President Barack Obama yesterday nominated two more judges, both from North Carolina, for the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If appointed, Albert Diaz would be the first Hispanic to serve on the 15-judge court, and the other, James Wynn, would be the fourth African-American, said Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law.

OSLO—One judge noted with surprise that President Barack Obama “didn’t look particularly happy” at being named the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Another marveled at how critics could be so patronizing. In a rare public defense of a process normally shrouded in secrecy, four of the Nobel jury’s five judges spoke out yesterday about a selection they said was both merited and unanimous.

When President Barack Obama urges America’s students today to “write your own destiny” by working hard in school, thousands of students in the Richmond area won’t be watching. Yesterday, the debate over Obama’s speech continued during Labor Day cookouts and final outings to the park before classes start. Schools in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Powhatan and the cities of Colonial Heights and Petersburg do not plan to show the speech today. Henrico County is requiring teachers to get permission from every parent and preview the speech if they want to show it today.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will deliver a back-to-school address to the nation’s students about taking responsibility for their success in school. But that’s not sitting well with some people in central Virginia. School officials in Powhatan County have opted not to broadcast the speech, said Debbie M. Jones, vice chairwoman of the county’s School Board.

BOSTON—President Barack Obama led the United States Saturday in mourning and remembering “the greatest legislator of our time,“ celebrating the legacy of Edward M. Kennedy as a senator for nearly a half-century and leader of America’s most famous family during tragedy and triumph. Delivering an emotional, simple eulogy for Kennedy that capped a two-hour Roman Catholic funeral Mass, Obama employed humor, his own experiences and timeless anecdotes to memorialize the senator, who died Tuesday at 77 after battling brain cancer for more than a year. The U.S. may have viewed him as “heir to a weighty legacy,“ Obama said, but he was playfully known by the youngest Kennedys less grandly: as the big cheese, “The Grand Fromage.“

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama pushed back hard against critics of his health-care overhaul plan yesterday, vowing to fight “the politics of the moment” and press for passage of legislation by the end of the year. The deadline reflected a shift in Obama’s timetable. He had said previously that he wanted the House and the Senate to vote on legislation before lawmakers leave for their August recess, with a comprehensive bill for him to sign in October.

The nation is embroiled in a feverish debate about how to fix our health care system—and fix it now! Never mind that much of the system works well or that its weaknesses are largely the product of decades of well-intentioned but poorly conceived tax laws, insurance regulations, and government programs that have weakened both providers and patients. Never mind that the economics of health care have befuddled our best minds for years, or that the industry consumes at least one in six dollars spent in this country.

President Barack Obama rates as the finest presidential orator since Ronald Reagan. His body language invites. The pitch of his voice captivates. His expression warms. The Cairo speech was promoted as an event, and so it proved. Its intended audience included the Muslims of the world. Much of the wording sounded familiar. As Michael Crowley wrote for The New Republic: “Most of his main arguments have been made before—not just by Obama himself, but by his predecessor. ‘Today I’d like to speak directly to the people across the broader Middle East,‘ George W. Bush said at the United Nations on Sept. 16, 2006. Like Obama, Bush explained that the United States is not at war with Islam. Like Obama, Bush said that America respects the history and traditions of the Muslim world. Like Obama, Bush deplored the Sept. 11 attacks and vowed to fight the tiny minority of Islamic extremists. Bush also assured his audience that ‘freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed. It must be chosen’; Obama said that ‘no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.‘ Bush lamented the ‘daily humiliation of occupation’ suffered by the Palestinians; Obama said the Palestinians ‘endure the daily humiliations . . . that come with occupation.‘ Bush assured Iran that he did not oppose their use of peaceful nuclear power; so did Obama.“ Crowley also noted that Obama enjoys more credibility with the intended audience than did Bush. We believe both presidents meant what they said and that both gave worthy addresses.

When gathering to reminisce about their college days, graying graduates are more likely to bring up their team’s win in the Rose Bowl or their own unrequited loves than the commencement address. Notre Dame’s Class of 2009 will not forget. The controversy is well known. President Barack Obama’s support of abortion is as openly absolute as that of any president. His stand conflicts with Roman Catholic teaching on the issue; his approach to stem cell research also brings him into conflict with the church. Critics who focused on the school’s awarding Obama an honorary degree did not demand that the speech be canceled. Others went further.

Remember the Hainan Island episode? We didn’t think so. Yet that momentary international flap—an April, 2001, collision between U.S. and Chinese military aircraft that led to the Chinese detention and interrogation of American servicemen—was widely described as the first major foreign-policy test of the George W. Bush administration. Bush’s handling of the incident supposedly had world-historical significance. Eight years later, nearly nobody remembers it. Almost everything that now seems consequential about the administration flowed from the 9/11 attacks five months later, and the Iraq war launched a year and a half after that.

Spats such as the one described here typically involve conservative guests the left prefers to silence. We speak of dignitaries invited to grace graduations and other collegiate ceremonies. This time the controversy concerns a progressive. Next month President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame, the nation’s most famous Catholic university. He also will receive an honorary degree, and therein lies the rub.

Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe as president made a splash. The crowds loved him, as, apparently, did the dignitaries he met. He has a winning manner and a commanding presence. A president popular with foreign citizens is not a bad thing. Realpolitik trumps personality, never forget. Obama scored no major diplomatic breakthroughs, although historians expected few. Countries pursue what they consider to be in their best interests, whether they like foreign leaders or hold them in contempt.

President Barack Obama wants to deal with the nation’s problems—the economy, the banking crisis, Afghanistan—one at a time but doesn’t have that luxury.

NEW YORK—President Barack Obama’s NCAA bracket has Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and Pittsburgh in his Final Four. The First Fan filled out his bracket for ESPN at the White House today, sticking primarily with No. 1 seeds. The only exception was Memphis, seeded second behind Connecticut in the West regional. ESPN college basketball correspondent Andy Katz says Obama’s bracket will be posted on the network’s Web site tomorrow, and the network’s report on Obama’s picks will air at 6 p.m.

Public education in Virginia Virginia is spending $58.6 million on pre-kindergarten programs for fiscal 2009 and will spend $68.8 million in 2010. Pre-kindergarten spending for 2009-2010 budget increased $26 million from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s 2007-2008 budget. The program, aimed primarily at low-income, at-risk 4-year-olds, currently serves about one in eight Virginia preschoolers, or 15,600.