Especially since in places like NYC and SF, rents are holding steady. In San Francisco, average rent is projected to go up 3.3% this year, with only a minor bump in vacancy.

I find that hard to believe since I have been vaguely looking since August and there has been a noticeable downturn ($50-100) in my price range and things are available for much longer on craigslist now than in the fall. Unless that projection is for the coming year and they are using a January low as a base.

As much as I'd like to see government officials held accountable, no way do I want Obama presenting it as something at the front of his agenda right now. Nor would I want it to appear that he was spending a lot of white house time on it.

...no way do I want Obama presenting it as something at the front of his agenda right now. Nor would I want it to appear that he was spending a lot of white house time on it.

I agree. Which is why I think letting Fitz deal with it for a few months or a year might be a good way to go.

I'm curious - how do the First Daughters get to school? Does the Secret Service take them? Is there a whole motorcade, or just one Chevy Suburban?

Any adequate investigation would take time. Even assuming destruction of a lot of documents, there should be quite a few left. Witnesses would have to be found and interviewed. Whoever is conducting the investigation would have to recommend action, and I'd bet good money that several Cabinet members (and possibly the President himself) would be involved in reviewing those recommendations.

Who should investigate? I'd suggest a team (maybe three? five?) of senior civil-service-level Justice Department attorneys, a team of senior civil-service-level investigators from Homeland Security, and at least one or two senior civil-service-level advisors from Defense.

[link]

One things seems clear regarding Condoleezza Rice’s stewardship of the State Department: she did not command the admiration of many of those who worked with her. The reaction of State Department employees as Hillary Clinton arrived this morning apparently bears comparison to the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II.

Huh. I'm kind of surprised to hear the negatives about Rice's tenure re: self-aggrandizement. While I knew she did her job shilling Bush's Let's Pretend approach to foreign policy, I'd had the impression that she was unique among Bush's cabinet (after Powell's departure, anyway) in being qualified to hold the position she was appointed to.

From Tom's link:

Here’s Eric Kleefeld’s report of [Clinton's] remarks:

This is going to be a challenging time, and it will require 21st-century tools and solutions to meet our problems and seize our opportunities. I’m gonna be asking a lot of you, I want you to think outside the proverbial box. I want you to give me the best advice you can, I want you to understand there is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate, and the kind of dialogue that will make us better.

Has Hilary always been like this, or is she channeling Obamna?

I'd had the impression that she was unique among Bush's cabinet (after Powell's departure, anyway) in being qualified to hold the position she was appointed to.

I'd say that I've heard a lot more negative appraisals of her leadership at State than positive.

While I knew she did her job shilling Bush's Let's Pretend approach to foreign policy, I'd had the impression that she was unique among Bush's cabinet (after Powell's departure, anyway) in being qualified to hold the position she was appointed to.

You can be completely qualified and still self-aggrandizing and hard to work for.