News Nuggets 306

Barack Obama's edits for his 'State of the Union' speech earlier this year - from the White House. See James Fallows' article below.

Who's Winning the War in Afghanistan? (Bruce Reidel) from the Daily Beast

"The combination of the war inside Pakistan and new American policies are having a welcome effect."

Secrecy, Surprise: Anatomy of Obama's Afghan Trip from Reuters

"Any trip by a U.S. president requires careful planning, but sneaking him into Afghanistan -- a country in the midst of an eight-year war with Islamic militants -- is a special case."

Obama's Power Surge (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast

"Ever since health care passed, the president is getting comfortable with flexing his muscles. Peter Beinart on the rise of the liberal Reagan."

Principled and Passionate: How Obama Sealed His Place in History (Editorial) from the Guardian [of the UK]

"After a bruising first year, the president has seen off the cynics by remembering what drew him to seek office."

Obama Gains Steam, Plows Ahead from Politico

"The fact that today Obama is poised to plow ahead on an ambitious agenda is as much a testament to the pendulum of Washington politics – when you’re hot, you’re hot – as it is to Obama’s sustained quality of always playing the tortoise to everyone else’s hare. "

Obama Transcends Ideology by Riling Both Flanks (Al Hunt) from Bloomberg News Service

"Obama, charges former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is “the most liberal president” in modern times, pursuing “an agenda that really is foreign to mainstream America.” Other Republicans routinely talk about the president’s “socialist” agenda. Simultaneously, the left wing says he’s a traitor to their cause. ... A left winger who betrays left-wing causes? Ideology isn’t the ideal prism to evaluate the Obama presidency."

The President Plans Spring Offensive from Politico

"An emboldened President Barack Obama will take a stronger hand with Congress in coming weeks, planning to push lawmakers to pass new regulations for Wall Street by September, the second anniversary of the meltdown, aides tell POLITICO. "

Health-Care Overhaul Leaves Democrats in Stable Condition from the Washington Post

"The Democratic Party's leaders have emerged mostly unscathed, according to a new Washington Post poll, but they have not received a notable boost in approval ratings."

Owned: Sorry Republicans. Your Cost-control Ideas Belong to Democrats Now from the New Republic

"By unilaterally ceding control over the contents of the health bill, Republicans have also ceded any claim to the policy innovations therein. Ideas that were once championed by conservatives have now been adopted by Democrats, who have become their primary champion. Going forward, if they are successful, these ideas will be permanently considered Democratic achievements."

Obama Brought Cool Campaign Persona to Healthcare's Toughest Days from The Hill

"President Barack Obama and Democrats missed repeated deadlines, fought back cries of "death panels" and watched healthcare reform nearly die more than a dozen times. Through it all, Obama was the steady captain of the ship, his top aides say, a role the president has played since the early days of the 2008 presidential campaign."

No August Repeats: How the Dems are Approaching Recess with HCR Victory Behind Them from TalkingPointsMemo

"Play offense and "don't run away" from health care reform. That's the advice Democratic leadership is giving rank-and-file members as they fan out across the country to their home districts with a health care victory in their pocket."

Is This Going to be 1994 -- or 1934? (Daniel Gross) from Slate

"Many Republicans expect November to be a repeat of 1994, when popular anger against an overreaching, reform­ist Democratic Party enabled the GOP to pick up 56 seats in the House of Representatives. But Republicans might be well-advised to look back at an earlier midterm election: 1934."

Hilda Solis: Labor's New Sheriff from the Nation

A very interesting story!

"During the Bush years, the Department of Labor became a cautionary tale about what happens when foxes are asked to guard the henhouse. But since California Congresswoman Hilda Solis became labor secretary last winter, she has brought on board a team of lifelong advocates for working people--some of whom come from the ranks of organized labor--and has hired hundreds of new investigators and enforcers."

More labor news ...

Labor May Gain, Business Sends 'Red Alert' on Becker from Bloomberg News Service

"The appointments “signal a long-overdue shift whereby workers, and not just bosses, will receive equal consideration in crucial matters such as labor disputes and elections,” Randi Weingarten, president of the Washington-based, American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement."

Which Republicans Will Be Too Stale for 2012? from Salon

"The snarky answer is "all of them." But by one reliable measure, 5 GOP White House prospects can be scratched today."

Preexisting Condition Vexes Romney from Politico

"Just as health care, ... hangs over this year’s midterm elections, it is also already casting a shadow upon the 2012 presidential contest — and its GOP front-runner. What was once thought to be an asset for Romney, his passage as Massachusetts governor of a health care mandate for the state’s residents, now poses a potentially serious threat to his White House hopes."

He is SOOO doomed in 2012.

Tea-Party Candidates Face Hard Cash Realities of Campaigns from the Wall Street Journal

""The problem with the tea-party movement is it has inspired too many candidates," says Patrick Hughes, a candidate with tea-party backing who was trounced by Rep. Mark Kirk in the crowded Illinois Republican Senate primary. "The movement will fail if it can't coalesce behind candidates who can win.""

Getting Scary Out There (Editorial) from the Atlantic

"For elected officials who spew this line, it's hard to explain their behavior except by suspecting that they are exceptionally sore losers. It's just not credible that they don't know better. They lost control of the House and Senate in 2006, and they lost the presidency in 2008. Did they not expect there would be policy consequences? They can't seriously contrive to feel cheated --- to feel there was some sort of legislative legerdemain --- when a Democratic majority voted in favor of a policy advocated by Democrats for almost a century and proposed by a Democratic president. What did they think was going to happen?"

There is a part of me that excepts the "sore loser" explanation. There certainly seems to be a lot of sour grapes floating around. I think the GOP came to feel that it was somehow their RIGHT to be in charge.

About That Extraordinary Photo of an Obama Edited Speech (James Fallows) from the Atlantic

"The quality of his editing is exceptional for a public figure."

Some further commentary is HERE from an editor at the Washington Post

BLIMP NUGGET!!

Dirigible Dreams from the Atlantic

"Lockheed’s P-791 prototype might not look like the next cool frontier in aviation. In fact, its wide, tri-lobe shape, which allows its body to generate lift, is the high-tech descendant of an idea that engineers, inventors, and crackpots have pursued since the Civil War. And by the end of 2011, something like it may be a fixture in the skies over Afghanistan, hunting down the improvised explosive devices that cause up to 70 percent of the combat casualties there."

ANIMALS NUGGET!!

Animals Being Tickled Video clips from Huffington Post

The kitten is just hilarious!

RELIGION NUGGET!!

Christian Faith: Calvinism is Back from the Christian Science Monitor

"Today, his theology is making a surprising comeback, challenging the me-centered prosperity gospel of much of modern evangelicalism with a God-first immersion in Scripture. In an age of materialism and made-to-order religion, Calvinism's unmalleable doctrines and view of God as an all-powerful potentate who decides everything is winning over many Christians – especially the young."

Just what we need -- ANOTHER flavor of religious nuttiness!