The Washington Post Column

Can money buy you influence in Washington? Before answering that question, I’ll pause for the hoots of derision. Of course it can, is the short answer, and it’s a pretty simple equation.

Late last week Tony Blair made a speech in Washington. Afterward various British journals of record summed up their prime minister’s performance. The Daily Mirror found “something quite nauseating” about the speech, in which Blair once again “backed America in what many now view as a war based on lies.”

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of them: In this country, Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi have not exactly become household names.

While flogging her book in London last week, Hillary Clinton unexpectedly revealed her admiration for a great British political figure. Curiously, her kind words were not for Tony Blair, who is often compared to her husband, but rather for one of his illustrious conservative predecessors.

Martha Stewart has been indicted, Martha Stewart has resigned from the chairmanship of her company, Martha Stewart is in disgrace. But Martha Stewart, Incorporated — or, more precisely, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. — lives on.

Around this town, “bipartisan” is a magic word. When something is described as bipartisan, that’s code for “good” or “moral” or “the kind of thing sensible people support.”

After I finish writing this column, I will, with some trepidation, begin packing my bags to go from Washington to Manhattan. I say with some trepidation not because one is frightened, these days, of being mugged in Central Park, or because one fears being tempted by the sin parlors that once clustered around Times Square.

“Do you see any parallels between the security state that George Bush has created in America since 9/11 and the Gulag?” For a moment, the question struck me dumb. It had been put by a BBC radio interviewer, and we were on the air.

George Bush is off to Europe this week, and a very strange trip it may well turn out to be.

Running down the stairs the other day, my 5-year-old son leaped, as he often does, onto the banister — and fell, as he previously never had, onto the floor eight feet below.