CQ Politics' Web Picks

Foreign Policy: Risks of Closing Gitmo? Overblown

The risks posed by released detainees are overblown. Closing the prison at Guantánamo won't be easy, but that's a small price to pay to right a legal and moral wrong seven years in the making.

Wall Street Journal: Biden Pursues an Activist Role

Vice President Joe Biden, in a bid to become an influential second-in-command, is striving to carve out meaty roles for himself quickly. In an East Room ceremony on Friday with President Barack Obama, Mr. Biden is launching a task force to work on social and economic policies aimed at helping the struggling middle class. He's selling the giant stimulus package on Capitol Hill, and schmoozing his former colleagues during workouts in the congressional gym. Next week, Mr. Biden heads to Munich for an international security conference, in a bid to repair relations with European countries.

Christian Science Monitor: Is 'Bad Bank' for Risky Assets Solution to Financial Mess?

A leading idea under review by the Obama administration is to set up a so-called "bad bank" as a holding pen for the risky assets that spawned the crisis. Administration officials have talked about this concept, and have said they want to avoid temporarily nationalizing some very large banks. The problem? It's not easy, or cheap, for the government to buy up bad assets. If it doesn't succeed in removing enough of those assets from the banks, the crisis may linger.

Slate: The Sasha and Malia Show

If you walk into a store and see your child for sale--face emblazoned on a T-shirt, name planted on a doll--what's the proper reaction? In my world, there is only one: dismay, followed by protest. Which is why Michelle Obama's response to the blatant packaging of her daughters by the toy company Ty, as brown-skinned dolls named "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia," hit precisely the right maternal note.

Chicago Tribune: A Politician's Rise and Hard Fall

A confrontational leadership style, a penchant for pushing populist programs without the money to pay for them and serious questions about his ethics all weakened Rod W. Blagojevich's standing as governor.

Bloomberg: Wall Street Bonuses May Go Way of Dodo Amid Bailouts

The Wall Street bonus, considered a sacred ritual, may become the industry's biggest casualty as governments worldwide bail out financial institutions. UBS AG was told to reduce bonuses after the Swiss government gave the country's biggest bank a $59.2 billion lifeline. Bank of America Corp. is under pressure to scale back payouts after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed executives earlier this week for information on compensation and President Barack Obama said just yesterday that bonuses handed out by banks represent "the height of irresponsibility."

Lost Angeles Times: Republicans Lack Party Line on Economy

As Republicans fight President Obama's gargantuan economic plan, they have plenty of ideas. What they don't have is a party-wide consensus: They can't agree among themselves on the best alternative, or on whether government action is even needed to pull the economy from its nose dive.

Detroit Free Press: Ford to Draw Last $10B in Credit

Ford Motor Co. is clinging to the idea that it will be able to ride out the economic downturn without tapping federal loans -- despite shedding another 6,300 workers over the past few months, slashing billions more in other costs and still posting the worst annual loss in the company's history. To weather the storm ahead, the Dearborn automaker -- the only U.S. automaker so far to resist government aid -- plans to access its entire $10.1-billion line of credit. Ford expects to receive that money Tuesday.

Washington Post: Blind Unanimity

Watching the House Republicans vote unanimously against President Obama's economic stimulus package, I thought of Ronald Reagan, the air traffic controllers and the potential consequences for those who fail to recognize that one political era has given way to the next, writes columnist Eugene Robinson.