Michelle and Barack at a state dinner for the Indian Prime Minister - from the Huffington Post
Obama's Brilliant First Year (Jacob Wesberg) from Slate
I agree very much with Weisberg here. All the bitching from the left and right come from folks who have no sense of this moment in history and the difference Obama has made and will make before the anniversary date.
"This conventional wisdom about Obama's first year isn't just premature—it's sure to be flipped on its head by the anniversary of his inauguration on Jan. 20. If, as seems increasingly likely, Obama wins passage of a health care reform a bill by that date, he will deliver his first State of the Union address having accomplished more than any other postwar American president at a comparable point in his presidency."
The Obama Surge in Seven Bullet Points (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic
A heads-up on what to expect this evening. Check it out!
"Based on published reports, here's the gist of he Afghanistan surge President Obama plans to announce this evening:."
Obama Goes to China from National Interest
"His Republican opposition wants him to be George W. Bush, laying down the law that nobody follows. And his Democratic buddies think they are back in the Clinton period, making believe that we still might run the world. The fact is that the Asia trip was a real success."
This kind of story drives me crazy -- because it so showcases how dysfunctional our media and our politics are these days. "Success" is only success when it looks the way reporters and pundits say it should look.
Why Time is on Obama's Side (Walter Shapiro) from Politics Daily
"Obama comes across as a president confident enough to adopt Republican Senator George Aiken's artful 1966 formula for withdrawal from Vietnam: Declare victory and bring everyone home."
CBO report: Stimulus package saved or created as many as 1.6 million jobs from The Hill
VERY big news -- will it get any play in the MSM? Probably not.
"The nonpartisan CBO said in a legally mandated report that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) had resulted in between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs for the U.S. economy that wouldn't have existed in the absence of the stimulus."
Cool Cat Obama Must Count on His Nine Lives (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
"He seems to have little human ego at stake as he fails to get headline-dominating concessions in diplomatic summits. What matters to him appears to be long-term gains and structural shifts — not short-term feelings. Will this sell in troubled America? Do Americans need a more emotive, empathetic figure? ... My own sense is that in many ways the drama and anxieties of the first decade of this century make public anger and fear more politically potent — but also generate a yearning for calm and stability at the centre."
A Crushing Legacy of Bush (Joe Conason) from the New York Observer
"From now on, the headlines about Afghanistan will be slugged “Obama’s War,” and perhaps that is fair enough given the president’s many endorsements of what he has called a war of necessity. It would be much less fair, however, to ignore the events that led us to this moment, when whatever choice he makes will offer no great guarantee of progress and no small prospect of trouble."
North Star: Populism, Politics, and the Power of Sarah Palin (Sam Tenenhaus) from the New Yorker
"This adoration is kept alive today by the excited autograph-seekers in Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne, in the audience that gave Oprah Winfrey her best ratings in two years, and in the various advocacy groups that have sprung up to promote Palin for the Presidency: Conservatives 4 Palin, Team Sarah, Vets 4 Sarah, 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, Sarah Palin Radio, SarahPAC. The true meaning of Palinism is Sarah Palin—nothing more and nothing less. She is a party unto herself"
Huckabee's White House Chances Look Slim to None After Police Slayings from Politics Daily
"You could argue that the former Arkansas governor is a victim of bad luck. You could argue that he’s a victim of his own bad judgment. What’s inarguable is that Huckabee commuted the prison term of a man killed by police after he allegedly shot and killed four police officers Sunday morning in Washington state, and it’s not the first time he has been in this particular spotlight."
The GOP's Suicide Pact (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"Some people can't stand prosperity, my father used to say. Today, he might be talking about Republicans, who, in the midst of declining support for President Obama's hope-and-change agenda, are considering a "purity" pledge to weed out undesirables from their ever-shrinking party. Just when independents and moderates were considering revisiting the GOP tent."
Today's GOP is Both United and Divided from the Washington Post
"But for all the talk among Republican elected officials about a nascent comeback after gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey this month, there is also broad frustration among Republican voters about the party's direction, detachment from its congressional representatives and a schism over its priorities."
FUNNY POLLING RESULTS NUGGET!!
Only .125 Percent Of Republicans Say Cheney Best Reflects GOP’s Core Values from The Plum Line for the Washington Post
Well, who cares about polls!? Nominate him in 2012 anyway! GO FOR IT!
"Here’s a data point that makes this fantasy seem even more far-fetched than it did at first glance: Significantly less than one percent of Republicans think Cheney best reflects their party’s core values."
ARCHEOLOGY NUGGET!!
Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity from the New York Times
"Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade."
GAY MARRIAGE NUGGET!
Gay Adoption (Rod Dreher) from Beliefnet.com (a good place to hear conservative religious commentary that is sane and occasionally reasonable)
"A conservative Catholic friend e-mails this morning with news of a gay couple she knows having adopted an orphan from overseas, and how she supports what they're doing. She says that she accepts the Church's teaching about homosexuality, but considering the life this orphaned child faced in his home country, and knowing her gay friends to be of sterling character, she believes the child ended up in the best possible situation for him. My friend feared that I would be horrified by her support for gay adoption, but in fact I'm pretty much where she is"
It's nice to see that some conservatives can actually change their minds once in a while.
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