In case you missed it…

This was a great moment yesterday in politics.. President Obama spoke at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore. The Republicans agreed beforehand to open it up to the cameras. I can’t imagine today that they are happy they did, but the rest of America benefitted from it.

The exchange that took place between the president and the GOP in the following Q & A was simply amazing.. I am so glad I didn’t miss it. It was just excellent, the best I can remember seeing. This is what I have been wanting and waiting to see and hear. It was honest and real, respectful and non-confrontational. I am just so proud of President Obama..

Here’s the transcript of the entire exchange (printed in the WP). I especially enjoyed what Mark Ambinder at The Atlantic posted following the exchange between the president and his GOP members in the audience.

The ‘State Of The Union’ We’d Like To See

Way to go Mark Fiore!

Click on graphic to view at source.

The Watering Hole: January 30 – Gandhi

On 30 January 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was shot while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla House in New Delhi.

The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949 (Gandhi would not have approved!). Gandhi’s memorial at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph “Hē Ram”, which may be translated as “Oh God”. These are widely believed to be Gandhi’s last words after he was shot.

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