I'm going to say something nice about Barack Obama, so sit down.

I thought it was a fine idea to have a presidential luncheon. Barack Obama, to his credit, is dismissing the "Bush is the devil" rhetoric and emulating his good ideas.

George W. Bush has telephoned Bill Clinton on a regular basis over the last several years — a discovery that might shock Americans who remember well how Mr. Bush accused Mr. Clinton of dishonoring the Oval Office. That such conversations occurred has not previously been reported, but according to one person familiar with their frequent exchanges, the two swap stories about politics and engage in “presidential small talk.”

It doesn't surprise me at all. Clinton did dishonor the office, but he was president for eight years, and not to avail yourself of that resource is just stupid. Ironically, Barack Obama might just find Bush a better presidential confidant that Clinton, and I think you know why.

Carter was the odd man out--no surprise there. Clinton liked the carpet.

There they were, shoulder to shoulder, with the exception of Mr. Carter, who stood apart looking aloof. Mr. Obama and the first President Bush chatted amiably, their heads tilted closest together. The current President Bush, strategically positioned in the prime center spot, cozied up to Mr. Clinton. And Mr. Clinton, with his uncanny ability to hog the spotlight, looked down at the custom-designed carpet, with its yellow sunburst pattern that Mr. Bush likes to call “optimistic,” and exclaimed, in a voice loud enough for the microphones to pick up, “I looooove this rug!”

Ed Cropper found that comment inspirational-->

Some Republicans had the stomach to call for a rollcall vote to confirm Hillary as Secretary of State, a couple voted against her as well. But John McCain is back in the Senate again and had no problem with the spectacle of a US Secretary of State engaging in pay to play (at least six times that we know of) with foreign entities via her spouse's "charity". Today we learn of another fishy transaction. Washington Times:

Former President Bill Clinton's foundation, despite identifying more than 200,000 of its donors in recent weeks, will not say who paid it windfall prices for stock in a struggling Internet firm with links to the Chinese government. [snip]

The Accoona Corp. donated between $250,001 and $500,000 to Mr. Clinton's charity after he spoke at the company's launch in New York in 2004, according to donor information released by the foundation in December. The foundation sold its Accoona stock for $700,000 two years later, according to the charity's tax return for 2006.

Despite what the tax return suggests, Accoona struggled mightily to turn a profit.

Since the Olympics, China has imprisoned more dissidents, yet they hold a lot of our debt. This puts our Secretary of State in their debt. What other chits will be called in? One of the problems with the state department in the past is that it sometimes seems seized with Stockholm syndrome--sympathizing with foreign interests more than ours. This was an institutional problem even under a GOP administration. It can only get worse with the Clintons running the place. The only saving grace may be when the Clintons' self-interest coincides with the country's. We'll have to hope that's the case more often than not.