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- As Jamelle and Brendan Nyhan correctly observe, the president making filibuster reform a major priority would go a long ways toward reconnecting the professional left to his administration. The reason is because liberals, unlike conservatives, conspicuously lack dog-whistle politics. If the president were to talk about filibuster reform, most Americans would be indifferent to the subject. But liberals would get all hot and bothered. Liberals in the Senate would get very excited. House progressives would be ecstatic. It's a simple, cost-free way of reassuring your allies that you're on their side.
- While we're on the subject of filibusters, let's talk about Bernie Sanders, who is currently trading off with Sherrod Brown to attack, in essence, the 30 years' war on the middle class and the poor. I have to wonder, again: How is it that conservatives, who cannot stop talking about Barack Obama's alleged socialism, barely find breath to talk about Sanders, who is an actual socialist? Wouldn't it behoove the intellectually honest to, I don't know, compare Sanders' policy positions to Obama's and reach the conclusion that -- shocker! -- Obama is an incredibly moderate center-left president who is always ready to cut a deal rather than stick to some ideal?
- This Rich Lowry post is a great encapsulation of how the conservative mind processes income inequality. He finds the trend of declining average family incomes "disturbing" but is really more concerned about "Middle America increasingly alienated from marriage and from the habits and attitudes that make for bourgeois success." His one policy suggestion for dealing with the problem is to "crack-down on illegal immigration" but ultimately he finds income inequality to simply be "inevitable." Well, yes, but it's the degree and severity of inequality that matters. Lowry might be surprised to learn that most liberals don't desire an egalitarian utopia -- just a fair shake for workers.
- Remainders: The Obama administration continues to be a major disappointment on matters of national security; John Boehner thinks giving Congress less money will have some sort of positive impact; Republican governors-elect of Wisconsin, Ohio, not interested in jobs, infrastructure development; and I didn't realize Texans were so sensitive to how they're portrayed in works of fiction.
--Mori Dinauer
