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- David Weigel is one hell of a reporter, and he'll be back on his feet in no time. If there is any silver lining to his leaving the Post, it has been to lay bare the realities of D.C. political journalism. First and foremost, you should read the reflections of the man himself. Then the musings, in no particular order, of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nate Silver, Conor Friedersdorf, and Tom Scocca.
- Peter Beinart is correct to observe that Barack Obama's policy successes are underappreciated and that journalists tend to view success in terms of poll numbers. But I think it is premature to claim "the country is in the midst of a major shift leftward." FinReg would not have been pursued had the market not crashed and Congress didn't see climate change as a sufficiently pressing crisis. What we're seeing is more competent governance, not an ideological shift.
- In attempting to explain why libertarians would associate with him, Matt Yglesias notes that there is a lot of common ground between liberals and libertarians. It's true! It's just that for every agreement about civil liberties or foreign policy there are bizarre celebrations of guns, cigs, and booze and swooning support for "libertarianish" candidates who nevertheless pander to constituents who believe the Earth is 6,000 years old. Makes it difficult to take libertarians seriously.
- Weekend Remainders: Underestimating Nancy Pelosi; it truly is a mystery why black folks don't vote Republican; it must be a great asset for a pundit to be able to read minds; and I think it's safe to say roughly a quarter of the people in this country are utterly insane.
--Mori Dinauer
