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- It's true, as Joshua Green writes, that sometimes the best and the brightest fail to give sound advice. But what is the alternative to relying on experts? Sycophants? Partisan hacks? Industry flaks? Unfortunately, we have to have faith that presidents have good judgment, that they will consult a variety of experts who disagree on a course of action and who come from different occupational backgrounds.
- As I wrote last month, I found a lot of Mark Lilla's essay on the "libertarian mob" quite compelling, but as far as the Tea Partiers representing some larger populist streak in American politics, the data simply doesn't bear out this conclusion, as John Sides explains in some detail. The problem as I see it is with the ultimately meaningless self-identifier "independent" and the vague sense of "individualism" that pervades American self-perception. After all, who wouldn't want to believe (and tell a pollster) that they're a free, independent individualist?
- Alan Abramowitz on "Obama's Katrina": "Moreover, the question of whether this disaster will become Obama’s Katrina rests on an important assumption -- that Hurricane Katrina did serious damage to President Bush’s public support back in the summer and fall of 2005. Despite the prevalence of this belief, however, a careful examination of polling data from that period shows that Katrina actually had little if any impact on Mr. Bush’s approval rating. Rather, the data show that the president’s approval rating was already in serious decline before Katrina and continued to decline at about the same rate after Katrina."
- Remainders: Haley Barbour, BP are monstrously indifferent to suffering; I can only assume Carly Fiorina's bottomless wellspring of integrity comes from her experience in the John McCain presidential campaign; adventures in arbitrary presidential milestones; superpowers, prestige, and the World Cup; WikiLeaks' sketchy origins; and the former governor of Alaska introduces yet another meaningless slogan destined to appeal to mediocre minds.
--Mori Dinauer
