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Thoughts on David Garrow’s new book, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama Although we haven’t spoken in years, Garrow and I became friends in the later 1990s when I was a graduate student and he was a professor at Emory University. I was also at the time a Democratic state lobbyist, nonprofit director, and community organizer. We socialized: he is a gracious host. I took no classes from him, but I read his books and his scholarly articles, and his door was always open to me. David Garrow taught me a great deal about what it takes to be...

Suspicion about the federal government's September jobs report has fallen on Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who appeared on CNBC this morning and defended the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming--falsely--that upward revisions of 86,000 jobs were from the private sector. In fact, the new number is entirely accounted for by upwards revisions to state and federal government payrolls. The BLS reported that while only 114,000 jobs were created in September--which would have translated into a rise in unemployment from 8.1% to 8.2%--the unemployment rate fell dramatically to 7.8%. That unusual drop is the fastest in nearly...

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who staged a weeks-long public campaign questioning Barack Obama's eligibility to be president during March and April – and rose to the top of the pool of potential candidates for the 2012 GOP nomination then as a result – says he believes the "birth certificate" released by the White House is forged.... Trump said his period of almost-complete silence on the issue following the release by the White House on April 27 of the image of a "Certificate of Live Birth" from the state of Hawaii was not because he was satisfied with the document.... During...

The photos are now widespread online and in newspapers, images of a confident President Obama striding toward the camera to announce the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Not so widespread, however, is the news that the photos weren’t from Obama’s actual history-making speech. According to a Reuters blog post, the photos were taken after Obama’s actual announcement, during a brief reenactment minutes later. ~SNIP~ The reenactment isn’t the only way the administration has edited its media rollout of bin Laden’s death. In a widely used photo of Obama and his national security team in the Situation Room, what...

What's up America? Let me start off by saying I look good...damn good in that picture. I mean look at me...I got my arm out and everything. I should have been a running back or something. Maybe I'll governmentize the NFL and make myself captain of every team. That way I win the Super Bowl every year. You would love that, wouldn't you? I know...you can't get enough of me. Ok, let's get down to it. I'm guest blogging here on Democrites. I will post a little something each week. I know you want more but...come on...I'm president and much...