Short Takes
Posted by Susanna at 11:36 AM, Nov 27, 2008 (Comments)
Category: People
PAUL VOLCKER, at 6 foot, 7 inches or about 2 meters tall, towers above most folks and has a commanding presence. Although a lot of people grumbled about his tough anti-inflation policies when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve in the 1980s, he is widely credited with doing a lot better job of managing the economy than his successor Alan Greenspan. As key adviser to President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign, he warned of a credit collapse. Now at the age of 81 years old the poor guy is going back to work. President-elect Obama has picked him to head a new economic advisory panel. Who knows, maybe Mr. Volker’s 401K tanked like everybody else’s, and he needs the money.
MEANWHILE, Vice President-elect Joe Biden was re-elected to a seventh term in the Senate on election day, even though he was also elected to the vice presidency that day. Seems he wanted to make sure he had a hand in the selection of his successor who will be appointed by the Delaware governor, Ruth Ann Minner. Gov. Minner announced earlier this week that she will be appointing Sen. Biden’s longtime aide and chief of staff Edward Kaufman to fill Sen. Biden’s Senate seat when he resigns to accept the vice presidency. Kaufman, 69, says he intends to retire in two years, leaving open the possibility that Sen. Biden’s son Beau, who currently serves as the Delaware state attorney general, to run for the Senate seat in 2010. Beau Biden, 39, declined the opportunity to be appointed to his father’s Senate seat now, saying he wanted to fulfill his obligation to the Delaware Army National Guard. He is currently serving a tour with his Guard unit in Iraq.
AFTER A BRIEF but heated competition among the top private schools in Washington, Sasha and Malia Obama will going to the fancy Sidwell Friends in Northwest D.C. Top Obama aide Greg Craig was lobbying for the girls to go to Maret, while Eric Holder, the future Attorney General in the Obama administration, was said to be rooting for Georgetown Prep because that is where his kids go to school. However, it is reported that the two ultra-cute Obama girls have bonded with Sen. Biden’s grandchildren who are enrolled in Sidwell, which was founded by the Quakers and operates in the Quaker tradition. Moreover, Sidwell has the advantage that its programs and facilities for both 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha were on the same campus. The combined tuition for the two girls may run as high as $60,000 a year.
THE SIDWELLL mission statement argues, "The Quaker belief that there is 'that of God' in each of us shapes everything we do at Sidwell Friends School." Unlike many Quaker schools, Sidwell is not attached to a particular Friends meeting, but many of its trustees are Quakers and the emphasis on open-minded pursuit of excellence and understanding is enforced by weekly worship meetings. Community service is integrated into the school day.
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