American President

Cramming 41 biographies into 10 hours of TV would be a mistake. Thankfully, PBS's "The American President" doesn't even try, opting instead to provide thumbnail sketches of the political philosophies and presidential accomplishments of the 41 men who have occupied the highest office in the land. Sure, the segments only skim the surface, and history buffs will probably hear little they don't already know. And while some segments seem distressingly brief -- with an average of only 15 minutes per president, how can you possibly sum up Washington, Lincoln or FDR?

Lee MacPhail, a Hall of Fame baseball executive who served as the Orioles' general manager from 1959 to 1965, died Thursday evening at his home in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 95. Mr. MacPhail, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998, represented the middle of a four-generation baseball dynasty. His father, Larry, was also a Hall of Fame executive. His son Andy became the Orioles' top baseball executive from 2007 to 2011 after serving in similar roles for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs.

Politics aside, "The American President" is a delightful romantic comedy in which boy president meets girl, boy president loses girl and boy president gets girl.But it's so hard to put the politics aside because the movie doesn't want to put the politics aside. The politics are hardly incidental; in fact, in a certain way, they're the point.So let me just state the movie's bias up front and get it out of the way (and get it out of my system!). It is so liberal it will make your gums ache with its sanctimonious syrup of moral superiority, narcissism, sensitivity and sentimentality.

Recent polls show that the margin of support for same-sex marriage has increased in recent weeks, with one survey showing that 57 percent of Maryland voters now say they're likely to support the state's same-sex marriage law if, as expected, it is put on the ballot as a referendum question in November. What's notable, however, is that most of the shift has been the result of changing attitudes among African-Americans, traditionally one of the most conservative groups on the issue.

They're baaaa-aaaaaack.Call it "Attack of the Killer Liberals." Call it "The Amazing, Colossal 50-Foot Sensitive Man." Call it "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms to the Left." But two new movies are as much formed by their aggressive political values as they are by their entertainment values.In fact, so liberal are "The American President" and "Nick of Time" that it's difficult not to see them as backlash films, the first out of the box in reaction to the Republican victories of 1994 and that ultra-conservative group of freshman members of Congress who may even out-right the storied Newt.

Vacations necessaryWorkers who feel guilty about taking vacations shouldn't. In fact, most bosses believe their workers are more productive if they take time off from the day-in, day-out grind, according to a new survey.Indeed, top executives feel they, too, need vacations for the same reasons their employees do: to prevent burnout, increase productivity on the job and improve personal relationships.Out of 500 executives across the United States surveyed by Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp.

It's out in the open, so to speak. He wears . . . briefs. The president of the United States, the leader of the free world, a man who orders his fries extra large, wears what they call in the underwear biz "tighty whiteys."(Certainly, in his case, "brief" doesn't seem like the right terminology. I'm figuring Clinton for a size 42, minimum.)Think about this for a minute. We have no idea what Clinton was doing during the entire Whitewater period, but we now know exactly what he was wearing -- easy-fit jeans, a "Go Hogs" sweat shirt and Fruit of the Loom briefs, picked out, of course, by Hillary and later given to overweight poor people and charged off on the Clintons' taxes.

WASHINGTON -- With the nation's two largest shipping companies poised to register a sizable portion of their fleet under foreign flags, several Congressional leaders and others urged President Clinton yesterday to overcome squabbling in his administration and find the money for maritime reform."

Syria is a tougher nut to crack than Jordan. President Hafez el Assad may need to prove that, but President Clinton never doubted it. Hence the White House efforts to lower expectations for the Clinton visit to Damascus today.Nonetheless, coming from meetings with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein, the American president brings prestige and power to bear on the Syrian dictator to make peace with Israel.

MEXICO CITY -- The Atlar de la Patria is one of Mexico's most revered shrines, but it seems a curious place for an American president to pay his respects. After all, it commemorates an 1847 battle against American soldiers dispatched by an American president to seize a big chunk of Mexico.The invading troops laid siege to Mexico City and sacked Chapultepec Castle. Among the 1,800 Mexicans killed that September day were some six teen-age cadets defending the castle, including one who wrapped himself in a Mexican flag and jumped to his death rather than be captured.

Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich had lots of options when he hired Julius Henson , the bad-boy political operative behind the robocall that urged Baltimore voters to "relax" and stay home from the polls on Election Day. Henson's Universal Elections offers a range of campaign packages, all named for U.S. presidents. The faces of our nation's greatest leaders are arrayed on Universal's website like an expanded Mount Rushmore, each one paired with a list of goods and services named in his honor.

Yesterday's visit to Baltimore by President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden was the first time in 56 years that an about-to-be-inaugurated president rode a train to his swearing-in. On a mild Jan. 18, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower, accompanied by his wife, son and staffers, boarded Pennsylvania Railroad business car 90 that was coupled to a five-car special train for the journey from New York's Pennsylvania Station to Washington. The special, which did not stop in Baltimore, arrived at Union Station at 9:05 p.m., whereupon the president and his official party, set out for the Statler Hilton Hotel, where he resided until being sworn in two days later.

Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of quiet exultation. It isn't gloating; it's satisfaction at a job well done. He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes from working out in the gym every morning. He spoke in a genuine voice, not senatorial at all. He relished campaigning. He accepted adulation gracefully. He brandished his sword against his opponents without mocking or belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American, and now (wow)

WASHINGTON - America turned a page yesterday. Barack Obama broke through the racial barrier to the Oval Office, becoming the first African-American to gain the presidency. And his electoral landslide delivered a powerful message about a new generation of American leadership. The young and minority voters who helped lift the 47-year-old Democrat to the White House are now the foundation of a new majority in U.S. politics. Their emergence likely brings to a close the era of conservative dominance that began with Ronald Reagan's election almost three decades ago. Obama's campaign, perhaps the most brilliantly run in the modern era, reflected the multicultural diversity of 21st-century America.

Early evening settles on a quiet suburb of spacious homes and lush lawns. Suddenly, an ominous voice pierces the tranquillity: America is about to elect the first black president of the United States. Within seconds, the streets flood with hundreds of panicked white people running from their homes. One man stops and lifts his face to the heavens, his arms outstretched, face etched with fear. The satiric scene is a climactic highlight of 2003's Head of State, a comedy starring Chris Rock as a Washington alderman who uses a hip-hop-flavored campaign and a grass-roots attack against government to rise to the highest office in the land.

Jane Wyman, the Academy Award-winning actress whose long and distinguished film and television career was nearly overshadowed by her real-life role as the first wife of actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan, died yesterday morning. She was at least 90. Ms. Wyman died at her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said Virginia Zamboni, a longtime friend. After arriving in Hollywood from St. Louis in the mid-1930s, Ms. Wyman learned her craft as a contract player before getting a crack at the major roles that would secure her reputation as a star.

The nation's maritime industry faces no less a crisis than its airlines, say five Democratic senators who want a new business and government panel to investigate reviving the industry.The senators said yesterday that they had introduced legislation to create the panel, which would be appointed by President Clinton. That move was prompted by recent applications of the two largest U.S. shippers' to reflag much of their fleet in foreign countries. Sea-Land Service Inc. and American President Companies hope to avoid tough U.S. regulations, taxes and high labor costs.

Tomorrow is the 116th anniversary of the most gallant death of any American president. His gallantry had to do with the circumstances of his finishing writing under extreme emotional and physical difficulty a book that is generally conceded to be the best ever written by a U.S. president. That book is Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. It is so well regarded that it is not surprising that in the past decade more than half a dozen new editions of it by different publishers came on the market.

As President Bush shuttles yet more troops to Iraq, the irony of his human rights policies at home and abroad grows all the more stark. How can America fight for the rule of law in other countries when we allow an American president to break the law on our own soil? The American people voted for change. In our America, change should start with a Congress that exercises its duty to the American public to act as a check and balance, reining in abuses of executive power and restoring basic civil liberties.

. American University's board of trustees dismissed its president, Benjamin Ladner, last night, accusing him of misusing more than $500,000 in university money since 2002. After deliberating nearly eight hours, the board resolved a conflict that has roiled the campus in Northwest Washington since March, when an anonymous letter to board members said Ladner had been lavishly spending university money on himself and his wife, Nancy, for many years. The letter sparked a controversy that angered many student and faculty groups, led to Ladner's suspension in August and split the 24-member board.