Magazine April 18, 2011, Issue

NSA Document Extract

By Rob Long

March 31, 2011 4:00 AM

Former President George W. Bush looks at Former President Barack Obama (L), as former President Bill Clinton (R) stands by his side during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., January 7, 2009. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

POTUS Secured Communications

03.24.11 09:33EDT
Begin Extract
Static. Ringing.

Unidentified Male Voice: Hello?

POTUS: Mr. President? It’s Barack Obama.

UMV: Well hey. Hey! Barack Obama. Lemme just — Barb, can you turn that down? It’s Barack Obama.

Unintelligible conversation.

UMV: Barbara, I’ve got no earthly idea, which is why I want you to turn that down.

Noises. Thumps. Silence.

UMV: Okay, Mr. President, all clear. What’s up?

POTUS: The reason I’m calling, Mr. President –

UMV: Call me George.

POTUS: Okay. George. And please call me Barack.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH: Not happening.

POTUS: The reason I’m calling is to ask some advice –

GEORGE H. W. BUSH: — about Libya, right? Here’s what I’d do. Get the …

In This Issue

Articles

Health Care

Replacement Plan

By Ramesh Ponnuru

Devising the alternative to Obamacare.

Economy & Business

Where the Jobs Aren’t

By Reihan Salam

Public-sector cartels are choking off economic growth.

Politics & Policy

‘The Right Side of History’

By Jay Nordlinger

It’s bunk.

Features

National Security & Defense

War Without Strategy

By Victor Davis Hanson

What, precisely, does the president hope to achieve in Libya?

National Security & Defense

Irresponsible

By John R. Bolton

Against a ‘responsibility to protect’ in foreign affairs.

World

The Arab World Implodes

By David Pryce-Jones

Will Iran now fill the vacuum?

Media

Tocqueville and the Tube

By Ben Berger

TV makes us dull and fat, and bad citizens too.

Magazine

Judge, Jury, and Economist

By Kevin D. Williamson

The Keynesians vs. the entrepreneurs.

Books, Arts & Manners

Education

The Parent Trap

By Christina Hoff Sommers

A review of Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College by Andrew Ferguson.

Sports

TR’s Goal-Line Stand

By Pat Sajak

A review of The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football by John J. Miller.

Culture

Charlie Sheen Writ Large

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

A review of Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys by Kay S. Hymowitz.

Film & TV

Paths from Glory

By Michael Knox Beran

A review of Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton.

Film & TV

Light of the World

By Ross Douthat

A review Of Gods and Men.

Decline and Fall

By John Derbyshire

So much for my prideful independence and self-sufficiency.

Sections

Letters

Letters

By NR Editors

Who Will Review the Judicial Reviewers?

The Week

The Week

By NR Editors

To be fair, Obama is right: Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that Congress has to declare kinetic military action.

NSA Document Extract

By Rob Long

POTUS Secured Communications.

Athwart

A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven

By James Lileks

Sun’s down. Day’s done.

Poetry

Window Shopper’s Ivory

By William W. Runyeon

The grand and opulent curve...

Esprit de l’Escalier

By Mark Steyn

Abolish the 1099. Get the feds out of your underwear. Restart the escalator. But the clock is running down, fast.

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