We know you all subscribe to our articles RSS feed as well as TAPPED, but in case you've been ignoring it, here are some of the great pieces we've had up on the main site this week:
Tim Fernholz on why Democrats should stop freaking out about Obama:
Obama is making a simple case, one that he has been making for a while now: John McCain is George W. Bush. Each of his recent ads reflects this message. And look at his stump speeches and the remarks of his running mate, Joe Biden. Obama has carefully cultivated his campaign themes of change and reform since 2007, with specific examples of what that change would be, while forcefully demonstrating that John McCain represents more of the same. If Obama switched tactics now, no doubt the same folks criticizing him for his lack of reaction would criticize him for his lack of message discipline.
Te-Ping Chen investigates rumors of a new student loan crisis:
Throughout the spring, stung by investor wariness over the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, sales of asset-backed securities -- the source of liquidity for many student lenders -- contracted. As a consequence, some student lenders were "completely unable to obtain capital to make loans," says Bob Murray, spokesman for USA Funds, the largest guarantor of federal student loans. "Or they were having to pay significantly more than they were used to." Factor in the $19 billion industry-subsidy cut Congress approved in September 2007 -- after the discovery that lenders were bribing financial aid officers sparked national outrage -- and the ranks of lenders participating in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, through which lenders like Chase provide capital for federally backed loans, were thinning. Hence the ensuing fear of a student loan "crisis" -- which, as it turns out, was more of a lender-inflated narrative (picked up by overly breathy media) than it was a real threat to students nationwide.
And Laura McGann (of the Washington Independent) considers how Sarah Palin fits into Alaska's culture of corruption:
I found myself asking Alaska residents and political insiders alike: Where does Gov. Sarah Palin fit in this culture of corruption? Palin is a member of the same Republican Party as those ensnared in a corrupt web, but somehow she seems like a completely different political animal. Palin moved into the governor's mansion in 2006 on a platform of reform and change, having developed a reputation as a whistleblower after calling out the chair of the state GOP and the state's Republican attorney general on ethics grounds. The answers I received show a candidate who staked her political fortunes on her claims of being a maverick. But while she has avoided some of the worst entanglements of petroleum industry bribery, her fierce sense of family loyalty has landed her in her own hot water.
--The Editors
