply.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Four Journalists Held in Libya
While these revolutions have produced daily thunderclaps worldwide about a new democratic future for the Middle East, power structures remain largely intact. Almost every country in the region looks as if it's marking time, waiting. So far, those...
- 3/9/2011
- by Leslie H. Gelb
- The Daily Beast
As Gaddafi teeters Libya, Obama still has no clear policy on the rising tide of democracy across the Middle East. What he needs, says Stephen L. Carter, is a clear doctrine to guide his administration and show the protesters he is with them.
Suppose Gaddafi falls tomorrow. Despite Tuesday's fiery speech, he plainly is on the way out. When you are reduced to machine-gunning your people en masse, and your own diplomats turn against you, the handwriting is on the proverbial wall. Yes, there was a time not so long ago when vicious regimes could slaughter their people as they liked, and get away with it-one need only remember Tiananmen Square in 1989, or Prague in 1968-but that was before every cell phone could stream video around the world in seconds. A dictatorship that cannot control communications is bound to crumble.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Libya's Rebels Advance on...
Suppose Gaddafi falls tomorrow. Despite Tuesday's fiery speech, he plainly is on the way out. When you are reduced to machine-gunning your people en masse, and your own diplomats turn against you, the handwriting is on the proverbial wall. Yes, there was a time not so long ago when vicious regimes could slaughter their people as they liked, and get away with it-one need only remember Tiananmen Square in 1989, or Prague in 1968-but that was before every cell phone could stream video around the world in seconds. A dictatorship that cannot control communications is bound to crumble.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Libya's Rebels Advance on...
- 2/23/2011
- by Stephen L. Carter
- The Daily Beast
With Libya's regime crumbling and protests spreading across the Middle East, neither Obama nor the experts really know whether America should now cheer or cringe.
Remember that great old democrat, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? Once upon a time, many trumpeted him as the people's man du jour. He had delicious democratic slogans: "Peace, Bread, and Land" and "All Power to the Soviets" (meaning the peoples' councils). This pithy platform thrilled throngs longing to stop Russia's involvement in World War I and retire the czar's oppressive regime. Good people the world over applauded these populist sentiments, though not the communist progeny. Unfortunately, by democracy, Lenin meant dictatorship by him and the Communist Party.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Libya Revolution's Hidden Power Players
Now, don't go crazy. I'm not obsessing about Islamic Lenins lying in wait to exploit the current turmoil. I'm simply noting that experts and the talkocracy seem overeager...
Remember that great old democrat, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? Once upon a time, many trumpeted him as the people's man du jour. He had delicious democratic slogans: "Peace, Bread, and Land" and "All Power to the Soviets" (meaning the peoples' councils). This pithy platform thrilled throngs longing to stop Russia's involvement in World War I and retire the czar's oppressive regime. Good people the world over applauded these populist sentiments, though not the communist progeny. Unfortunately, by democracy, Lenin meant dictatorship by him and the Communist Party.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Libya Revolution's Hidden Power Players
Now, don't go crazy. I'm not obsessing about Islamic Lenins lying in wait to exploit the current turmoil. I'm simply noting that experts and the talkocracy seem overeager...
- 2/23/2011
- by Leslie H. Gelb
- The Daily Beast
Carl Bernstein reports on what is driving U.S. diplomats' efforts to put together-by Monday it is hoped-a plan that would leave Mubarak in place as a temporary, powerless, de facto head of state. Plus, full coverage of the Egypt protests.
For the past week, a series of realities unstated by the White House or the State Department has driven American diplomacy dealing with the momentous events in Egypt, according to high-level sources familiar with the process.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Egyptians Rejoice in Tahrir Square
First and foremost, the United States-in concert increasingly with other governments-is seeking an immediate transition to democratic pluralism and procedures that, simultaneously, will prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from overwhelming or co-opting the process to become the dominant political force in Egypt's post-Mubarak future.
To accomplish this, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while sympathetic to the desire of Egyptian democratic...
For the past week, a series of realities unstated by the White House or the State Department has driven American diplomacy dealing with the momentous events in Egypt, according to high-level sources familiar with the process.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Egyptians Rejoice in Tahrir Square
First and foremost, the United States-in concert increasingly with other governments-is seeking an immediate transition to democratic pluralism and procedures that, simultaneously, will prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from overwhelming or co-opting the process to become the dominant political force in Egypt's post-Mubarak future.
To accomplish this, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while sympathetic to the desire of Egyptian democratic...
- 2/5/2011
- by Carl Bernstein
- The Daily Beast
In Egypt, a Facebook page administrator known only by the handle El Shaheeed, or Martyr, is one of the driving forces behind the historic protests. Mike Giglio tracks down the mysterious figure, who talks about his crucial role in organizing the demonstrations.
Iran's Green Revolution had a martyr named Neda, a 26-year-old woman gunned down in the streets of Tehran. Tunisia's was Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed university graduate who set himself ablaze outside a government building. Egypt's is Khaled Said-because someone has been agitating under the dead man's name.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Egypt's Revolutionary Poetry
Said, a young businessman from Alexandria, was reportedly beaten to death by local police this summer-well before rumblings of the country's current unrest. But a Facebook page that bears his name has been one of the driving forces behind the upheaval that started last week.
The anonymous Facebook page administrator who goes by the handle El Shaheeed,...
Iran's Green Revolution had a martyr named Neda, a 26-year-old woman gunned down in the streets of Tehran. Tunisia's was Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed university graduate who set himself ablaze outside a government building. Egypt's is Khaled Said-because someone has been agitating under the dead man's name.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Egypt's Revolutionary Poetry
Said, a young businessman from Alexandria, was reportedly beaten to death by local police this summer-well before rumblings of the country's current unrest. But a Facebook page that bears his name has been one of the driving forces behind the upheaval that started last week.
The anonymous Facebook page administrator who goes by the handle El Shaheeed,...
- 1/31/2011
- by Mike Giglio
- The Daily Beast
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq fall apart; the U.S. economy sinks back into recession; Keith Olbermann gets into politics-Leslie H. Gelb on the disasters that beckon at home and abroad this year, plus a few bright spots.
Disasters have been brewing for years all over the world, and this might well be the year where some or many just erupt. The bad signs far outweigh the good ones. Too many problems have gone unattended and unfixed for too long, and one just gets the sense of things preparing to pop. It won't be as bad as say, 1939 with nations on the edge of World War II. But it could be worse than 1968, when the Vietnam War was reaching a crescendo and America appeared to be coming apart at the seams. Here are some of the sprouts to watch.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Jaipur Literary Festival Draws Controversy
1. The U.
Disasters have been brewing for years all over the world, and this might well be the year where some or many just erupt. The bad signs far outweigh the good ones. Too many problems have gone unattended and unfixed for too long, and one just gets the sense of things preparing to pop. It won't be as bad as say, 1939 with nations on the edge of World War II. But it could be worse than 1968, when the Vietnam War was reaching a crescendo and America appeared to be coming apart at the seams. Here are some of the sprouts to watch.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Jaipur Literary Festival Draws Controversy
1. The U.
- 1/24/2011
- by Leslie H. Gelb
- The Daily Beast
Hillary Clinton called him "my biggest headache" but also an "inspiration," President Obama said Holbrooke "made a difference"-Howard Kurtz reports from a sparkling, humor-filled tribute that somehow matched the spirit of the man. Plus, Newsweek's report on Holbrooke's war with the White House.
It was somehow fitting that it took two presidents, a vice president, a secretary of State, a Joint Chiefs chairman, two heads of state, and 20 foreign ministers to pay tribute today to Richard Holbrooke, a man of boundless energy, unbridled ambition, and maddening contradictions.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Nice Rhetoric, but Need Real Results
Amid the splendor of the Kennedy Center, the bull-headed diplomat who tried most recently to solve the puzzle of Afghanistan and Pakistan was remembered as an indomitable force who often had little time or patience for niceties of domestic life.
The two-hour service had an upbeat, gently humorous tone sprinkled with superlatives,...
It was somehow fitting that it took two presidents, a vice president, a secretary of State, a Joint Chiefs chairman, two heads of state, and 20 foreign ministers to pay tribute today to Richard Holbrooke, a man of boundless energy, unbridled ambition, and maddening contradictions.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Nice Rhetoric, but Need Real Results
Amid the splendor of the Kennedy Center, the bull-headed diplomat who tried most recently to solve the puzzle of Afghanistan and Pakistan was remembered as an indomitable force who often had little time or patience for niceties of domestic life.
The two-hour service had an upbeat, gently humorous tone sprinkled with superlatives,...
- 1/14/2011
- by Howard Kurtz
- The Daily Beast
The senator doesn't go as far as Sarah Palin, who ripped Obama for the documents "fiasco," but he calls the Times' publishing of the cables "hurtful." McCain talks to Howard Kurtz about the diplomatic fallout, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and more.
John McCain is upset about the huge pile of secret diplomatic cables that hit the press this week. And he isn't just blaming WikiLeaks.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Cracking the New York Times Popularity Code
The Arizona Republican points an accusing finger at the American newspaper that obtained the cache of documents and is publishing them in nine lengthy installments.
"I wish The New York Times had chosen not to," McCain says in an interview. "It's harmful to the United States of America and our national security interests. Their argument is that it was coming out anyway. But there's a certain imprimatur of The New York Times...
John McCain is upset about the huge pile of secret diplomatic cables that hit the press this week. And he isn't just blaming WikiLeaks.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Cracking the New York Times Popularity Code
The Arizona Republican points an accusing finger at the American newspaper that obtained the cache of documents and is publishing them in nine lengthy installments.
"I wish The New York Times had chosen not to," McCain says in an interview. "It's harmful to the United States of America and our national security interests. Their argument is that it was coming out anyway. But there's a certain imprimatur of The New York Times...
- 12/1/2010
- by Howard Kurtz
- The Daily Beast
As tension in the Korean Peninsula escalates, former Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reminds us that we've been here before. The Clinton administration was poised on the brink of war in 1994.
It was a tense scene in the White House cabinet room. On June 16, 1994, Defense Secretary William Perry and Joint Chiefs Chairman John Shalikashvili were briefing President Clinton and his National Security Council on options for defending South Korea against the distinct possibility North Korea might soon attack.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Vet Snub Shocks Families
"We knew we were poised on the brink of a war that might involve weapons of mass destruction," Perry recalled in his 1999 book, Preventive Defense. "When the president entered the room he was more somber than usual; indeed everyone there recognized the gravity of the situation."
Just two days earlier Perry had huddled with his military commanders over a plan to launch a surprise attack,...
It was a tense scene in the White House cabinet room. On June 16, 1994, Defense Secretary William Perry and Joint Chiefs Chairman John Shalikashvili were briefing President Clinton and his National Security Council on options for defending South Korea against the distinct possibility North Korea might soon attack.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Vet Snub Shocks Families
"We knew we were poised on the brink of a war that might involve weapons of mass destruction," Perry recalled in his 1999 book, Preventive Defense. "When the president entered the room he was more somber than usual; indeed everyone there recognized the gravity of the situation."
Just two days earlier Perry had huddled with his military commanders over a plan to launch a surprise attack,...
- 11/25/2010
- by Jamie McIntyre
- The Daily Beast
From Kate Middleton to Ireland's economy, your all-ages conversational guide to impressing your friends and loved ones.
There are two things you need to get through Thanksgiving. Both require a good sense of timing: a well-made drink and a well-delivered insight. The Daily Beast can't help you with the former but when it comes to the latter, we've got your back. Here's some diversionary banter to keep Aunt Gloria at bay when she asks, yet again, why you're still living at home. Try one of these lines out on Cousin Tim to get him to stop yammering about the wonders of his new girlfriend Katie. You don't need to know much to fake your way through Thanksgiving banter-just more than that wisecracking uncle sitting next to you.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Fashion Flash: Paint The Town Red
1. Politics: President Obama is trying to emerge from his midterm doldrums.
There are two things you need to get through Thanksgiving. Both require a good sense of timing: a well-made drink and a well-delivered insight. The Daily Beast can't help you with the former but when it comes to the latter, we've got your back. Here's some diversionary banter to keep Aunt Gloria at bay when she asks, yet again, why you're still living at home. Try one of these lines out on Cousin Tim to get him to stop yammering about the wonders of his new girlfriend Katie. You don't need to know much to fake your way through Thanksgiving banter-just more than that wisecracking uncle sitting next to you.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Fashion Flash: Paint The Town Red
1. Politics: President Obama is trying to emerge from his midterm doldrums.
- 11/24/2010
- by Samuel P. Jacobs
- The Daily Beast
Culture Catch & DL21C present a book salon on Thursday evening, May 14th at The Center with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Leslie H. Gelb reading, discussing, and signing his new book Power Rules. The discussion will be moderated by MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.
This extraordinary event affords a select group of invited guests an unprecedented opportunity to listen and discuss in an informal and casual setting the impact of this must-read book. Inspired by Machiavelli's classic The Prince, Mr. Gelb offers a common sense approach to foreign policy.
read more...
This extraordinary event affords a select group of invited guests an unprecedented opportunity to listen and discuss in an informal and casual setting the impact of this must-read book. Inspired by Machiavelli's classic The Prince, Mr. Gelb offers a common sense approach to foreign policy.
read more...
- 5/14/2009
- by Dusty Wright
- www.culturecatch.com
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