Was Franken napping during Kagan hearing?

Nobody ever said that Supreme Court confirmation hearings were exciting, but it appears that the boredom may have gotten to Senator Al Franken. He was caught on camera "resting his eyes" during Elena Kagan's testimony on Monday.

Budget director Orszag: Mission accomplished!

White House budget director Peter Orszag is reportedly on his way out in July. He’ll depart from the Beltway with a beautiful ABC News reporter on his arm — and an ever-swelling ocean of debt at his feet.

Mission accomplished!

Mr. Orszag, an economist who previously spent nearly two years as director of the Congressional Budget Office, somewhat reluctantly accepted Mr. Obama’s invitation to join the Cabinet after the 2008 election and never planned to stay more than two years. Typically, budget directors do not.

While the president recently urged Mr. Orszag to remain, the calendar for drafting the next budget weighed in favor of Mr. Orszag leaving sooner. So did Mr. Orszag’s personal calendar: He is getting married in September.

By fall, as Congress is taking final action on the budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the Office of Management and Budget is busy preparing the next year’s budget request to be released next February. Mr. Orszag argued inside the White House that his successor should be in place to put the next budget together from the start.
Orszag is headed to an unnamed think tank, says Bloomberg News. He’ll be able to share all his newly-acquired knowledge of the Chicago Way. Flashback July 2009:

Six months into the Obama administration, it should now be clear to all Americans: Hope and Change came to the White House wrapped in brass knuckles.

Ask the Congressional Budget Office. Last week, President Obama spilled the beans on the Today Show that he had met with CBO director Douglas Elmendorf – just as the number-crunchers were casting ruinous doubt on White House cost-saving claims. Yes, question the timing. The CBO is supposed to be a neutral score-keeper – not a water boy for the White House. But when the meeting failed to stop the CBO from issuing more analysis undercutting the health care savings claims, Obama’s budget director Peter Orszag played the heavy.

Orszag warned the CBO in a public letter that it risked feeding the perception that it was “exaggerating costs and underestimating savings.” Message: Leave the number-fudging to the boss. Capiche?

President Obama issued an even more explicit order to unleash the hounds on Blue Dog Democrats during his health care press conference. “Keep up the heat” translated into Organizing for America/Democrat National Committee attack ads on moderate Democrats who have revolted against Obamacare’s high costs and expansive government powers over medical decisions.

Looks like there won’t be a health care beer summit any time soon.
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Who will take Orszag’s place? Here’s a depressing look at the Clinton-era retreads, left-wing think tankers, and Democrat cronies in the running.

Senator: Obama told me he won't secure the border until GOP agrees to immigration reform

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), speaking at a town hall meeting, revealed a surprising tidbit -- that the president told him there would be no sealing the border until Republicans agreed to work on comprehensive immigration reform. The White House immediately disputed Kyl's account, saying that the president had never said that.

Obama Porkway: Road Built With Stimulus Money Will Bear President’s Name

AboutContactArchivesRSSColumnsPhotos Michelle Malkin Lead StoryObama Porkway: Road Built With Stimulus Money Will Bear President’s Name

I’m only guessing that, when it’s completed, Pres. Barack Obama Parkway in Orlando, Florida will lead straight to the Magic Kingdom:

Is it too soon to name a road after President Barack Obama? A new road being built through Orlando will have his name.

Roads in Orlando honor some of our greatest presidents, from Washington to Jefferson and now Obama.

On Friday, Orlando leaders made President Barack Obama Parkway the first road under construction in the nation named after our 44th president, and surely one of the few in history to be named after a sitting president in his first term.
[...]
Two hundred jobs will be created to build the first $10.5 million phase of the road, which will connect with Metrowest Boulevard.
Most roads that are constructed are paid for with taxpayer dollars, but the fact that the first new road named after Barack Obama is being funded by his beloved “stimulus” is only appropriate.

If you’re in Orlando looking for this road, it’s just a mile west of the intersection of Hope and Change, and a half-mile east of the corner of Shovel and Ready. Why did local officials decide to name the stimulus road after the president? Because “A Blatant Attempt to Bankrupt America Boulevard” wouldn’t fit on the sign.

President Obama has a long way to go before surpassing Robert Byrd on the “stuff named after me that somebody else paid for” list, but if enough taxpayer money keeps being dumped into “shovel ready” projects, he’ll catch up in no time.

A photo of the Obamas, Joe Biden and Hillary taking their first drive down Pres. Barack Obama Parkway is here.

BP Chair: "We care about the small people"

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
BP Chair: "We care about the small people" BP's Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who is Swedish, may have been the victim of a language barrier on Wednesday when he said that his company cares about "the small people." He apparently meant "little people." Either way, many people affected by the oil spill ended up taking offense.

Quote of The Day

"...President Obama should be applauded for getting BP to pony up $20 billion. In fact, that's the best thing the president has done in the whole mess. A voluntary action on that scale by BP only helps the suffering people on the Gulf Coast. And that's the bottom line."

Carville blasts Obama's response to oil spill

Wednesday morning on ABC, Democratic strategist James Carville blasted Pres. Obama's response to the Gulf oil spill. "The political stupidity of this is just unbelievable...we're about to die down here!" Carville said.

McCartney Concert at White House: Good to Have a President That Knows What a Library Is

In any case, Paul McCartney played at the White House last night, and what with the oil gusher non-management, economy on the brink of ruin and getting worse by the day, debt continuing to mount, states going to economic war with one another, terror attacks dramatically rising and emboldened tin pot dictators spouting off, it was the perfect time to talk about how stupid George W. Bush is:

They shouldn’t cut a note from McCartney’s closing suite. “I hope the president will forgive me if I sing this song,” he quipped after Obama presented him with the Gershwin, and began crooning “Michelle.” During the I-love-you-I-love-you-I-lovvvve-you, the president leaned over to sing into the first lady’s ear.

When it was over, McCartney joked under his breath, “I’m gonna be the first guy to get punched out by a president.”

Then, “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude” — followed by what felt like endless applause.

A sweet moment, but McCartney topped it off with a bite. After thanking the Library of Congress one last time, he let it rip: “After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.”
I’d rather have a president who knows what a terrorist is and seems actively aware that the friggin’ Gulf of Mexico is about to be 10W-30 for the next decade, but hey, that’s just me. If you’re more comfortable with the genius who thinks there are 58 states, tried to enter the White House through a window and can’t go to the john without a teleprompter, that’s your right, Sir Paul.

Here’s Obama’s introduction of McCartney, where he justified having a soirée right now because music “gets us through the tough times.” Unless Sir Paul’s bass guitar can be used to plug the leak, I beg to differ:

As mentioned here, conspicuously absent from McCartney’s setlist were the tunes Taxman and Back in the USSR — and if anything, those should have been the encores.

As of this morning, Robert Gibbs has neither confirmed nor denied that Paul McCartney was ever contacted and offered a gig at the White House.