Smart DC students will make you pay to stay in their dorm room

Deuxieme papier, sur les petits college students malins qui comptent louer leur chambre pendant le week end de l’inauguration d’Obama

Got a ticket to the Inauguration but nowhere to stay? Your only hope may be local college students.

But don’t think you’ll get off cheap. Washington’s college students appear to be dedicated young capitalists: The going rates for student apartments popping up on Facebook and Craigslist range from $500 to $1,800 a night during Inauguration weekend. And some even require a minimum stay.

As the inaugural frenzy grows, universities in and around Washington have already started preparing for the influx of non-students who intend to live on campus for a few days in January. Most have strict rules about subletting, which amount to: “Don’t.” Students are not allowed to sublease their room, for any reason.

That does not mean they won’t break that rule — and some colleges, aware of the temptation, have sent warnings. Students at The George Washington University received an email recently that reminded them, in bold letters and even bigger font than usual, that “they are not permitted to sublease or rent their space per the terms of the Undergraduate Housing License Agreement.”

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Bill Clinton is a rock star

Premier de mes deux papiers pour Politico ce week-end :

At home, he’s sometimes considered a bit of a liability — prone to speaking his mind too freely, a lightning rod for conservatives, subject to, ahem, personal controversies and clashes with the press.

But abroad, former President Bill Clinton is a rock star — the brand name for happier U.S. engagement with the world. And he could be one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief assets if she becomes secretary of state.

“The Clinton brand is a good one,” said Dana Allin, an expert on trans-Atlantic affairs at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. “Her husband’s administration is remembered fondly, maybe even more fondly in retrospect, after eight years of Bush.”

“Bill is a popular guy in Europe,” said Constanze Stelzenmueller, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Berlin office. “He is very touchy-feely, and on a more serious note, he is educated, and Europe felt taken seriously and understood” during his administration. The hope is that “some of that might rub off on his wife.”

President-elect Obama is expected to announce his national security team after Thanksgiving, and Hillary Clinton is the odds-on favorite for secretary of state. Clinton’s selection came after her husband agreed to provide extensive financial disclosures to Obama’s transition team and to ensure that his future activities overseas would not conflict, politically or financially, with his wife’s role as the nation’s top diplomat.

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