Looking Back

Maybe now is not the time to be thinking about W., but this brief Vanity Fair story written by a guy who was college friends with one of Bush's daughters and invited several times to the White House is a great read.

One month after the worst attack in U.S. history, George W. Bush watched a 100-minute-long Anthony Hopkins film called Hearts in Atlantis.

It is an awful movie, and as it drags on I feel increasingly uneasy. Surely the president should be doing something else. Occasionally he gets a phone call from Andy Card, his chief of staff, who, as I understand it, is in the West Wing meeting with the head of the F.A.A. to determine when Washington’s Reagan National Airport will be safe to completely re-open (some flights began operating earlier in the week). Each time the phone rings, I hope the president will excuse himself to join them. But he doesn’t. Over the phone, the president tells the men to “get that airport opened up!” and then heads to bed.

Notes on Obama's Inauguration

-Welp, I think the Iranians proved today that they're prepared to dislike just about anybody.

-Potential Daily Show headlines? "Obama Sworn In; Sen. Kennedy Stricken by Seizure; Dow Drops 300 Points; Supreme Court Chief Justice and President Both Bungle Most Historic Oath of Office in History". It's only fair, right?

-NY Times liveblog is like a treasure trove of hilarious:

The Bushes Depart | 12:56 p.m. The helicopter steps are folded up. The blade begins to rotate. The Obamas and Bidens are standing still, holding each other’s hands, as they watch the helicopter rev up. We now have lift-off; the Bushes have left the Capitol at 12:55 — almost half an hour ahead of time. The Obamas wave.

The helicopter is swinging out over the Mall first instead of heading directly to Andrews. Surely the Bushes can’t hear the crowd below, but the chant is one that sports fans jeer to the opposing team: “Na Na Na Na/Na Na Na Na/Hey Hey Hey/Good-bye.”

-Did Chief Justice John Roberts flub the oath of office? Investigating. Maybe he was pissed that Obama voted against him and was the president of the Harvard Law Review, while Roberts was only managing editor. Update:Obama has retaken the oath out of "an abundance of caution."


-This from the NY Times story "For City Used to Pomp, a Legend is Born": "'Today, we’re hoping to see history,' Anad Thomas, a 32-year-old nurse from Westchester County, N.Y., said as she rode down 16th Street on a crowded bus just before 7 a.m. Her personal survival kit included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and plenty of tissues, along with a camera."

NOOOOO Anad! Don't eat the peanut butter!!