CQ Politics' Web Picks

New York Times: Melding Obama's Web to a YouTube Presidency

Aides to President Obama say one of their most important goals is transforming their YouTubing, Facebooking, texting, Twittering grass-roots organization into an instrument of government. They have created a group, Organizing for America, to redirect the campaign machinery in the service of broad changes in health care and environmental and fiscal policy. The organization will be housed in the Democratic National Committee, rather than at the White House.

Wall Street Journal: California Towns Bail Out Auto Dealerships

Two California towns, hoping to preserve jobs and tax revenue, are bailing out local car dealers that are struggling to stay afloat amid tight credit markets and plunging demand for new vehicles. Victorville, a desert town on the main highway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, recently approved a $200,000 loan to Victorville Motors, a 40-year-old family-owned dealer in the town's auto park. Norco, east of Los Angeles in the so-called Inland Empire, has approved loans of $500,000 each to Norco Mazda and Frahm Dodge.

Chicago Tribune blog: Blagojevich Unbowed

Setting the stage for a momentous act of political repudiation, the state Senate prepared to open the first impeachment trial of a governor in Illinois history on Monday and disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich acknowledged his days in office were numbered.

New Yorker: Ms. Kennedy Regrets

When it came to Caroline Kennedy's last-minute withdrawal, her friends were left to speculate. Had she suddenly panicked? Had she realized that she'd be signing on for more and more misery, of which the past few weeks had been just a foretaste? That her days would consist of drudgery--fund-raising phone calls, trudging up to frozen, decrepit towns she'd never heard of? That there would be no more leisurely summers in the Hamptons, no more spontaneous long lunches with friends, no more undisclosed finances? Had she realized, in short, that she wanted her old life back?

Washington Post: At Noon on Jan. 20, Lots of Things Turned to Pumpkins

As George W. Bush learned, there's an upside to being president: He amassed a dazzling array of gifts from foreign dignitaries. But there's a downside, too: He can't keep them. Foreign leaders lavished Bush with presents during his White House tenure, but law requires the president to turn over high-value gifts to government archives.

DC Examiner: Democrats May Pose Bigger Threat to Bipartisanship for Obama

After running on a pledge to work with Republicans, President Obama is finding some of the biggest challenges to his ambitious agenda coming from his own party. The leaders of the GOP, spoiling for a fight after heavy losses in the last election, are of limited menace to Obama with their diminished numbers and a lack of public support for their policies. But Democrats, suffused with the power of majority, are already causing problems for the new administration. And Obama's ability to get his party under control could determine the fate of his agenda

International Herald Tribune: At Davos, Crisis Culls the Guest List

Not long ago, at the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Richard Fuld Jr. of Lehman Brothers held forth on the state of the global economy before mesmerized journalists and cowering subordinates while other Wall Street stars mingled after-hours with the likes of Claudia Schiffer, the German supermodel. As business, government and nonprofit leaders trek up the peak made famous by Thomas Mann's novel, but now better known for the gabfest that begins Tuesday, star power no longer is in.

National Review: President Obama May Reverse Damage of Ghetto Culture

Alas, industrious black Americans, particularly in the middle class, are virtually invisible in popular culture. Such decent citizens are overshadowed by ubiquitous rappers who too often celebrate violence, degrade women, and perpetrate offstage carnage. President Obama's daily presence in the White House finally may repel this foul tide. He also may unravel the "Acting White Syndrome," wherein young black students who do homework and speak proper English are mocked by ghetto-oriented black kids for "acting white," writes Deroy Murdock.

The New Republic: The GOP's Plan to Bring Down Obama

Party politics has not been suspended. It has just become more subtle. Republicans are already busy testing lines of attack against President Barack Obama and laying down markers that will allow them to say they warned us -- if Obama fails, writes E.J. Dionne Jr.