Bush: He Thinks He Can Dance | Newsweek Periscope

Mail Call: Sunny Days Ahead
11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
THE BIG IDEA
The Price of Loyalty
Jacob Weisberg 11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
Critics of Hillary Clinton's possible appointment as Secretary of State have focused on the issue of whether she'll be faithful to her new boss. The senator, we are reminded, has her own interests and a tendency to put her own ambitions first. Perhaps so, but I doubt President Obama will have much trouble with disloyalty in his administration, from Clinton or anyone else, for the same reason it wasn't a problem in his campaign: he doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about it.
The Editor’s Desk
Daniel Klaidman 11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM
Writing in The New York Times, columnist David Brooks lightly mocked the phenomenon as "O-phoria," the wall-to-wall coverage of Barack Obama's election—the insta-books, the quickie documentaries and, yes, the magazine covers. But it is hard to overstate the profound impact this election has had on the country. We in the media are, in some ways, giving voice to a collective expression of pride, a kind of national exclamation point, as if to say, "This really happened." The election of Obama hardly represents an eradication of racial prejudice; rather, it is an important milestone along a tortured road—an achievement in which all Americans, no matter whom they voted for, can take pride. But it is not a static event. The presence of an African-American family in the White House will force (allow?) all of us, no matter our skin color or ethnic background, to examine our biases and expectations.
MOVIES
Glee. Fury. Malaise. Oscar!
Sarah Ball 11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM
Harvey Milk wouldn't be too proud of California voters right about now—but he might be glad to know that their doings have blessed his biopic with Oscar buzz aplenty.
PERISCOPE
Executive Orders: The Limits On Change
Adam B. Kushner 11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Allies may be dismayed to learn that President Obama can't turn American foreign policy on a dime when he takes office in January, say executive-power scholars. Only a few components of U.S. policy flow from the Oval Office in the form of revocable "executive orders," the commands that presidents sometimes revoke in the first few days. Obama is expected to reverse a few of these—such as the global gag rule, which keeps U.S. money from family-planning groups that provide (or suggest) abortions. But, says Phillip J. Cooper of Portland State University, President Bush made policy using instruments like classified "national security directives," presidential memoranda and signing statements that aren't all listed in the Federal Register, the daily journal of the U.S. government rules and amendments. Digging up every message Bush sent to executive agencies—on subjects from Gitmo to development aid—could take months. Change, it turns out, takes time.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Pardon Me? Don’t Bet On It.
Michael Isikoff 11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office. A number of politically connected Washington lawyers have been retained to push the cases, but there are few signs that Bush will be open to anything resembling the last minute "pardon party" that marked President Clinton's final days in office.