Morning Must Reads: Urgency

  • The recovery’s stall in May was not a fluke: The economy added just 18,000 jobs in June, below expectations and a sign the job market is firmly stuck in the mud. All the news in Friday’s report was horrible: the unemployment rate increased to 9.2% despite a shrinking labor force and prior months’ jobs numbers were revised down.
  • Krugman doesn’t appreciate the way the President is talking about deficits.
  • Obama will huddle with Pelosi.
  • Republican electoral incentives work against compromise.
  • I think this headline is premature, but the story well illustrates Pawlenty’s urgency, as does this anecdote  from Iowa:

The reason he’s lagging in the polls, Pawlenty told editors and reporters in a wide-ranging discussion with The Des Moines Register’s editorial board Thursday, is that “this week is the first time that I’ve campaigned in earnest in Iowa.”

Pawlenty has made more campaign appearances here than any other candidate except former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Related Topics: Must Reads
  • Latest on Swampland

    Pete Souza / White House

    Obama’s Persuasive Powers on Gay Marriage Manifest in Maryland

    When President Obama endorsed gay marriage earlier this month, the media grappled with two basic political questions: Was his personal “evolution” a case of a politician transparently following a national trend toward accepting same-sex unions (accelerated, perhaps, by his chatty No. 2), and would it hurt his re-election chances by alienating socially conservative voters like black churchgoers? Sure, there was a recognition that it marked a gratifying moment for gay-marriage advocates — as well as some grumbling about the President’s view that it remains a state issue, not a federal one. But by and large, there were few suggestions that one man, even the President, would shift public opinion on the issue or affect public policy. Based on a new Public Policy Polling survey out of Maryland, it seems this possibility was underestimated.

    Lewis Eisenberg, Major Romney Donor, Accuses Obama Of Demonizing Wall StreetHuffPost Politics

    Cherokee Zero

    Apparently, Massachusetts voters don’t mind that Elizabeth Warren foolishly identified herself as a Native American early in her academic career–it was, apparently, a case of family pride and wishful thinking about a Cherokee ancestor. That’s good. Warren may be the best public figure when it comes to explaining the depredations of the financial industry and [...]

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