Age-Old Question

There is something larger going on here, and Atlantic's Marc Ambinder has a theory:

"Tim's death seems to have hit the Washington political community by an order of magnitude greater than the passing of a loved one.

"Here is one reason why I think that this is so, and it has to do with the general esteem that professional political journalists of all stripes have for themselves in relation to their profession. The truth is that most of us -- well, maybe I'll just speak for myself, but I think it this opinion is common -- are exquisitely aware of how our journalism doesn't always live up to our standards; how it can debase the debate discourse than enhance it; how it can magnify idiotic side stories and render as insignificant the most pressing questions of the day.

"There were a lot of folks in town, and I consider myself one of them to some degree, who emulate Tim Russert consciously and conspicuously. Tim Russert -- as Tim Russert -- helped to build and sustain the professional bearings and even the confidence of many political journalists because he got it right. He did it right. (It can be done right!) We loved Tim's method and style -- and not only his method and style, but also the notion that esteem for him was near universal (and so it could also be for us) -- and that he was able to enjoy the game of politics without guilt and still be a figure of enormous respect. The fact that one guy was capable of getting it more or less right . . . gave a lot of us hope that we might one day be able to cover politics meaningfully, too."

Michelle Obama is on "The View" today, and she talks to the NYT about such things as the "whitey" tape rumor:

" 'You are amazed sometimes at how deep the lies can be,' she says in an interview. Referring to a character in a 1970s sitcom, she adds: 'I mean, "whitey?" That's something that George Jefferson would say. Anyone who says that doesn't know me. They don't know the life I've lived. They don't know anything about me.' "

It had to happen: the Michelle Obama Watch.