Ah, if looks could kill! This is our latest edition from the "funny kitty" series. One could easily speculate that even this cat KNOWS he looks ridiculous and is not happy about it. From the Huffington Post.
MUST-READ UP-FRONT POLITICAL NUGGET!!
When is Obama Bluffing? (Will Englund) from the National Journal
A lot of this article rings true for me. I have long observed the President's "poker-playing" aspects in almost everything political.
"In his first 10-plus months in office, he has approached the major issues facing his administration and the country with a poker player's sensibility. That doesn't mean that he necessarily has been dealt good hands. It doesn't even mean that he has always played his hands well. He hasn't. What he has done, though, is to make an effort to read his opponents, hold his own cards close, keep a straight face, and wait, calmly, for the winning play."
Finally, Some Very Good Jobs News (David Leonhardt) from the New York Times
"Today’s jobs report is by far the best one since 2007."
Obama Got it Right (Leslie Gelb) from the Daily Beast
"As Obama’s team hits the road to sell his Afghan plan, Leslie H. Gelb argues it beats the alternatives—and Americans have no choice but to rally around it."
For Obama Success is at Hand (Robert Shrum) from The Week
While I hope he's right, he may be a bit premature. We'll see.
"There has been a tendency to credit Barack Obama for the words and to doubt him on the deeds. Across the Media-and-Beltway bio-feedback loop, that doubt has now intensified. Except in this world of instant analysis, of outcomes proclaimed before events unfold, this skepticism would represent an inexplicably premature verdict on a President who is on the verge of overseeing economic revival and the historic achievement of national health reform"
On Obama, Survey Shows Yawning Gap Between Foreign-Policy Elite and General Public from Foreign Policy Magazine
I could have guessed this.
"Are you a fan of Barack Obama's handling of major foreign-policy issues so far? If so, there's a greater chance that you are a member of the Council on Foreign Relations than a member of the general public."
A Show of Resolve (Editorial) from the Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune
"No speech calling for more troops by the tens of thousands can please much of Obama's political base. But he did offer compelling logic and reassurance to the millions of Americans who have seen the Afghan conflict as an effort adrift, a U.S. loss in the making. His show of resolve Tu"
Obama's Afghanistan Speech: Reactions from the Washington Post
Beginning with Capeheart's column (after Ruth Marcus), check out the interesting range of responses from WaPo's regular string of pundits. Not all agree, but most are interesting.
The Analytic Mode (David Brooks) from the New York Times
Obama ... cloaked himself in what you might call Niebuhrian modesty. His decision to expand the war is the most morally consequential one of his presidency so far, yet as the moral stakes rose, Obama’s emotional temperature cooled to just above freezing. He spoke Tuesday night in the manner of an unwilling volunteer, balancing the arguments within his administration by leading the country deeper in while pointing the way out.
Beijing Broods Over Its Arc of Anxiety (Editorial) from the Asia Times [of Hong Kong in English]
"Beijing will find little cause for joy in United States President Barack Obama's decision to dispatch 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, as outlined in a major policy speech on Tuesday."
Reid's Recipe for Getting Health-Care Reform Done from the Washington Post
"For Reid, success means emerging from the marathon debate with a bill backed by the 60 senators needed for final passage, something he hopes will come to pass as soon as late next week. Democrats' concerns will be addressed in individual amendments, but many others will be crowded into an omnibus "manager's amendment," a package Reid is expected to offer at the end of the process that will include many of the perks and fixes that members of his caucus are requesting."
US Judge Opposes Republicans on Elections (Editorial) from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"The RNC will not be able to use election tactics that have been linked to suppression of voting by racial minorities without court supervision, a federal judge in New Jersey has ruled."
Leaving the Right (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
"There has to come a point at which a movement or party so abandons core principles or degenerates into such a rhetorical septic system that you have to take a stand. It seems to me that now is a critical time for more people whose principles lie broadly on the center-right to do so - against the conservative degeneracy in front of us."
Mike Huckabee's Burden (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"If this case does not sink the presidential aspirations of Huckabee, a leading Republican candidate, it should. By the standards that Republicans launched almost 20 years ago, Huckabee will be Willie Hortonized. But this case also shows, as with an earlier episode in Arkansas, that Huckabee’s judgment is seriously flawed"
It's Just a Texas-Governor Thing (Robert Draper) from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"As the ex-president spends his retirement giving speeches and scribbling his now-nearly-completed memoirs in Dallas, his ghost hovers over the Texas governor’s race in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. The George W. Bush who was governor was a consummate “uniter-not-a-divider,” and there remain many Texans who fondly recall that model and blame Perry — a big-business booster and social conservative whom Paul Burka, the respected Texas Monthly political commentator, recently described as being “more about politics and ideology than governing” — for its disappearance. The temperamental basis of Hutchison’s campaign is that, unlike her “arrogant” opponent, she will restore comity to governance"
POLITICAL PROFILE NUGGET!!
After Cheney (James Traub) from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"Sounding board, sage on foreign policy, twister of senatorial arms: Joe Biden could be the second-most-powerful vice president in history."
ANOTHER POLITICAL PROFILE NUGGET!! (of a sort)
Why Women Can't Let Sarah Palin Go from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
The focus here is more on Palin supporters than Palin herself -- very interesting.
Why Women Can't Let Sarah Palin Go from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"If life is like high school, then today’s educated, ambitious women, on both sides of the aisle, are the student-council presidents and the members of the debate team — taught that if they work hard and sacrifice something along the way, their smarts will be rewarded."
STOP-THE-WHALING VIDEO NUGGET!!
Japanese Whaling Season Might be Even More Interesting This Year from MSNBC via Americablog
I've been reading about the efforts of the Whaling activist, Paul Watson, and his organization, Sea Shepherd, lately -- one of those groups that actually rams whaling ships to disable them. I'm curious how far these new guys will go with their "bat-mobile" type craft. They certainly look faster than anything Watson is using.
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