CQ Politics' Web Picks

New Yorker: The Lessons of Mumbai

In the days after the Mumbai attacks, the Washington Post reported that the Obama transition team was considering Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy to the region. The Bush administration has always regarded terrorism in the narrow terms of war, and this myopia led it to deal with the region's countries in isolation from one another, so that the policy in Kabul sometimes contradicted the one in Islamabad, which in turn was undermined by the growing partnership with New Delhi, and all of them were hampered by the refusal to talk to Tehran. A special envoy would have to see the problem whole.

New York Times: Iran Urges Obama to Change Approach

Iran said Monday that it would not abandon its nuclear program and urged President-elect Barack Obama to change America's carrot-and-stick policy toward Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Washington Post: Politics of the Federal Bench

The federal judiciary is on the verge of a major shift when President-elect Barack Obama's nominees take control of several of the nation's most important appellate courts, legal scholars and political activists say. With the Supreme Court's conservative direction unlikely to change anytime soon, it is the lower courts -- which dispense almost all federal justice -- where Obama can assert his greatest influence. The Post also has a companion piece to this article on Republicans winning ideological battles through appointments at the appellate level.

Slate: Gates' Plan To Fix the Pentagon

Gates believes that, given limited resources, the military services need to shift their priorities away from "baroque" high-tech weapons designed for threats of the distant future (or left over from Cold War premises) and toward low-cost weapons that are effective for the wars we're fighting now and will likely fight in the foreseeable future.

Los Angeles Times: Volcker is Back and Warns of Tough Times Ahead

Volcker has been chosen by President-elect Barack Obama as a special economic advisor. His 'no pain, no gain' fiscal strategy worked in the '80s, and there's no sign he's softened that philosophy.

Huffington Post: Obama Education Pick Sparking Conflict

President-elect Barack Obama has not signaled what he will do to fix the country's failing schools, but his choice of education secretary will say a lot about the policies he may pursue. Teachers' unions, an influential segment of the party base, want an advocate for their members. Reform advocates want someone like New York schools chancellor Joel Klein, who wants teachers and schools held accountable for the performance of students.

Foreign Policy: The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2008

This year, a historic U.S. election, a catastrophic financial crisis, and China's Olympic dreams dominated headlines, but some of the biggest stories never made the front page. From the Afghanistan "surge" that's already begun, to the global warming solution that could be making the problem worse, here are 10 big stories that never became big news.

San Francisco Chronicle: GOP Appears in Trouble in California

With their registrations sinking and their political clout withering, California Republicans have come out of the November election in danger of slipping into political irrelevance across much of the state.

National Review: Parallel Lives

I know from media accounts that someone called Richard Fuld supposedly ran the once cash-laden and 158-year-old Lehman Brothers investment and banking house into the ground. Indeed, various newspapers and news shows convinced me I should dislike Fuld. But why have we not heard commensurate censure of former whiz kid Robert Rubin, Bill Clinton's former Treasury Secretary, at Citigroup? I remember why most Republicans, other than Colin Powell, abandoned the soon-to-be convicted Ted Stevens. But why in the world is Rep. Charles Rangel still the Chairman of the House Ways and Means committee which oversees U.S. tax policy.