Lincoln's birthday: Many newspapers mark the day with front page stories. The Journal Register, right, from Lincoln's hometown, Springfield, Ill., naturally offers a splashy front page, pointing to weekend events for the occasion, including a visit by President Obama. It also notes some criticism of Obama for linking himself to the 16th president, but adds that "some historians have given Obama tacit approval to do just this." Other papers find their own Lincoln connections. The Honolulu Advertiser recalls that in 1864, Lincoln wrote to a grieving Hawaiian king whose younger brother had died. Miami's Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald writes about Latin America's debt to Lincoln over the issue of slavery. And in Connecticut, the Norwich Bulletin notes that "Lincoln's Legacy Runs Through Norwich," a reference to an 1860 campaign speech there on behalf of a fellow Republican governor.
A done deal: Most papers carry the speedy agreement by a conference committee on the $790 billion stimulus package. The Wall Street Journal, which offers extensive coverage on the package, says the plan "may be only a down payment on the Obama administration's effort to turn around an economy that has shed 3.6 million jobs since December 2006." The Los Angeles Times says there were moments of "high drama" among Democratic leaders over just when a final deal had been struck. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, "alleged that the Democrats had engaged in the same kind of 'midnight deal-making' that the GOP was accused of when it was the party in power." The Washington Post reports that many economists remain skeptical as to whether the bill will provide a significant boost to a sagging economy, "but in the near term, the compromise stands as the first major achievement of the new administration."
Posted by Doug Stanglin at 08:11 AM/ET, February 12, 2009
P.S. Bolds (A done deal) added for emphasis.........Blogman.