Jonathan Alter today added his name to the list of Newsweek writers who have left since the magazine’s merger with the Daily Beast. As Politico reports, Howard Fineman is now with Huffington Post, Michael Isikoff has joined NBC News, Fareed Zakaria is at Time magazine, and Evan Thomas is at Princeton University, while Jon Meacham, the feckless editor who presided over the debacle, is now at Random House.
Alter evidently left Newsweek with no new job lined up, but will continue as a columnist for Bloomberg News and contributor at HuffPo.
Three weeks ago, President Obama ordered American troops into the first “humanitarian war” on his watch, vowing to stop the forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from massacring their own people. Mr. Obama’s hope was that a quick application of power from the air would tip the balance, and the Libyan rebels would do the rest.
Now . . . the question in Washington has boiled down to this: Can Mr. Obama live with a stalemate? . . .
If the country’s civil war drags on, Mr. Obama will almost certainly have to answer a rising chorus of critics that he entered the battle too late, began to exit too early, and overestimated a very inexperienced, disorganized rebel movement.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed the United States’ call for Khaddafy to step down and to leave Libya.
Clinton said the U.S. believes “there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Khaddafy from power and from Libya.”
After weeks of U.S. and NATO bombardment, about one-third of Moammar Gadhafi’s ground armor has been destroyed, as well as most of the fixed air defense sites and aircraft, but a stalemate between government and rebel forces is emerging and could last for some time, according to a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the latest military assessments. . . .
The official said the latest U.S. and NATO view is that both sides essentially remain in their fixed positions — the rebels near Ajdabiya and the pro-government forces near al-Brega. . . .
“Neither side has the wherewithal to move,” the official said. Rebels do not have the manpower, vehicles or weapons to make major advances. And while Gadhafi’s forces continue their attacks, especially in Misrata, the source said they are suffering from a lack of supplies, ammunition and fuel because of airstrikes. The official said that a major ground force movement would put Gadhafi’s units in the cross hairs of NATO airstrikes. . . .
While [the rebels] are holding on to Ajdabiya for the moment, the senior official said it is hard to imagine them making any further gains toward Tripoli.
Visitors to Princeton, New Jersey, may find there the grave of a former New York state judge who died in 1919 at the advanced age of 90. Judge Roger Pryor was not from New Jersey, however, nor was he a native of New York. A Virginian by birth, as a young man Pryor had been one of the Old Dominion’s foremost secessionist “fire-eaters.” Impatient with Virginia’s reluctance to secede from the Union, Pryor traveled to South Carolina in April 1861 and gave a speech urging the newborn Confederacy to resist Abraham Lincoln’s attempt to reinforce the U.S. Army contingent holding the fort that commanded Charleston harbor.
“Strike a blow!” Pryor cried, assuring his “immense and enthusiastic audience” that if the crisis led to war, Virginia would secede immediately — “within an hour by Shrewsbury clock,” he said. . . .
Gov. Romney throws his hat in the ring
Posts three-minute video critical of Obama’s performance; unfortunately, he also recycles used Kerry-Edwards slogan
Click the image to enlarge. Apologies if the handwriting is a bit illegible after 150 years, but this note reads:
Fort Sumter, S.C.
April 12, 1861. 3:20 a.m.
Major Robert Anderson
U.S. Army
Comdg Fort Sumter
Sir
By authority of Brig General Beauregard commanding the provisional forces of the Confederate States we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his Batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time.
We have the honor to be
Very Respectfully
Yr obt servts,
James Chesnut Jr., Aide de Camp
Stephen D. Lee, Capt., S.C. Army, Aide de Camp
Yes. It was 3:20 a.m., 150 years ago today, that this courteous note was delivered to Major Anderson, and the Confederate guns opened fire on Fort Sumter at 4:30.
Well, just one more weekend left in tax season, and then Rule 5 Sunday will return to its proper place on the weekend. For now, I appreciate your patience.
Too late for last week’s roundup (or maybe just way too early for this one), Fishersville Mike submits a pic of Kaley Cuoco and the Pink Berets preparing for the debut of “Hop”.
Keith Hennessy has a detailed post, from which I’ll mooch his bullet points:
First, a temporary continuing resolution has a hard deadline, while a debt limit increase does not.
Second, defaulting on a debt obligation is potentially far more serious than a temporary government shutdown.
Third, a freestanding debt limit increase bill doesn’t contain any spending cut, so there is no “natural” fiscal policy that should obviously included.
So there are questions as to when and how much to extend the debt ceiling. This will become another football, as Boehner can force the administration to come begging again soon by being too frugal with the extension.
These cruel ways, Mr. Boehner: don’t. Stop. Don’t stop.
