UP-FRONT OBAMA NUGGET!!
And what’s right with President Obama? from Politico
"There is a useful cautionary note for everyone who is prone to withering judgments about Obama’s stumbling performances in recent weeks: No institution in American life is more resilient than the modern presidency, and no politician talented enough to capture the office should ever be underestimated."
One other note I would throw in: it is a statement about how many of the BIG issues from Obama's first term are no longer big. The Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, America's terrible relations with its European allies, and, to an extent, the economy. Moreover, when you compare what's happening now with past administrations, Obama's time in office is actually seeing a real clearing out of big, immediate threats. The fact that the most demanding foreign policy issue right now is "how should the US respond to Syria's use of chemical weapons on its citizens?" tells you as much.
Poll: Americans Reject Beltway Consensus On Syrian Diplomacy (Allison Brito) from the National Memo
"President Obama’s handling of the Syrian crisis was criticized on both sides of the aisle, while winning some praise from unlikely voices. Though critics are adamant that the inability to garner domestic and international support for a military strike in response to Syria’s crossing of the president’s “red line” of chemical weapons use was a failure of the administration, many Americans see things differently."
America's Lost Decade Turns 12: Even the Rich Are Worse Off Than Before (Jordan Weissmann) from the Atlantic
"A new Census report shows that income and poverty have barely improved since the end of the recession. But even the finances of the 1 percent are worse off than than during the dotcom boom."
The Repentant Radical (Michael Moynihan) from the Daily Beast
"After a Danish newspaper published cartoons satirizing the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, Ahmed Akkari spearheaded protests that ultimately cost the lives of 200 people. Now he says he’s sorry. Michael Moynihan on what changed Akkari’s mind."
The Obamacare Swindle (It’s Not What You Think) (Jamelle Bouie) from the Daily Beast
"Health-care reform isn’t going anywhere. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from using it to raise money from gullible Tea Partiers who want it defunded."
Chuck Todd: It's Not Media's Job To Correct GOP's Obamacare Falsehoods from Talking Points Memo
"During a segment on "Morning Joe," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans "have successfully messaged against it" but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that's President Barack Obama's job."
This is SO breath-taking -- and it explains so much about why the mainstream media is so useless to average voters. By Todd's calculation, it was never the media's job to determine whether Joe McCarthy actually DID have a list of 57 communists in the State Dept. It never was the media's responsibility to see if Iraq DID have WMDs (as Bush officials claimed) or to see if Obama really IS covertly supporting Islamic terrorism in the US (as many on the GOP are currently claiming). If it is NOT the media's role to determine what is true and what is false in the public arena but only to dutifully report on the messaging (like Superbowl ad critics), I don't see how voters are actually served by a free media if this is the best they can do with that freedom.
Boehner Agonistes (Again) (Sean Sullivan and Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"... that presupposes that the most conservative members of the House — call them the cast-iron conservatives — will go along. And that’s a big ask — probably too big an ask. Why? Three reasons."
Obama Goes to War: The President Finds an Enemy He's Willing to Bomb—Republicans from the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal
"Mr. Obama all but wrapped up that ghastly business in Syria and turned his attention to the real enemy—Republicans."
There is actually a lot of substance to what this right-wing mouthpiece for Wall Street is saying. Indeed, Obama is at war with Republicans -- but it is the radical wing of the party. And we should get a good measure of how Obama is doing over the next month or so as budget and debt-ceiling issues come to a head.
Rip off the Band-Aid, John Boehner (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"John Boehner and GOP leaders and their aides took active steps to avoid taking a public position on the defund-Obamacare movement, apparently for fear of antagonizing the base. This, Strong reports, is turning out to have been a serious mistake, with potentially grave consequences:"
The Republican Party’s Problem, in Two Sentences (Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas) from the Washington Post
"Here's the Republican Party's problem, in two sentences: It would be a disaster for the party to shut down the government over Obamacare. But it's good for every individual Republican politician to support shutting down the government over Obamacare."
GOP Strategy on Shutdown Courts Doom (Julian Zelizer) from CNN
"As they have been doing since 2010, Republicans want to use these budget battles to depict themselves as the party of "fiscal responsibility" and to sway public opinion wars toward a national agenda that centers on reducing the size of domestic programs. Government shutdown threat looms Based on what we've seen thus far, the strategy will not work over the long term."
Would a Government Shutdown Really Be All That Bad for Republicans? Yes (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
"Conservatives now argue that the political consequences of stopping funding have been overstated. Survivors of the last major closure beg to differ."
NONFICTION BOOK NUGGET!!
The National Book Awards Longlist for Nonfiction from the Daily Beast
"Nine of the 10 nominated authors for nonfiction are receiving the recognition for the first time."
VERTICAL GARDEN NUGGET!!
The World's Tallest Vertical Garden Is Like a Niagara Falls of Plants from the Atlantic
"It's a 545-foot-tall waterfall of flowering vegetation running down the facade of One Central Park, a major mixed-use development under construction in Sydney. The leaf-sprouting skyrise, scheduled to open next year, features hundreds of species of native and exotic plants overflowing from planters lodged between floors."
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