InauguTweets
Reuters press and politics columnist Jack Shafer tweeted after President Barack Obama's second inauguration speech: "Where's the line about drone strikes?"
Tweeted national correspondent for the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg: "Very liberal speech, but he did refer to God as 'He.' "
Coy no more
Author and Atlantic magazine contributor James Fallows couldn't grasp all the yawns after Obama's inauguration.
"Well, it's almost as if he has won re-election and knows he will never have to run again and hears the clock ticking on his last chance to say what he cares about. If anyone were wondering whether Obama wanted to lower expectations for his second term ... no, he apparently does not."
Room to improve
Gallup's pollsters found Obama averaged a 49.1 percent job approval during his first term. Since World War II, only Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford were less popular during their first terms (and for them, there was no second). Bill Clinton's numbers were similar to Obama's. Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower were the most popular first-term presidents.
Would Lady Sybil agree?
On "Fox & Friends," Stuart Varney posited that the popularity of "Downton Abbey" could make the rich less reviled.
"They're dismissed as fat cats who don't pay their fair share," he said. But at Downton, Varney said, the rich come off as nice. "They create jobs, for heaven's sake. They're classy, they've got style. ... It poses a threat to the left, doesn't it?"
Where's the gardener?
Obama unveiled a new political organization last week and touted it as a "grass-roots" outfit aiming to change Washington from the outside.
In truth, Politico reports, Organizing for Action has begun its work by pressing big-money folks to fertilize the effort. Jim Messina, Obama's 2012 campaign manager and the new group's national chairman, told well-heeled donors in Washington after the inauguration: "We need you. This president needs you."
Status update
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to host a fundraiser for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the Republican who's seeking a second term and is seen in some circles as a 2016 presidential prospect.
"Mark and (his wife) Priscilla ... admire his leadership on education reform and other issues," a spokeswoman said.
In 2010, Zuckerberg met with Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, when the social media wunderkind donated $100 million to Newark schools.
