Inside the Beltway

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Not a tea

Get a load of three of the topics to be discussed by the so-called "leading women on the world" when they convene in Washington on Feb. 7 for the fourth annual Women on the World symposium:

"Becoming Fearless," "Women as Agents of Change," and "Inside the Life of George Herbert Walker Bush." (Hmmm. Stay tuned for that stimulating discourse.)

So who are these prominent women discussing politics, business and contemporary life during what is being touted as an "unprecedented" U.S. Chamber of Commerce event?

They include Undersecretary of StateKaren P. Hughes, political activist Arianna Huffington, Hearst magazines President Cathleen Black, author and presidential daughter and sister Doro Bush Koch, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, Goldman Sachs Group Managing DirectorAbby Cohen, National Football League SeniorVice President Lisa Baird, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Julie Gerberding.

R.I.P.

For some, Deborah Orin-Eilbeck, the New York Post's longtime Washington bureau chief and columnist, who died of cancer over the weekend at age 59, will be remembered for her frankness when it came to politics and the press.

During an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review in June 2004, Mrs. Orin-Eilbeck was asked about the White House press corps' daily coverage of President Bush. Her response:

"Bush's press people make less effort than [President] Clinton's did to be palsy with reporters -- I think because they believe -- rightly -- that the White House press corps tilts distinctly Democratic and generally doesn't like Bush or his policies, so Bush's team can't expect to get cut much slack, no matter what they do."