ALBERT IS THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN D.C.

Step aside, Barack Obama. After Friday, the most powerful man in Washington, D.C., isn’t the President of the United States. Instead, it’s the newly-minted defensive tackle of the Washington Redskins. That’s the practical fallout of the decision to give Albert Haynesworth a seven-year, $100 million contract with $41 million guaranteed. As one league source observed, “He runs the coach, he runs the team, he runs everything.” Why? Because, like a top-five draft pick whose obscene contract insulates him as a practical matter from any real consequence for acting like a fool, Haynesworth can do and say whatever he wants in 2009 (and likely beyond) without consequence. Apart from the team’s limited options when it comes to taking action against Haynesworth, the Redskins now have their own T.O. -- a guy whom ownership will choose to enable rather than discipline since any antisocial behavior in which he engages, and for which he is punished by the team, will prompt a chorus of “I told you so.” And that’s where it gets interesting. As one source with intimate knowledge of Albert’s ways observed, “You don’t know what Albert is gonna do and you can’t tell him what to do.” Hey, Terrell, do you have any extra popcorn?