The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Geithner announced details of the Administration's plan to rescue the financial system. The stock market rallied in response, but Nobel Prize recipient Joseph Stiglitz was less enthused. "This amounts to robbery of the American people," said Stiglitz.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified on the Hill this week.  To the golden question-- what happens if it all falls apart?-- Geithner offered an artful dodge:  the only thing we need to ensure the plan works is "sufficient will."

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

President Obama continued to receive more strange criticism from stranger places. The President of the European Union described Obama's Stimulus as paving a "road to hell" and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, would-be exorcist, reflected after Obama's Tuesday night press conference: (like Rushbo before him) I may actually want Obama to fail.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Mt. Redoubt in Alaska erupted throughout the week: a perfect coda to Governor Jindal's anti-science rant last month in which he mocked volcano monitoring funding in the Obama stimulus plan. Active for millennia, Mount Redoubt has erupted five distinct times since 1900.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

In congressional election news, the Minnesota Senate race set the record for the longest unresolved election drama in that state's history and Arlen Specter, apparently worried about a Joe the Plumber-endorsed primary challenge from the right, sold out the unions by withdrawing his support for EFCA.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Wall street had a new memo for Washington: We're back, and we'd like to keep our money. Except for Goldman Sachs-- they want to give their bailout money back.  Sort of.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Responding to the President's challenge, the House GOP rolled out a glossy, detail-free budget plan, that was roundly mocked by White House Press Secretary Gibbs and the media at large.  Meanwhile, Democrats on the Hill hacked into Obama's budget.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann called for an "orderly revolution" in America to block Obama's enveloping embrace of "Marxism." (This in the same week as Eric Kleefield coined the term "The Bachmann Effect": when adversaries are left with nothing more than befuddlement and shock while listening to the Republican Congresswoman.)

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

And Michael Steele just can't help himself.  At the beginning of the week, he reached out to the Christian Right (Did I mention our new web master is super duper Christian?) and by the end of the week was explaining that every thing he does, even the gaffes, is a part of a complex master plan to smoke out his enemies.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

Congressional Dems hailed President Obama's new plan to send 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan and yet another top Obama nominee withdrew. Good help really is hard to find.

The Week That Was 3/23/09 - 03/27/09

And finally, historian and scholar of African American life, John Hope Franklin died at the age of 94. He was a prolific author, a beloved teacher, and a life long activist who spent his life working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., W. E. B. Du Bois, and Thurgood Marshall, among many others.