Oh, how times have changed. Today’s Washington Post reads as if President Bush never really left the White House:
– In his weekly radio address, the President announces the renewal of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. The GOP cheer and Democrats complain.
– The White House is considering a GOP plan to force federal workers to contribute more for their generous penion programs. The President’s bipartisan fiscal commission endorsed the idea, saying federal pensions are “out of line” with private plans.
– In its lead editorial, the Post endorses Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform proposal, saying it mirrors a 1995 proposal by liberal Democratic economists Robert Reischauer and Henry Aaron.
– In a 4,000-word front page investigative article, the paper assails HUD programs as a multi-million “wasteland.”
– The President and his advisers say they are ready to push for retaliation against Pakistan for the government’s coddling extremist groups.
– The FBI arrested a Miami-based Imam and his two sons on providing $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban. They face 15 years for each of four counts.
– Radical al-Jazeera TV is charged by WaPo with a double standard on their coverage of the Arab Spring uprising, protecting the interests of the Qatari Emir and his government, which own the network.
– U.S. forces may be asked to extend their presence in Iraq.
Is this really Washington in May 2011?
Might this be a bold decision by WaPo to regain moderate readers who have abandoned the paper?
Or are its editors merely genuflecting, reflecting President Obama’s own moves to the center?
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