Things We Missed

++President Obama hits 60% in Washington Post approval rating.

++President Obama becoming only the second President sworn in 4 times to office. FDR being the first.

++Hillary Clinton and President Obama appearing on 60 Minutes and the speculation on 2016 starting already. Days later Hillary Clinton says again she really doesn't want to run for President. 

++The bizarre hearing on the Benghazi episode where Hillary Clinton takes the Republicans to town.

++The bizarre hearing where John McCain defends the surge against Chuck Hagel.

++The first hearings on gun control where Gabby Giffords speaks only to be interrupted by the news of new killings in Tucson.

++Immigration Reform finally gets a big boost from the Gang of 12 with a path to citizenship. Whether the hype turns out to be real, the mood has changed after the GOP got trashed by Latinos in the 2012 elections.

++Harry Reid's Big Foldo on filibuster reform. Things will be slightly better for nominees.

++The Senate reintroduces the Violence against Women Act, which was rejected by the House because it included native Americans.

++The Senate approved and the President signed the $50 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill only months after the event. Most Republicans voted against it.

++The U.S. sits on the edge of a recession because of sequestration, which would bring domestic discretionary spending to a level near an all-time low.

++We have missed almost all of the Republican debate about re-branding themselves. They say there is no need to change their policies. 

++We have been following the GOP plans to rig the electoral college. But wiser heads are delaying this because if you are a state like Pennsylvania why would you dilute your clout. But the plans are ready in case the GOP thinks it will lose the 2016 Presidential elections.

++The Democrats have introduced bills to facilitate voters casting their ballots. An audit of the Florida results shows that 200,000 people tried but could not vote because of long lines.

++Geraldo Rivera says he may run for Senate from New Jersey.

++Nate the Great Silver predicts the 49ers will win the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens.

++President Obama's swearing-in only brought 1 million people to town, exceeding the previous estimate of 800,000. This time the crowd was more diverse than last. Pundits applauded the speech as a statement that the governing paradigm has now shifted in the United States. Andrew Sullivan and Charles Krauthammer both agreed as to the merits of the speech but Charles thought it was manifesto of liberalism. It was certainly the first and only speech where gay rights were linked to the struggles for civil rights. From Selma to Seneca to Stonewall. Amitai Etzioni should be proud--Obama laid out a communitarian view of the American polity, which was in sync with American history. James Taylor, I could have done without. But Beyonce was terrific with the Star-Spangled Banner and no she didn't lip-sync it. 

++Conservatives are aghast that the University of Chicago bought Ronald Reagan's childhood home and plan to raze it to the ground for a possible Obama Presidential Library.

++The Hagel hearings sound like the Last Hurrah of the neo-cons. To emphasize why Hagel is wrong for Defense, you have ads by the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson,Christians for Israel, and a host of pro-Israeli groups. The thing these people miss is that Hagel is not going to formulate policy but implement it.

++John Kerry slides by the Senate confirmation process because of Senatorial courtesy. Tough fights are ahead for almost every other nominee since they all touch on domestic policy where the discussion is polarized.

++Conservative Judge Sentelle ruled that all of President Obama's recess appointments were unconstitutional ,jeopardizing the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Protection Agency, two targets of the right.

++President Obama nominated a prosecutor as head of the SEC.

++And Barney Frank was not nominated as the interim Senator from Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren is now the senior Senator from Massachusetts.

++The House postponed the debt ceiling fight until May, which in government speak means August. Probably by then the question will be moot because the deficit reduction measures in sequestration will have taken place. 

++Paul Krugman continues his lonely fight to explain that the deficit situation has stabilized but the real issue continues to be employment. Basically, both the Obama Administration and Congress have dropped the ball on getting the economy going again.

++Syria remains in a civil war; Egypt is rioting against President Morsi; Iran has been hit by hyperinflation due to the economic sanctions;Israel has bombed a convoy of anti-tank weapons destined to Hezbollah; and China is making menacing noises toward disputed islands. Russia has had its worst human rights year since the end of the Cold War. Britain has entered triple dip recession because of Prime Minister Cameron's policies. At least most of the manuscripts in Timbuktu were actually saved from the jihadists who burned the historic library.