The Commentariat -- December 19

This guy looks happy anyway. A Regent Street, London store greeter revels in the snowstorm that has snarled traffic throughout Europe. BTW, it appears they have a happier class of greeter in Regent Street than we do in American Wal-Marts. Guardian photo.Historian Eric Foner compares & contrasts Presidents Lincoln & Obama. While he finds one valid comparison -- "both made their national reputations through oratory rather than long careers of public service" -- Foner contrasts the two Presidents' relationships with liberal critics:

Obama’s rather petulant response to liberal critics of his tax deal, however, reveals a fundamental difference between the two men. Obama accuses liberals of being sanctimonious purists.... Lincoln, however, was open-minded, intellectual curious, and willing to listen to critics in his own party – qualities Obama appears to lack. Lincoln met frequently in the White House with abolitionists and Radicals and befriended Radicals.... Obama has surrounded himself with yes men. 

John Schwartz of the New York Times on the Supreme Court & the Affordable Health Act: "Predicting how justices will vote, and especially the reasoning they will use to get there, becomes especially dicey when questions concerning the extent of government power come up." ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A new study ... showed that the percentage of business cases on the Supreme Court docket has grown in the Roberts years, as has the percentage of cases won by business interests."

David Gregory interviews Vice President Joe Biden:

Charles Babington of the AP: "The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month's devastating elections. The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures."

Assange Gets Wikied. John Burns & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times get hold of parts of the Swedish police reports on Julian Assange. This is as close as the Times gets to engaging your prurient interests. Nick Davies of the Guardian has a bit more, all along the same lines.

On a more uplifting note, Nicholas Kristof of the Times has his usual thoughtful, constructive gift suggestions.

In our relief over repeal of DADT, we should not forget that the Senate, in a 55-41 vote, failed to reach cloture on The DREAM bill, a bill that would have allowed innocent, undocumented young people who served in the military or furthered their education to obtain U.S. citizenship. Five of the Senators voting against the bill were so-called Democrats: Max Baucus (Mont.), Kay Hagan (NC), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) & John Tester (Mont.). Joe Manchin (WV), who opposed the bill, didn't bother to show up because he had to go to a party. If five of those six Democrats had voted for cloture, the DREAM bill -- which had passed the House -- would have become law. BTW, three Republicans: Dick Lugar, Lisa Murkowski & Bob Bennett voted for it. -- Constant Weader ...

... Julia Preston of the New York Times: "The vote by the Senate on Saturday to block a bill to grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students was a painful setback to an emerging movement of immigrants and also appeared to leave the immigration policy of the Obama administration, which has supported the bill and the movement, in disarray."

** How Our Politicians Kill Us. Kate Pickett, an epidemiologist who is co-author with Richard Wilkinson of The Spirit Level, explains that income & social inequality in rich countries like the U.S., leads to illness & earlier deaths among the "least equal":

     ... The Equality Trust Website includes some of Wilkinson & Pickett's data as well as answers to criticisms of their work. As for how the states rate in income inequality, you can check your state (2007 data) on this PBS-Now interactive map. Utah has the least income inequality, followed by New Hampshire; New York state has the largest gap, followed by Alabama & Mississippi.

Frank Rich writes a terrific column deriding the clueless No Labels pseudo-movement (what? you've forgotten it already or never heard of it?) & explains to its insider promoters why they're so ridiculous:

WHAT America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances. The country will not rest easy until there are brave leaders in both parties willing to reform the system that let perpetrators of the Great Recession escape while the rest of us got stuck with the wreckage.

The only thing in the middle of the road is a thick yellow line of cowardice. And a lot of skunks. -- Karen Garcia, commenting on Rich's column (#7)

      ... Update: Karen tells me this was her inspiration, so thanks to Loudon Wainwright III:

     ... SO David Gregory gets the instigators of the No Labels group together to refudiate Rich. Naturally, Gregory helps them out:

AND Maureen Dowd polls opinionators on whether or not the U.S. is ready for a gay president.

If John McCain gets any more hostile toward his Senate colleagues, they might consider having him go through the metal detector before he enters the Capitol. -- Dana Milbank ...

... Milbank recounts McCain's latest antics & reports, "McCainologists in the Capitol speculate that on this and other issues he's driven less by policy consideration than by personal animosity. A decade ago, his antipathy toward President George W. Bush led him to seek common cause with Democrats.... Now his antipathy toward President Obama has made him a leading Republican hardliner." Luckily, we have the modest, self-effacing Joe Lieberman to put it all in perspective: "I just think we leave this fight knowing that I was right and he was wrong. I mean, it's as simple as that." ...

... Dennis G. of Balloon Juice has a few more thoughts on "crazy bitter John McCain" & the media's waning love affair with him. ...

... As does Ta-Nehisi Coates, who includes a class clip of McCain predicting gays will be responsible for a lot of military deaths.

Joe Manchin -- Fake Democrat. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "When the Senate took two of its most highly anticipated votes of the lame-duck session on Saturday, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was nowhere to be found.... A Manchin spokesperson told the Charleston Gazette that the senator and his wife had 'planned a holiday gathering....' Manchin's absence stood in contrast to the presence of another Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who despite a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, made it in for Saturday's votes. (Wyden is slated to undergo surgery on Monday.)... The Democrat ... has voted no on a host of Democratic-sponsored bills in recent weeks." He opposed both the DREAM bill & repeal of DADT.

CW: Shep Smith & Chris Wallace of Fox "News" go after legislators (no mention of "Senators") who blocked the 9/11 Responders bill, but notice they NEVER identify those blocking the vote as Republicans -- which is what they are. Fox must have a hard-&-fast "Never speak ill of Republicans" rule:

Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers, This Is Store Manager Ebenezer Scrooge Speaking. Matthew Boyle of the Washington Post: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ... raised prices on hundreds of toys this month, squeezing more out of sales during the biggest shopping period of the year. Wal-Mart managers in the U.S. received instructions to mark up an average of 1,800 types of toys per store, according to a company e-mail dated Nov. 30...."

Richard Lardner of the AP: the AP has obtained U.S. documents which "... describe previously undisclosed offenses committed by more than 200 contract employees in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries between 2004 and 2008. They were working under a broad State Department security services contract shared by DynCorp of Falls Church, Va.; Triple Canopy of Reston, Va.; and the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide — Xe Services of Moyock, N.C. Most of the infractions, which include excessive drinking, drug use, sexual misconduct and mishandling weapons, were violations of corporate and U.S. policies that probably went unnoticed by ordinary Afghans and Iraqis. But other offenses played out in public, undermining U.S. efforts in both countries and raising questions about how carefully job candidates are screened."

Steven Lee Myers, et al., of the New York Times: "Even as contingency planning for any lasting American mission [in Iraq] has quietly continued in Baghdad and at the Pentagon..., the shifting political landscape in both countries has made it increasingly possible that the 2011 withdrawal could truly be total...."

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times describes mortgage loan servicing -- the operations who "act as intermediaries between borrowers and their lenders" -- as "a perfect setup for administrators who want to take advantage of both borrowers and lenders." And they do.