House Speaker John Boehner shocked the political world by announcing his resignation from Congress.
In the short term the Very Smart People say this means he can pass a Continuing Resolution with mostly Democratic votes, as he gives the finger to the Brownshirt Caucus.
In the long term? Who will the GOP rally around as Speaker? The fact is, every other House leader is worse than Mr. Boehner ideologically. I joked that I looked forward to Speaker Louie Gohmert. But that’s a jest with a barb of truth in it.
3:50 CT: Meets with community leaders to discuss immigration reform; Copernicus Community Center, Chicago
4:35 CT: Delivers remarks on immigration reform; Copernicus Community Center, Chicago
6:25 CT: Departs Chicago
9:20 EDT: Arrives White House
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Nerdy prepared a beautiful post yesterday on the President’s day, but we held off because of events in Ferguson. So, here it is:
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden applaud Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for his years of service as he announces his resignation in the State Dining Room of the White House
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Stevie Wonder is greeted by President Barack Obama after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a White House ceremony. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors
Actress Marlo Thomas
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Golfer Charles Sifford
Ethel Kennedy
Journalist Tom Brokaw
Congressman John Dingell
Author Isabel Allende
Congressman Abner Mikva
Writer, curator, and activist Suzan Harjo
Robert Battle, the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, recieves a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on behalf of dancer Alvin Ailey
Actress Meryl Streep
Stevie Wonder smiles while showing off his Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Obama announces that he has accepted the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki during a press conference in the Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington
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Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson leaves the White House after being named by President Barack Obama to run the Veterans Affairs Department on an interim basis while President Obama searches for a replacement for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki who resigned Friday.
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President Barack Obama gives White House press secretary Jay Carney a hug after announcing that Carney will step down later next month, during a surprise visit to the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. The president announced Carney’s departure in a surprise appearance at in the White House press briefing room Friday. He said principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will take over the job
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Will miss my friend Jay Carney shown here on Air Force One this week. http://t.co/SNnPaAmUc4
Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, share the stage and a laugh during the daily briefing at the White House
President Barack Obama, flanked by Attorney Holder Eric Holder, Education Secretary Arne Duncan,and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker; speaks about a report from “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to expand opportunity for young men and boys of color
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President Barack Obama attends a hurricane preparedness meeting at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC
“If he’d cheated on his wife like everybody else he’d have been forgiven.”
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I don’t think Steve Kornacki (Salon) likes Weiner very much:
1991: … One of the new districts is in an overwhelmingly white, heavily Jewish swath of southern Brooklyn … Weiner jumps in the race … He also launches an ugly, anonymous attack at the last minute – a race-baiting mailer that links Cohen to the “Dinkins/Jackson agenda,” just days after the Crown Heights riot. Weiner ekes out a narrow victory and only then admits that he was behind the flier. He’s excoriated in a New York Times editorial….
2009: …. Weiner begins showing a sudden interest in congressional and national politics – and, more specifically, in talking about congressional and national politics on cable news programs. For producers, he’s a perfect guest – smart, glib, cocky and provocative. With the healthcare reform debate heating up, Weiner begins championing a single-payer system. It’s an issue he’s previously shown no interest in and that has zero chance of winning enactment …. In the summer of 2009, he becomes a genuine cable news all-star, attracting a new national fan base of liberal viewers. But there’s a clear New York angle: By championing their causes in the national media, Weiner makes a new, much more favorable impression on liberal voters in Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn – voters who, combined with his outer-borough base, could make Weiner unstoppable in a 2013 mayoral primary.
2010: Weiner’s hero status to liberal activists is affirmed by a House floor rant against Republican obstructionism on a healthcare bill for 9/11 workers …. several New York members had labored to craft the 9/11 bill and to win over Republican support, but Weiner had played no meaningful role before the floor debate. “He almost blew up the [expletive] bill,” one disgruntled New York member later tells the Washington Post … to his own colleagues, he’s a camera-seeking nuisance who’s interested in gaining publicity for himself – not in doing any substantive work.
NYT: The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, resigned on Sunday, three days after publicly criticizing the Pentagon as “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid” in its treatment of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning…
Mr. Crowley’s comments … stirred a political tempest in Washington and were rejected by President Obama at a news conference on Friday….
White House officials were infuriated by the episode … which one described as “the last straw” in a series of incautious remarks by Mr. Crowley. …he had a rocky tenure at the State Department, failing to establish close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
…Mr. Crowley had been in a tenuous position for some time … and was discussing another assignment with Mrs. Clinton and her chief of staff even before his Manning remarks. He did not travel on Mrs. Clinton’s plane, which is highly unusual for a spokesman and added to the perception that he did not have access to her inner circle.
Public statements from Mr. Crowley raised hackles in the Pentagon and the White House several times. On Friday, in the wake of the earthquake in Japan, he sent out a message on ’Twitter that said: “We’ve been watching a hopeful tsunami sweep across the Middle East. Now we’re seeing a tsunami of a different kind sweep across Japan.” Other officials said the message was insensitive, and Mr. Crowley pulled it from Twitter.
He also came under fire in a State Department audit while managing the public affairs bureau … Last month, Michael Hammer, a former spokesman for the National Security Council, became Mr. Crowley’s deputy — a move that was widely perceived as setting the stage for Mr. Crowley’s departure.
President Barack Obama arrives to announce National Security Advisor James Jones is resigning in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on October 8
Jones has being replaced by his deputy Tom Donilon
The Obama Diary 
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