by Bill Levinson The political Left likes to equate Presidents it doesn’t like, especially Republicans, to Herbert Hoover. The truth is that Hoover was one of America’s better Presidents who found himself (like George W. Bush) in circumstances created by greedy and irresponsible speculation in the stock market and/or real estate. (Democrat Bill Clinton was similarly in the wrong place at the wrong time when the dot-com market crashed.) Hoover’s successor, Franklin Roosevelt, did not get the United States out of the Great Depression; the Second World War, which suddenly created millions of jobs in defense industries and the Armed Forces, did.

In his latest column, the venerable George Will not only comes out for Rubio, but suggests that Crist might not have an easy time in the primary.  Some excerpts : The fourth-most-populous state will loom over American politics next summer when Republicans select a Senate nominee. Their primary will test whether the party has become so risk-averse that it flinches from interesting choices.The nominee almost certainly will be either Gov. Charlie Crist or Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House (term limits, which he supports, retired him).

Not that I’m allowed to say anything that could somehow harm “our” (by “our,” I clearly mean “Chicago’s Mayor Daley”) chances of getting the Olympics, but really. I mean, really. Here we are, five days from the decision and the guy on WGN can’t seem to think of a reason to oppose the Olympics, we’re already celebrating our victory and planning out our parades and improvements and even Barack Obama is getting in on the fun . Mr Obama will travel with his wife Michelle to make a speech to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its meeting on Thursday.

Silvio Berlusconi this week further consolidated his already strong reputation for political tastelessness. At the gala dinner for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the Italian prime minister visibly irked President Barack Obama with his unabashed ‘va-va-va-voom’ hand gestures when he was introduced to Michelle Obama. Instead of directing a respectful glance into the first lady’s eyes, he first gave her gown a Via Veneto-style leer—and reaped an arms-length handshake from Mrs.

By Kristi Keck CNN (CNN) – The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan wants more troops and a new strategy — but most importantly, he wants to win the battle for the hearts and the minds of the people in the war-torn country. “What I’m really telling people is the greatest risk we can accept is to lose the support of the people here,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview aired Sunday night. “If the people are against us, we cannot be successful.

I think the world has sized Obama up and concluded that he’s weak, very weak.  The Olympics are a good example of this.  One theory has it that Chicago is in, and that the price for that is Obama’s appearance before the Olympic Committee.  In other words, Obama got bossed around both by Chicago and by the Olympic Committee.  He’s sort of weak in that scenario, but he still gets what he wants.

The Democrats, as per usual, think that they know what’s good for us – as if we, the people of the United States, are a bucnh of children who don’t know any better. Yet here they are again, trying to make an already convoluted health care bill even more so . How, you’re wondering? Get this – the Democraps Democrats want to add illegals – that’s right, folks…illegals! – to the health care bill.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi is still talking about President Barack Obama’s “tan,” and this time the gaffe-prone Italian leader has made a wisecrack about Michelle Obama’s skin color as well. Berlusconi told a Milan rally of conservative supporters on Sunday that he was bringing greetings from the United States from “What’s his name? Some tanned guy.

By WILL WEISSERT | Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS – Cuba adopted a moderately conciliatory tone toward the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, saying it is ready to normalize relations and, until then, wants to work with Washington to fight drug and people smuggling, protect the environment and cope with natural disasters.

Facebook shuts Obama be killed poll, Secret Service is investigating Right wing loonies are at it again – this time posting a highly inappropriate online poll in the popular social networking site Facebook. The poll asks, “Should Obama be killed?” and implies that passage of health care reform is reason enough to kill the President. Some people might find it funny to post such a poll but given the highly polarized divide between the right and left, the political atmosphere is reaching a dangerous crescendo that may be getting close to boiling point.