Click on the image to see who's who

Several articles about Barack Obama and what he should do, now that all the historical figures pictured on the cover are watching him. 

A review of a new biography of George Plimpton makes me want not only to look at that book, but also to read some of Plimpton’s own writings, notably Shadow Box, Paper Lion, and Edie. 

The preacher who delivered the invocation at Mr O’s inauguration, Rick Warren, represented a disappointment to those advocates of the rights of sexual minorities who had done so much to support Mr O when he was seeking the nomination.  Jon Wiener points out that Warren’s clout is so far reaching that the US Senate in 2002 voted unanimously for a bill to relieve him of the necessity to pay federal income tax.  The bill was specifically craftedto nullify an ongoing suit against Warren for tax evasion.  The key parts of the bill appear to apply to Warren, and only to Warren.  If Rick Warren has that kind of power, no wonder  Mr O thought he could gain by favoring him over some of his most important supporters. 

On a happier note, we read about Julius Genachowski, an old friend whom Mr O has named to head the Federal Communications Commission.  John Nichols assures us that Genachowski sees the main question in media policy as the question of democracy.  Committed to the promotion of “openness, free speech, competition, innovation, access, economic growth, and consumer welfare,” Genachowski will be in a position to strengthen America’s democratic institutions.