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- Liberal pundit/blogger disillusionment roundup: Paul Krugman's on the cusp of giving up on Barack Obama; Kevin Drum is disgusted and embarrassed by the Democrats; Sandy Levinson is dismayed that Obama still wants to reach across the aisle; Robert Farley doesn't understand why Democrats don't have, at a minimum; an instinct for self-preservation; and Jon Chait's got that post-Florida 2000 election feeling.
- John Sides takes a look at the New Yorker's insistence that Barack Obama is not connecting emotionally with Americans and comes away unimpressed. Reviewing some poll data that suggests otherwise, Sides concludes that "Obama is more popular as a person than a president" before reminding us that giving good speeches isn't going to make Americans forget that the economy is in shambles. I would add, however, that while a passionate speech isn't going to fix the economy, a fiery speech aimed at progressives could do a great deal of good. I'm not willing to forgive congressional Democrats for their astonishing spinelessness, but clearly some of them are looking for leadership, and the president ought to be providing more of that for his party and his political base.
- To the Coward Caucus we can definitively add Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her flabbergasting cautiousness, and Sen. Mary Landrieu for her eagerness to continue "debate" on health care because hey, we've already been debating it for half a century. Coming down somewhere in the middle is Chuck Schumer, who recognizes that "time is running out," while seeming to take a finish-health-care-one-way (passage) or-another (failure) attitude and Barney Frank, who has walked back his earlier defeatism.
- Back when Barack Obama was in his honeymoon period I think you could argue that the high-profile birther movement of early 2009 was a crass and cynical attempt to smear the president and try to cast doubt on his legitimacy. In other words, the crazies were being exploited by the Atwater-Rove wing of the GOP. But now that the political situation is much worse for the president and his party, Republicans don't need the birthers and would prefer to latch onto Democratic failure and complicity in the unpopular legislation that was necessary to stabilize the economy. Funny, though, the birthers don't see it that way.
- Remainders: Where are the judges? Libertarians agree that letting corporations have more influence over the political process than ordinary citizens is excellent for the cause of freedom; Alan Grayson's hyperbole is refreshing after the past few days; "The bills before Congress are politically partisan and substantively bipartisan" seems to me an accurate description of why Washington is incapable of governance; D.C. lobbyists sure are on the wane in the Obama era; John Yoo argues that executive branch accountability to the law will ...TERRORISTS!; the next generation of media villagers promise more shallowness, insipid analysis than their predecessors; Senator-elect Scott Brown has some productive ideas for the secessionist crowd; and The Onion has some common-sense advice for the belligerents in the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
--Mori Dinauer