The Commentariat -- March 21

Michael Wald of the New York Times: William Borchardt, "a top official with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Monday that the nuclear crisis in Japan did not warrant any immediate changes in American nuclear plants."

Helene Cooper & David Sanger of the New York Times ask what the "coalition"'s objective is, "Is it merely to protect the Libyan population from the government, or is it intended to fulfill President Obama’s objective declared two weeks ago that Colonel Qaddafi 'must leave'?" ...

... Mark Ambinder of the National Journal has one answer: the bombings are "the first phase of what will become Barack Obama's first new war. By directing the military to hit targets inside Libya, the Obama administration is trying to strike an incredibly delicate balance between a strong disinclination to invade a Muslim country and their determined desire to avoid looking like they’re walking away from the indiscriminate slaughter of innocents. ...

... Justin Elliott of Salon has another: "... it's quickly becoming clear that the bombing campaign [against Libya] -- at least so far -- is almost entirely an American operation, albeit one that has been packaged to give it an international look. It's a dissonance that brings back memories of George W. Bush's much-mocked 'coalition of the willing.'" Here's NBC Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski making the same point:

... AND Karen DeYoung & Peter Finn of the Washington Post write, "The prominent role played by the United States in carrying out and commanding the initial coalition attacks on Libya appeared to extend far beyond President Obama’s description of a narrow mission in which U.S. forces would play only a supporting part.... Administration officials and military leaders came under a barrage of questions — raised by members of Congress, outside experts and reporters — about the parameters of U.S. participation and the operation’s goals, especially if Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi does not capitulate." ...

... John Bresnahan & Jonathan Allen of Politico: "A hard-core group of liberal House Democrats is questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya, with one lawmaker [Dennis Kucinich] raising the prospect of impeachment during a Democratic Caucus conference call on Saturday." ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM explains why the war on Libya is "just a bad, bad idea." ...

... AND when John Boehner sounds like a voice of reason, it's difficult not to worry.

... AND there's this:

... Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "... President Obama on Sunday all but invited the young population of Iran to throw off the government there in a Web address transmitted to the region, adding, 'I am with you.'”

Meanwhile, on the Home Front ...

Washingtonian Deficit Obsession. Is It a Disease? I missed this story Friday, but President Obama, who had other things on his mind Friday, probably didn't read it, either. Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "More than 60 senators from both parties are calling on President Obama to lead them in developing a comprehensive plan to rein in record budget deficits, a powerful sign of bipartisan willingness to abandon long-held positions on entitlement spending and taxes." Here's the letter. ...

... Damien Paletta of the Wall Street Journal: "The idea of putting Social Security into play has triggered a firestorm of opposition from several corners of the Democratic party. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), two of the Senate's most powerful lawmakers, have said revisions to Social Security shouldn't be attached to a deficit-reduction plan."

Paul Krugman: "By the sheer craziness of their attacks on [Elizabeth] Warren, however, Republicans are offering the administration a perfect opportunity to revive the debate over financial reform, not to mention highlighting exactly who’s really in Wall Street’s pocket these days. And that’s an opportunity the White House should welcome."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: new Republican governors like Wisconsin's Scott Walker throw a monkeywrench into the Affordable Care Law. Until Walker took over, Wisconsin was a model for how a state could effectively implement the law governing health insurance; now Wisconsin is a morass.

Job Openings:

     ... Hayley Tsukayama of the Washington Post: "Even before he’s out as Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt is reportedly on the short list to be President Obama’s next Commerce Secretary."

     ... Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "The American taxpayer will lose a rare straight shooter when Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP], leaves his post on March 30. In his frequent testimony before Congress and in the nine quarterly reports and 13 audits his office has published, Mr. Barofsky has served taxpayers well by speaking truth to the powers at the Treasury."

Spy Story. Sam Roberts: "Morton Sobell, who was convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1951 in an espionage conspiracy case and finally admitted nearly six decades later that he had been a Soviet spy, now says he helped copy hundreds of pages of secret Air Force documents stolen from a Columbia University professor’s safe in 1948.

Local News

New York Times photo.Sam Roberts of the New York Times on the grid that made New York. "Two hundred years ago on Tuesday, the city’s street commissioners certified the no-frills street matrix that heralded New York’s transformation into the City of Angles — the rigid 90-degree grid that spurred unprecedented development, gave birth to vehicular gridlock and defiant jaywalking, and spawned a new breed of entrepreneurs who would exponentially raise the value of Manhattan’s real estate."

News Ledes

At a press conference in Chile today, President Obama gave an extended answer to a reporter's questions about the attack on Libya:

I Know It Must Be True, Because I Read It in the Daily Mail *: "Colonel Gaddafi suffered a massive personal setback today when one of his sons was allegedly killed in a suicide air mission on his barracks. Khamis, 27, who runs the feared Khamis Brigade that has been prominent in its role of attacking rebel-held areas, is said to have died on Saturday night. A Libyan air force pilot crashed his jet into the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli in a kamikaze attack, Algerian TV reported following an unsubstantiated claim by an anti-Gaddafi media organisation. Khamis is alleged to have died of burns in hospital. The regime denied the reports." ...

... FYI. New York Times: "An American-led military campaign to destroy Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s air defenses and establish a no-fly zone over Libya has nearly accomplished its initial objectives, and the United States is moving swiftly to hand command to allies in Europe, American officials said Monday. But the firepower of more than 130 Tomahawk cruise missiles and attacks by allied warplanes have not yet succeeded in accomplishing the more ambitious demands by the United States — repeated by President Obamain a letter to Congress on Monday — that Colonel Qaddafi withdraw his forces from embattled cities and cease all attacks against civilians." Here's the letter, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times. ...

... Politico: "White House officials argued late Monday that President Obama has the authority to attack Libya without going through Congress, pointing to Bosnia and Haiti as examples in which a president decided to send in American troops." ...

... AP: "A cruise missile blasted Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound in an attack that carried as much symbolism as military effect, and fighter jets destroyed a line of tanks moving on the rebel capital. The U.S. said the international assault would hit any government forces attacking the opposition." The New York Times story is here; they keep updating it, & right now (8 am ET) the story is as confusing as war. ...

... Washington Post: "U.S. and allied warplanes continued pounding Libya’s air defenses Sunday and launched deadly strikes against ground forces as Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi offered no serious military challenge to the establishment of a no-fly zone over his country." ...

... AP: "A U.S.-led coalition has succeeded in scattering and isolating Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces after a weekend of punishing air attacks, Pentagon officials say, and American military authorities are moving to hand control of the operation to other countries."

AP: "An Arizona judge on Monday ordered [Jared Loughner,] the suspect in the January shooting rampage in Tucson, to undergo a mental evaluation at a specialized facility in Missouri as soon as possible.

Der Spiegel (English): "A group of rogue US Army soldiers in Afghanistan killed innocent civilians and then posed with their bodies. On Monday, SPIEGEL published some of the photos -- and the US military responded promptly with an apology. Still, NATO fears that reactions in Afghanistan could be violent." The article includes three photos. CW: I didn't look at them.

Washington Post: "Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty will announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee this afternoon, according to two aides briefed on the decision." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota became the first major Republican to enter the 2012 presidential race, announcing an exploratory committee on Monday that formalizes an ambition that has been steadily building for more than a year."

Washington Post: "Buoyed by U.S. and allied airstrikes that relieved a siege of Benghazi, Libyan rebels launched an offensive early Monday aimed at retaking the strategic city of Ajdabiya, as Western warplanes continued pounding forces loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gaddafi." ...

... New York Times: "The Libyan government released four New York Times journalists on Monday, six days after they were captured while covering the conflict between government and rebel forces in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. They were released into the custody of Turkish diplomats and crossed safely into Tunisia in the late afternoon."

New York Times: "In an apparent erosion of military support for Yemen's embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, five army commanders on Monday threw their support behind protesters calling for his immediate ouster. The move came a day after Mr. Saleh fired his cabinet following the deaths of at least 45 people killed by government-linked forces on Friday."

AP: "Operators evacuated workers from Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant Monday after gray smoke rose from one of its reactor units, the latest of persistent troubles in stabilizing the radiation-leaking complex. The evacuation brought to a standstill some of the work on restoring the plant's electrical lines and restarting the water pumping systems needed to keep nuclear fuel from overheating and releasing even greater amounts of radiation." New York Times story here. ...

... Washington Post: "The massive earthquake and tsunami that wiped out entire villages in northeast Japan caused up to $235 billion in damages, the World Bank said Monday, making the natural disaster one of the most expensive in modern history. The rebuilding effort could take five years, the bank said in its report, and will cost far more than earthquakes in Haiti last year and Kobe in 1995, as well as Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast in 2005 and the tsunami in South Asia in 2004."

Washington Post: "Haiti struggled once more to pull off an orderly election Sunday, as confusion broke out at polls and turnout appeared low, but when the day ended quietly without major violence, election officials and foreign observers called it a success."