- Obama presses Bahrain.
- Weiner’s not getting any help in Washington or New York.
- The great Retailer-Bank battle is joined: The Senate will vote today on a delay for swipe fee regulations.
Miscellany
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Mitt Romney: Obama’s Next Energy Czar?
I suspect that Mitt Romney’s record of sane centrist achievement, along with his hilarious flip-floppery and unconvincing pose as a red-meat right-winger, will doom him in the Republican primary. But it would be a shame to waste his talents, so I’m going to start proposing possible jobs for him in the sane centrist Obama …
Morning Must Reads: Update
- Disapproval of Obama’s handling of the economy reaches new highs in a Washington Post/ABC News poll. Twice as many American now say the country is on the wrong track than on the right one. (However, support for the effort in Afghanistan ticks up.)
- Austan Goolsbee, one of President Obama’s more effective communicators on the economy,
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Perspective
Politico has launched a clever new feature called “This Week Last Year,” which recaps events of 52 weeks ago. It promises to be a useful reminder of how many frivolous sideshows pass through political media with little or no lasting effect. The first episode, featuring President Obama vowing to kick ass over the Gulf oil spill; a pair of …
Liquid Courage: Pawlenty vs. Huntsman on Ethanol
Longtime corn ethanol supporter Tim Pawlenty has gotten a lot of good press for his allegedly courageous proposal to phase out ethanol subsidies, because they’re popular in Iowa. I suppose on this issue he’s more courageous than Mitt Romney, which is sort of like being more eloquent than The Situation. But in my official role as …
The Obama Era Captured in One News Story
Until yesterday, my favorite symbolic moment of the Obama era was the rejoicing of the right after the President’s hometown failed to land the 2016 Olympics. Because any bad news for Obama is by definition good for America, even if it happens to involve bad news for America. But now I have a new favorite: the defeat of Peter …
Morning Must Reads: Withdrawn
- Nobel-winning economist Peter Diamond has withdrawn as a Federal Reserve Board of Governors nominee after more than a year in confirmation limbo. Republican Senator Richard Shelby was the primary obstructor, but the White House has appeared sluggish, if not downright apathetic, about getting appointments like Diamond’s through. As the
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Lawrence Eagleburger, 80, Dies: A Legend of the Foreign Service
Lawrence Eagleburger, the only career foreign service officer ever to be named Secretary of State, died Saturday at his home in Charlottesville, VA.
Re: Error and Hypocrisy
I agree with Grunwald (although that’s very hard to do because he argues with you even when you agree with him). It’s annoying as hell that the Republicans are able to make political hay out of the deficit issue less than three years after the fiscally profligate Bush era came to an end. But why are they able to do this?
Because …
Possible GOP Slogan: We Didn’t Invent Error and Hypocrisy!
Maybe Von Drehle is right. Maybe it’s silly to be irked that Republicans—after putting trillions of dollars in tax cuts, two wars, a prescription drug benefit and an unprecedented earmark spree on the Visa card—are threatening to force the U.S. into default if President Obama doesn’t adopt their agenda. After all, that hypocrite …
On Deficits and Debt, the Voters Get a Say
I wish our Democratic leaders would make their fiscal case as clearly and fearlessly as Michael Grunwald does.
To recap: Democrats are in favor of short-term deficit spending because they believe it will stimulate desperately needed growth. And they believe that growth, plus higher taxes (plus the one thing Mike doesn’t mention: …
1,000 Words
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