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Adam Serwer writes about the infuriating extra burden Michelle Obama is forced to bear as a black woman:
It is infuriating that this Harvard and Princeton grad is forced to, in some sense, apologize for achieving what every family wants, what all parents work for their children to have, merely because her blackness causes anxiety in the same people who have claimed for years that all black folks need to do is "work hard" to succeed. When women like Michelle Obama do succeed, they're supposed to minimize their accomplishments so that certain people don't feel insulted. The talking heads never ask why, because white anxiety about black self-determination is self-justifying, even in 2008. Meanwhile, John McCain runs solely on his biography, as the press sits in a rapturous silence. "I used to be a POW" will not reverse the housing crisis, it will not bring health care to the uninsured, it will not regulate the credit card industry, it will not prevent the government from taking your laptop or tapping your phone with no evidence of wrongdoing. But you wouldn't know that from watching CNN.
Robert Kuttner argues that Ted Kennedy's legacy shows liberals can work with conservatives to achieve progressive goals:
So the next time you hear that it is impossible for Barack Obama to be both a bipartisan bridge builder and also a resolute partisan Democrat, just point to the splendid example of Ted Kennedy.
And Tom Schaller observes blue dogs in their natural habitat:
Smith said he is confident Blue Dogs will be there for Obama because they are practical and want to win. He also believes the group gets an unfair rap from liberals within the party. "My experience with Blue Dogs is that they are basically strong Democrats, but they cut the corporations more slack," he told me. The Blue Dogs are a more business-friendly, fiscally conservative wing of the Democratic Party dominated by members from redder states and overrepresented by Southern members who hail from the kind of districts Democrats lose in presidential elections. The coalition includes some of the members with the most conservative voting records in the Democratic Caucus, including the most conservative, Mississippi's Gene Taylor.
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