Copyright 2013 Walter Shapiro Sat, 25 May 2013 19:40:02 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Walter Shapiro :: Writings http://www.waltershapiro.com wshapiro@mindspring.com (Walter Shapiro) webmaster@pundicity.com en-us http://www.waltershapiro.com/5561/un-ambassador-rice-nations-want-to-work-with-america Fri, 8 May 2009 09:00:00 EST My question – lifted from Barack Obama's last prime time press conference – was a reporter's ploy to extend a Wednesday afternoon interview that had already run past its scheduled half hour. But United Nations ambassador Susan Rice, the Obama campaign... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5556/live-from-new-york-michelle-obama Tue, 5 May 2009 09:00:00 EST The news, such as it was, revolved around Michelle Obama's excited admission Tuesday afternoon in the midst of her first visit to New York as first lady. "I never thought I'd be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled," she gushed.... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5547/not-again-a-new-foundation-revisited Tue, 5 May 2009 09:00:00 EST "We will act, not only to create jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth."–Barack Obama, Inaugural Address "We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5411/this-president-is-no-cable-guy Fri, 1 May 2009 09:00:00 EST Bill Clinton, whose operatic second term coincided with the creation of Fox News and the rise of stentorian TV talkers like Chris Matthews, was the nation's first true cable news president. George W. Bush was a uniter not a divider in one important way –... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5403/arlen-specter-zigzag-trajectory Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST As a top staffer for the Warren Commission nearly a half century ago, Arlen Specter helped devise the "single bullet theory" to explain the bizarre trajectory of a shot that purportedly hit both President John Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally.... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5392/pros-and-cons-of-measuring-web-traffic Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST It might seem like the height of 1950's old-media arrogance to argue that too much information about the habits and preferences of readers threatens quality journalism. "The customer is king" is a time-honored mantra of business-world public-relations... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5393/imagine-the-first-100-days-of-john-mccain Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST If things had gone differently..... John McCain, the oldest first-term president in history, is proving as rambunctious and pugnacious as the youngest one, Teddy Roosevelt. Of course, Teddy probably would have sent the Marines to Venezuela, while McCain... http://www.waltershapiro.com/5079/obama-back-in-control Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST Now that Barack Obama's second prime-time press conference is over, it is safe to make lasting pronouncements about the fledgling president's East Room Q&A style. Normally journalistic convention requires three events to justify a trend, but we are... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4807/fix-the-country-already Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST As we breathlessly near the end of Barack Obama's eighth week in office (almost enough time to have two full William Henry Harrison presidencies), a definitive verdict on the success or failure of the 44th president is long overdue. Probably at this very... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4802/long-shadow Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST Seventy-three years after a white-suited Huey Long was assassinated in Baton Rouge, the iron-fisted Louisiana governor is all the rage in Barack Obama's Washington. At a time when a crash course in the New Deal has supplanted Watergate studies as the... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4753/americans-like-big-government Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST Barack Obama flew to Columbus last week to announce a stimulus-funded rescue of 25 police jobs. During his speech, this most eloquent of presidents fell into a Lyndon Johnson-like sing-song as he detailed all the other pump-priming grants to Ohio from... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4494/obama-soars-but-can-he-fix-the-economy Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST After his well-crafted but less-than-enduring Inaugural Address and the logorrhea of his prime-time press conference, Barack Obama finally hit his long-awaited rhetorical moment with his maiden address to the Congress. This was a speech that was not... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4044/impressed-me-not Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST Through most of his inaugural primetime press conference, Barack Obama seemed like he was channeling a particularly loquacious combination of Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and the ghost of Hubert Humphrey. The president's response to the first question from... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4041/meet-the-press Mon, 9 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST With Barack Obama's first news conference slated for tonight at 8 p.m. eastern, it is a safe bet that -- like on Inauguration Day -- the most over-used word in the English language Monday will be "Kennedy-esque." There will be paeans to John Kennedy's... http://www.waltershapiro.com/4038/the-poet-in-chief Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST The graceful Inaugural poet, Elizabeth Alexander, spoke after the poetry. For it was Barack Obama's long-anticipated speech that truly showed the writerly hand. There were echoes of prior inaugural addresses (particularly John Kennedy, but also flickers...