Mon 7/13: Sotomayor Under Fire, Goldman Does OK, Blakk Rasta on Obama

Sotomayor and ObamaLeader: Sotomayor Under Fire

- The confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor begin today, as she runs the final gauntlet before hopefully taking her seat on the Supreme Court. The battle this week will hardly be over her fate-- it seems almost certain that she will be confirmed, and may pull as many as 78 votes in her favor-- but the sessions will have major political implications for the President and both parties. GOP Senators are hoping to use the hearings to excite their base, but an excessively aggressive attack on racial issues could push yet more Hispanics into the Democratic base.

- Time looks ahead at how the GOP will go after Sotomayor.

- CQ tells us what to look for in the hearings.  So does Politico.

- Check out the backgrounder we released when Sotomayor's nomination was announced back in May.  It covers our commentary on her and some of our work on America's changing demography.

Politics

- Michael Scherer of Time thinks he's figured out the five basic tenets of the Obama Doctrine.

- The NY Times chronicles the bizarre, seemingly unplanned route that led to Sarah Palin's resignation.

- In Politico, Rep. Jay Inslee calls for an Apollo program for clean energy.

- The NY Times reports that unemployment is hitting blacks in New York disproportionately harder than whites.

Economy

- Tomorrow, Goldman Sachs is expected to report a $2 billion profit from March-June.  They attribute it all to the fact that they're just very, very good at international trading.

International

- The violence in Xinjiang has led to two very different narratives about the violence-- both the Han and the Uighurs would play the victim in their own account. 

- Hundreds of thousands of Tamils are stuck in refugee camps that are almost entirely off-limits to aid workers, journalists, and other outsiders because the Sri Lankan government says Tamil Tiger rebels are hidden in the camps, and pose a security risk to the state.

New From NDN

- Simon has been writing in the past few days about President Obama's attempt to refocus attention on the economy. Have you looked at Obama's op-ed from Sunday's WaPo?

- You should roll through our offices on Wednesday when we host an all-star cast for a discussion of the power of Twitter and other crazy social media.

One More Thing

- Blakk Rasta provided the theme song for President Obama's visit to Ghana late last week.  Keep the fire burning, Mr. President: