Obama Hosts Passover Seder Dinner
President Obama plans to have close friends and staff to a private White House meal to mark Passover, a very public sign the new president plans to fulfill his promise that Jewish voters would have an ally.
Mall's-eye views of American life: Recession, racism and sticky buns

by Mark Silva

Michael Steele, with a knowing laugh, notes how "packed'' the shopping malls are these days, in the midst of a daunting recession.

The Republican National Committee chairman was commenting on a caller's comment on Bill Bennett's radio show. The caller questioned how bad the economy really is, considering the fact that when he looks around he doesn't "see people spending any less money than they have been.''

"I've heard a number of people say that across the country,'' Steele replied with a laugh, and pretty well laughing all the way through the nodding comment: "The malls are just as packed on Saturday.''

"The malls are just as packed,'' the caller said. "You still can't get seat in a restaurant.''

This, naturally, prompted a harrumph from the Democratic National Committee: "This callous statement just proves how out of touch the Republican Party is,'' DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said. "Michael Steele may be worried about his ability to get a reservation at the latest DC restaurant, but there are too many Americans worried about just putting food on their kitchen tables.''

Then again, when Attorney General Eric Holder looks around the shopping malls, he sees something else: An unrelenting racial divide in America.

Holder's comment about "a nation of cowards'' on the question of race drew its share of harrumphs from the other side of the political fence. But there truly is a persistent problem in America. President Barack Obama, too, has noted that, while these are tough times for all Americans, they are "tougher times for African Americans.''

We have a relative whose observations of the shopping mall scene have convinced him that obesity is epidemic in America.

Is it possible that the shopping malls of America may not be the best barometers of much of anything? Or is it true that we are shopping our way through a so-called recession, marching in racial lines through the check-out lanes and Cinnamon Bunning our way through life?

Weighing The Embargo Against Cuba

As the Summit of the Americas meets next week for the first time in half a century, there is serious talk about the possibility of lifting the U.S. embargo against the Castro regime that has been in place for almost half a century. President Obama already plans to lift restrictions on family travel to the island and relax controls on relatives sending U.S. dollars to their families there.