The Locavore Gabfest
Listen to Slate's review of the week in politics.
Updated Friday, March 27, 2009, at 1:39 PM ET
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Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz talk politics. This week: the bank bailout, Obama's week on television, and the White House goes green (thumb).
The three talk about the latest bank bailout bill, announced this week. David calls it a sweet deal for the private investors who will be allowed to participate, because they have so little at risk.
John notes there wasn't one question about the bailout plan at President Obama's news conference this week, and there was relatively little about foreign policy.
President Obama held an online town hall this week.
Also this week, the Republicans released their budget proposal. It received little attention, in part, says John, because it was almost laughable—the proposal was a budget with no numbers, making the party of "no" the party of no ideas.
First lady Michelle Obama has begun an organic garden on the White House lawn. Emily says that, as Jennifer Reese pointed out on Slate this week, a garden is not a free source of food. And David says Americans tend to allow presidents to have "White House follies." He says the garden is little different from President Bush's desire to have T-ball games on the White House lawn.
Emily chatters about the trailer for the new movie Where the Wild Things Are, due in theaters this fall. She's angry that the movie, directed by Spike Jonze, may spoil the beloved children's book by leaving nothing to the imagination of future readers.
David talks about the online satirical news Web site the Onion and its recent hire of former CNN news anchor Bobbie Batista. He calls the hire a strange confluence of fantasy and reality.
Posted on March 27 by Dale Willman at 1:43 p.m.
March 20, 2009
Emily Bazelon is a Slate senior editor and writes about law, family, and kids. She's working on a book about bullying.
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com. Read his series on Risk. Follow him on Twitter.
David Plotz is the Editor of Slate. He's the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank and Good Book. He appears on Slate's Political Gabfest.