;)
Saturday
Jul282012
The Commentariat -- July 29, 2012
My column on Ross Douthat's Sunday sermon is up at the New York Times eXaminer. The NYTX front page is here.
** Prof. Drew Westen: "If Obama loses the election, here's why." CW: an excellent essay that lays out in one place the foolish mistakes Obama has made during his presidency. And, no, this isn't a case of hindsight being 20-20. Many of us here railed against these very mistakes as Obama was making them. There have been few disappointments in my life greater than watching a man with such potential turn himself into an ordinary pol. We can hope he's learned his lessons, but we have little in the way of assurances.
** Prof. Joe Stiglitz in the Los Angeles Times: "Any solution to today's problems requires addressing the economy's underlying weakness: a deficiency in aggregate demand. Firms won't invest if there is no demand for their products. And one of the key reasons for lack of demand is America's level of inequality -- the highest in the advanced countries." Read the whole essay: it's a straightforward prescription for repairing the economy, writ in very few, but easily understandable, words.
Prof. Richard Muller in a New York Times op-ed: "Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
Andrew Rosenthal really hates it when the White House misleads him, even on a trivial matter. In "The Great Bust Incident: Part II," he writes, "The complaints about Mr. Obama’s decision regarding the bust are without merit. The White House’s handling of the issue was bumbling and amateurish. In other words, business as usual." CW: I'm actually glad to see Rosenthal cares about trivialities.
Presidential Race
Rattling Somebody Else's Saber -- the Bellicose Candidate Abroad. Kasie Hunt of the AP: "Mitt Romney would respect an Israeli decision to make a unilateral military strike against Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear capability, a top foreign policy adviser said Sunday as he outlined the aggressive posture the Republican presidential candidate will take toward Iran in a speech in Israel later in the day." ...
... Update: Here's the New York Times report on Romney's speech. Here's a more detailed report from Al Jazeera, along with a 9-minute video of Romney's speech.
... He Can't Handle a Photo-Op. Mitt 'looks forward to chatting" with Bibi about military options against Iran. Who "chats" about military strikes? Oh, somebody who doesn't give a damn about the little people who will inevitably die in any military operation:
Maureen Dowd writes a spot-on takedown of Mitt's Misadventures in Merry Olde England.
Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "... in a new USA Today-Gallup survey..., respondents gave Romney higher marks on every issue that voters say they care most about this year: the economy, jobs, taxes, the deficit. But President Obama crushed Romney -- 60 percent to 30 percent -- on the question of which of the two was more likeable.... In every election for the past two decades, the candidate viewed as more likable was also the one who won." ...
... CW: this is the counter-factual to racism; in the poll results Tumulty linked, dated July 9, the results were 64-26 in favor of Obama over Romney. When 64 percent of respondents say they find Obama more likable than Romney, I think you have to assume that at least 64 percent -- or almost 2/3rds -- of Americans do not hold overtly racist attitudes toward blacks (of course that's not 64 percent of white Americans). In view of what we've witnessed during the GOP primaries, I find that encouraging.
CW: since I don't look at the Huff Post unless someone else directs me there, I missed this piece by Jason Cherkis, which discusses Romney's days as a registered lobbyist for the Salt Lake Olympics Committee. Cherkis recalls some of the highlights of Romney's deals -- reported contemporaneously -- which transferred your tax dollars to SLC wheelers & dealers.
Still, the Salt Lake Olympics were All about Mitt. Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "Romney commissioned five separate official pins bearing his name and likeness, including one that had animals declaring 'Hey Mitt, we love you.' ... 'There have been plenty of big-headed CEOs for Olympic Games, but none has ever had his or her likeness on a pin,' says Ed Hula, a veteran Olympics pin collector told NPR.... Ken Bullock, who served with Romney on the board of the Olympic committee, later told NPR. 'He’s an opportunist. And he took advantage of [the games].'"
Pundits are getting around to what some wise Reality Chex contributors have been saying. Joan Walsh of Salon: could Romney's gaffosis "be more than entitlement and an odd personal style? I've found myself wondering over the course of the campaign whether Romney has some kind of personality disorder, so dissociated does he occasionally seem from the well-worn routines of normal human interaction. Maybe we should be asking to see his medical records and not just his tax returns. I don't mean to be flippant about that or insensitive to any kind of problem he may struggle with. But his struggles are our struggles; he's running to be our president. There is something very odd about Mitt Romney." ...
... CW: so maybe withholding the tax records is part of a scheme to distract the media from pressing for the medical records. ...
... Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Mitt's insults, mistakes, and blunders abroad aren't gaffes. They actually represent his true worldview. Romney is not the sort of businessman -- his brand of capitalism is not the sort of enterprise -- that requires even the most elementary understanding of diplomacy, courtesy, or sensitivity to other people's values, lives, or perceptions."
Mittness Protection Program. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Mitt Romney, who touched down [in Jerusalem] Saturday night..., plans to wrap up his visit to Israel by collecting money from some of his biggest benefactors behind closed doors. Some of Romney's Jewish donors are flying here from the United States..., including Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.... The campaign's decision to close the fundraiser to the press violates the ground rules it negotiated with news organizations in April...." ...
... Update: Mitt, Unchained! Jonathan Martin of Politico: "Mitt Romney's campaign has reversed a decision to not allow the media into a fundraiser here Monday morning, bowing to reporters' demand that they be allowed to record the Republican's address to some of his top donors."
Henry Alford of Vanity Fair imitates Mitt & takes an action-packed working vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee, all of which he recounts in a New York Times travel piece. Enjoyable.
Note to Vendors: Demand Cash for Services. David Levinthal & Robin Bravender of Politico: presidential also-rans stiff small businesses that provided services to their campaigns. Oh, whatever happened to financial responsibility?
Right Wing World
This piece by Farhad Manjoo of Slate debunks a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by former WSJ publisher Gordon Crovitz -- who claimed Xerox invented the internet and that 'It's an urban legend that the government launched the Internet," -- shows you how far from reality the right will wander -- with a straight face -- to deny the government's role in boosting the economy. ...
... CW: how are we to prosper, I wonder, when a significant percentage of our society is growing up in an environment that fosters fantastic, ideological explanations of scientific phenomena & historical events? I await the return of the alchemists. Maybe Dr. Ron Paul, now that he's retiring, will lead them.
The Ultimate Anti-War Ad: Compare the President to a Psychotic Killer. Katy Moeller of the Idaho Statesman: "An electronic board ... in Caldwell, [Idaho,] juxtaposes photos of James Holmes, accused of killing 12 in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last week, with President Obama. About Holmes, it says: 'Kills 12 in a movie theater with assault rifle, everyone freaks out.' About Obama: 'Kills thousands with foreign policy, wins Nobel Peace Prize.' What's the point? Obama broke his promise to bring the troops home and many young Americans have died, said Maurice Clements, who is helping keep alive the provocative libertarian tradition of the late Ralph Smeed, whose billboard (now electronic) is a Caldwell landmark."
Local News
Tampa Bay Times columnist Daniel Ruth has a few thoughts on the Florida Republican party, which as far as I can tell is nothing but a Mafia-like gang of sleazy bastards on the take.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said that Sarah Palin was not ready to be his successor and that picking her was 'a mistake' that Mitt Romney should seek to avoid in making his choice." With video.
Al Jazeera: "Fierce fighting has erupted in rebel-held districts of Aleppo, a day after opposition forces repulsed an offensive by government troops in Syria's second-largest city, a human rights group said." ...
... Reuters: "Exasperated by the slow progress [of rebellion] in Aleppo, rebels in the countryside said they were finally emboldened to push into the city after an assassination in the capital Damascus of four top government officials, including the defense minister."
Reuters: "A senior Israeli official denied on Sunday a newspaper report that President Barack Obama's national security adviser had briefed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a U.S. contingency plan to attack Iran should diplomacy fail to curb its nuclear program. The Israeli liberal Haaretz daily on Sunday quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the adviser, Thomas Donilon, had described the plan over dinner with Netanyahu earlier this month. 'Nothing in the article is correct. Donilon did not meet the prime minister for dinner, he did not meet him one-on-one, nor did he present operational plans to attack Iran,' the senior official ... told Reuters."
AFP: "Philippine authorities have arrested a founding member of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group blamed for some of the worst terror attacks in the region, security officials said on Sunday. Ustadz Ahmadsali Asmad Badron, also known as Ammad or Hamad Ustadz Idris, was arrested on Saturday in the remote Tawi-Tawi islands in the southern Philippines."
AP: "Tens of thousands including teachers and parents pushing strollers took to Hong Kong streets Sunday to protest the upcoming introduction of Chinese patriotism classes they fear will lead to brainwashing, the latest sign of growing discomfort over Beijing's influence in the semiautonomous territory."
Share Article
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.
Reader Comments (14)
MoDo lost me at the end:
"But if we’re going to have someone who’s removed, always struggling to connect and emote, why not stick with the president we already have?"
The woman seems to be confusing the ability to emotionally connect with appearing emotive. She is also equating Romney who lacks empathy with President Obama, who most certainly does not lack it. He wouldn't have pushed through the ACA at great political cost if he did.
My guess is his highness, the Nitt, will have no problem with the remainder of his trip to foreign shores because he is not going to say so much as one word in public. In fact we might find that he will not speak to the press anywhere again. His team must be peeing in their pants every time he opens his mouth.
Nice to see some public discussion of his brain. We need lots more.
And Marie, forget his medical records. He has never been to a psychiatrist since perfect people never need help.
marie,
please tell me that the recent articles about the florida republican party in "local news" a carl hiassen satire. please.
Marie, I share your concern for the younger generations (Y, Millenials, whatever) who latch on to not only ideological but also supernatural explanations in place of scientific understanding. I began to notice this trend in some of my university classes in the 1990s, when many of those pushing such material were bright young men.
That brought back bad memories of the druggie days when many of the bright ones were wasted on drugs. Or Dungeons and Dragons, which was no joke. At one time we had two Jesuses on campus, one always surrounded by concerned friends as "bodyguards" (or perhaps disciples)--that one visited me in my office to share the good news. He was mild mannered, but a later missionary, a Buddhist, was quite annoyed with my patient putoff. Seems out of character, does it not?
I had hoped the later science denialists were merely being contrary, but now I think not.
Marie, I'm not sure whether you've recommended Mobuto Sese Seko's stuff before, but this guy is brilliant (and reminds me a bit of Akhilleus). It's so good to see a former mass-murdering African dictator find solace at the keyboard.
http://gawker.com/5928510/six-dumb-arguments-were-hearing-about-the-aurora-shooting
@alphonsegaston, Denialism is a basic human trait. If you are raised to believe a story and told that you should never consider any alternative, you can live in that mindset for a lifetime. One would have expected that after the Enlightenment the world would have embraced the new reality but it has not. Because denial is what we are. Humans, like all other living things, evolved for one purpose. Make more of yourself. Any trait that supports your effort to have more offspring is the only thing your genes care about. After you finished your reproductive period, your genes couldn't care less about you. So raising a child to have more children is all we are about. Period. We are unable to adapt to anything else. And to protect our purpose we hide from the truth.
I wonder about a little survey. How many of the readers and contributors to Reality Chex were brought up in an environment where they were told that learning the truth is dangerous and evil? I suspect not many.
This is who we are. Now the question is can we adapt to the truth. Maybe when we start to starve to death in America, our genes will adapt by selecting those who finally notice that the reason there is no food is because there is no water. Then again we will simply blame our god. It is so much easier than accepting responsibility.
Victoria: I, on occasion, like to read reader's comments below the opinion pieces in the Times––that's how I found Marie–– always curious to learn what my fellow humans think about things. You soon learn whom to pay attention to, at least from my point of view. Today after reading your post and then reading Dowd's, I too, was struck by her linking Romney and Obama as androids which I thought foolish and unreasonable, as did you. Apparently most readers did too, chastising Maureen tenfold. There were also some comments questioning whether Romney may have Aspergers or some other abnormality. One of my favorites is below–– I think he nailed it:
gemli Boston
"We didn't need to hear Romney sing America the Beautiful to know that he was tone deaf. He put his foot in his mouth at almost every campaign stop on the way to the nomination, not because he made a thoughtless gaff like we all do on occasion, but because he just doesn't get it. This isn't a problem brought on by some sort of political Tourette's syndrome. This is a direct result of his isolation from the very human beings he wants to govern. Ordinary Republicans are scary enough when they exhibit their willful lack of empathy and mean-spiritedness when dealing with things like family planning services or medical care for the elderly. Can you imagine a Republican who doesn't even know that these are things that can hurt people and ruin lives?
Romney has a talent for pulling hurtful practical jokes, a penchant that seems less funny when viewed in the light of his clueless inability to empathize with his victims. He'll shave the head of a gay student, or bring the weight of the Mormon Church to bear on an unwed mother, or tie a dog to the roof of his car. It's all part of the package.
We shouldn't be so eager to put this man in charge of real, flawed, diverse human beings. It would be like the ants handing a magnifying glass to a kid on a sunny day."
P.D. Pepe: I, too, like to read the comments in the NYT. Unfortunately, there were none yet posted when I read Dowd's column on Saturday, and I was too lazy to post my own . And like you, I found Marie through those posts and am so grateful for that (I wish she would still post there sometimes, to reach that wider audience. Remember how many recommendations she would get?)
Back to Mitt - here's a reader comment I paticularly liked:
Lady Ruby writes:
After 8 years of being totally embarrassed by Pres.Bush, Pres. Obama has raised our image and our self-esteem everywhere. For the last 3 1/2 years, a US. President hasn't made a fool of himself on foreign soil. President Obama has garnered the respect of our allies and our enemies. Why would we want to go back to being despised and hated as being dumb in our mannerisms, stupid in our words and self-absorbed in our actions???? Not to mention, the imperialistic military endeavors of the Bush era which cost the world untold pain and suffering.
Re: Bumper sticker recently seen; "God said so, that's all I know" You can't fight that statement. What I want to know is; When did God start talking? How do you know? God revealed to me last night that I am to tear the bumpers off all cars with religious symbols pasted on them. I got a lot of work to do out on Highway 61.
@Victoria D. & @P.D. Pepe:
Shortly after Bill Clinton was elected president, I went to hear him speak. The venue was the central courtyard of Philadelphia's city hall, & it is huge. I was way at the back of the crowd, & Clinton spoke a long way from where I was standing. I was not much of a Clinton fan, though I was more than happy to have a Democrat in the White House. I learned later that Clinton's inept new staff had lost his teleprompter speech, so Clinton spoke -- for about 15 or 20 minutes, I think -- extemporaneously. What was stunning to me was that when he looked my way (something I could barely even tell from a distance), I got the feeling that he was speaking directly to me. It was kinda eerie, actually. (I saw Clinton later, closer up, and the effect was the same, but stronger.) Clinton might have been insincere when he said, "I feel your pain," but he made the hearer believe him every time.
I've seen Obama on two occasions now, & he does not project or connect the way Clinton does. That's what Dowd is getting at. There's nothing wrong with being more cerebral and/or more distant, and Obama gives great speech. As a witness, I've found him both believable and convincing. That's plenty for me. I'm sure if I knew him, I would like him immensely. But I am of the impression that he would always hold something back, with all but his closest friends -- perhaps even with them, too. I can't recall if Dowd has interviewed him, but if she has, she most certainly experienced that reserve first-hand. It would not annoy me at all, but some people -- particularly reporters whose job it is to get behind the facade -- are put off when a subject isn't as forthcoming as they think he should be.
I agree it is grossly unfair to put Obama in a class with Romney. There is a substantive difference: Obama may not let his guard down so that the public "sees into his soul," but Romney has no soul; there's no there there.
And, yes, I love Gemli. He is a brilliant guy, and a marvelous writer. "Lady Ruby" makes excellent points, too. Unfortunately, millions of our fellow-citizens don't care about being ugly Americans. They think our superiority to everyone else in the world gives us the right to be obnoxious. That, sad to say, is the answer to Lady Ruby's question.
For JJG: Remember that great line from "Catcher in the Rye": If you had a million years you couldn't erase half the "fuck you"s in the world. Same goes for ripping off religious bumper stickers.
I, too, had the pleasure of being subjected to Clinton's overwhelming charm. After addressing the National Elementary Principals Association (I have no memory of what he said and I couldn't see the teleprompter, if he had one, but whatever he said, I knew he was very much on my side of all the issues I can't remember), he took the time to shake a few hundred hands, my own among them. I watched him come down the line, look everyone in the eye, often say a few words as he clasped one hand after the other, leaving me with the impression--and it was near universal I know because I asked others--that he was very happy to have met me and would always hold me near his heart.
Because I did not know any of them well enough, I did not ask the women around me what effect he had on them but I would guess he loosed hormones in them I do not possess. A remarkable man and a little disturbing, too. A mere mortal should not have that much personal power. Jealousy speaking, maybe, but as charming as Clinton the President was, I prefer and trust the cooler Professor a little more.
Ah, Ken, my sentiments, exactly. Seduction is a powerful gift and Clinton had it in spades, and how many people felt that he was talking just to them––especially when they felt he was very happy to have met them and would always hold them near –not in, mind you, but near his heart.
Harold Cherniss, a friend of Robert J. Oppenheimer, after hearing him speak to students at UC Berkeley, was stunned at the hold Oppy had on the audience and thought perhaps his friend spoke too well for his own good. "The ability to speak in public like that is a poison––it's very dangerous for the person who has it," he said. Such a talent, he thought, might lead a person to think their velvet tongue was an effective political armor.
@ JJG love the fact you are out there on highway 61 doing the Lord's work––God speed!!!
I agree with Victoria that Marie does a service to a wider audience by posting on the NYT to then find her here. All problems, I hope, can be solved with more education and information and I think one can them here.
False equivalency between the Dems and Repubs is the boondoggle of the mass media.