Turbo Tax Tim on the way out?

Turbo Tax Tim is reportedly thinking about abandoning ship:

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions.
[...]

An exit by Geithner would complete the turnover in Obama’s original economic team, with Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee scheduled to leave in early August to return to the University of Chicago.
[...]

In addition to Goolsbee, who announced his decision to return to the University of Chicago earlier this month, three other top Obama economic advisers already have departed.

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Obama may be losing faith of Jewish Democrats

David Ainsman really began to get worried about President Barack Obama’s standing with his fellow Jewish Democrats when a recent dinner with his wife and two other couples — all Obama voters in 2008 — nearly turned into a screaming match.

Ainsman, a prominent Democratic lawyer and Pittsburgh Jewish community leader, was trying to explain that Obama had just been offering Israel a bit of “tough love” in his May 19 speech on the Arab Spring. His friends disagreed — to say the least.

One said he had the sense that Obama “took the opportunity to throw Israel under the bus.” Another, who swore he wasn’t getting his information from the mutually despised Fox News, admitted he’d lost faith in the president.

If several dozen interviews with POLITICO are any indication, a similar conversation is taking place in Jewish communities across the country. Obama’s speech last month seems to have crystallized the doubts many pro-Israel Democrats had about Obama in 2008 in a way that could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 and will not be easy to repair. (See also: President Obama's Middle East speech: Details complicate 'simple' message)

“It’s less something specific than that these incidents keep on coming,” said Ainsman.

The immediate controversy sparked by the speech was Obama’s statement that Israel should embrace the country’s 1967 borders, with “land swaps,” as a basis for peace talks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized on the first half of that phrase and the threat of a return to what Israelis sometimes refer to as “Auschwitz borders.”
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Lindsay Lohan: "U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!”

Lindsay Lohan waded into the debate over the American economy on Monday when she tweeted about excessive cash printing and high food and gas prices.

“Have you guys seen food and gas prices lately? U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!” the “Georgia Rule” star wrote on Twitter, linking to the National Inflation Association’s website.

The troubled A-lister quickly defended herself against a fellow Twitter user who claimed the actress probably didn’t care about matters such as skyrocketing food and gas costs.
“i actually do care about gas and food prices, so whether it’s an #ad or no, it’s important for people to be aware of it,” Lohan responded.

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Michelle Obama denies supporting gay marriage

First lady Michelle Obama’s office on Tuesday quickly shot down the suggestion that she has ever publicly voiced support for same-sex marriage, a policy her husband opposes even as the left pressures him to take a stand.

“Mrs. Obama has never made any public statements about same-sex marriage,” her communications director, Kristina Schake, said in an email to POLITICO.

The response comes after former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, suggested Monday night on CNN that Barack and Michelle Obama may not have the same opinion about gay marriage. McGreevey said of the president: “If he could only listen to Michelle more often” when it comes to his stance on same-sex marriage.

McGreevey, who is now openly gay, gave up the governorship in 2004 after revealing that he’d had an affair with a man.

Contacted by POLITICO on Tuesday morning, McGreevey declined to comment.
Schake said the first lady has never “had any conversations with former Gov. McGreevey about the issue.”

McGreevey and Michelle Obama have never met.
Obama has only gone so far as to share her husband’s views on gay-rights issues.

“Barack believes that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” she said at a 2008 fundraiser. “The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds.”

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Obama=Chauncey Gardiner

Which past leader does Barack Obama most closely resemble? His admirers, not all of them liberals, used to compare him to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

Well, Obama announced his candidacy in Lincoln's hometown two days before Abe's birthday, and he did expand the size and scope of government. But no one seriously compares him with Lincoln or FDR anymore.

Conservative critics have taken to comparing him, as you might imagine, to Jimmy Carter. The more cruel among them, like The Weekly Standard's Jay Cost, say the comparison is not to Obama's advantage.

But there is another comparison I think more appropriate for a president who, according to one of his foreign-policy staffers, prefers to "lead from behind." The man I have in mind is Chauncey Gardiner, the character played by Peter Sellers in the 1979 movie "Being There."

As you may remember, Gardiner is a clueless gardener who is mistaken for a Washington eminence and becomes a presidential adviser. Asked if you can stimulate growth through temporary incentives, Gardiner says, "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well and all will be well in the garden."

"First comes the spring and summer," he explains, "but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again." The president is awed as Gardiner sums up, "There will be growth in the spring."

Kind of reminds you of Barack Obama's approach to the federal budget, doesn't it?  (Continues here)

Media still not investigating Obama’s college thesis but will investigate and harass Bachmann’s foster children.

And to think… Just last week Michelle Obama thanked the media for their support and kindness in respecting her children’s privacy. ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos warned Michele Bachmann that the media plans on investigating all 23 of her foster children.

Via FOX Nation:



They still haven’t uncovered Barack Obama’s college thesis but are determined to investigate and harass Michele Bachmann’s foster children.

Stephanopoulos: Finally one—one final question. I think one of the most impressive things that people find in your background is the fact that you and your husband have helped raise 23 foster children and I know you want to shield them but are they prepared and are you prepared for the loss of privacy that comes with the president campaign? And is that something you are concerned about for them? (more here)

Did Obama Violate FEC Laws by filming Campaign Ad In White House?

NRO's Jim Geraghty raises the question of whether Barack Obama filmed a video for his reelection campaign in the White House, which may possibly be a violation of federal election laws.

In the video, President Obama promotes a "Dinner With Barack" raffle. To participate in the contest you need to donate at least $5 to the president's re-election campaign and your name will be raffled off to enjoy a dinner with the President, airfare and accommodations included. In a new web video, Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden will also be attending the dinner.

There is one problem, however. This campaign ad was most likely recorded in the White House, which may have violated FEC campaign finance laws.

Take a look at this weekly address delivered by Obama in February. Below is a screenshot taken from the weekly address followed by an image taken from the campaign advertisement.





Both videos have identical lamps in the background, suggesting both videos were recorded at the same location. President Obama normally records his weekly address at the White House unless he is on the road like last week when he was in Pittsburgh. (Continues here at RCP)