I try to limit links to any one blogger in any Gateway column, but Jonathan Chait not only makes the same points I’ve been making for months—a sure way to get a link from me—but he does it better and then comes up with things I’ve never thought of.
Here, we have some contrarian thinking from Chait: the super committee accomplished its goal, which was to give everyone plausible deniability on the debt ceiling vote The Supercommittee Worked! Really! nymag.com
Chait: Republicans do not like Green Eggs, Revenue or Obama I Am A, no matter how they are served. Debunking Obama’s So-Called Leadership Failure nymag.com
Chait: "Liberals are dissatisfied with Obama because liberals, on the whole, are incapable of feeling satisfied with a Democratic president. They can be happy with the idea of a Democratic president—indeed, dancing-in-the-streets delirious—but not with the real thing. The various theories of disconsolate liberals all suffer from a failure to compare Obama with any plausible baseline. Instead they compare Obama with an imaginary president—either an imaginary Obama or a fantasy version of a past president."
He then asks "Compared to what? Then he does the comparison.
Must reading. When Did Liberals Become So Unreasonable? nymag.com
Chait's piece is so good, it deserves another link. Here he slaps a few fellow centrists for the sake of his mental health:
"…the unhappy moderate liberals may be the most irrational component of Obama’s let-down supporters. Enraged left-wing bloggers may harbor unrealistic notions of what Democrats could achieve, but they are at least correct that Obama does not fully share their goals.
What, by contrast, are we to make of third-party activists like Thomas L. Friedman or Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz? They have a president who supports virtually everything they want—short-term stimulus, long-term deficit reduction through a mix of taxes and entitlement cuts, clean energy, education reform, and social liberalism. Yet they are agitating for a third party in order to carry out an agenda that is virtually identical to Obama’s. In a column touting the third-party Americans Elect, the closest Friedman comes to explaining why we should have a third party, rather than reelect the politician who already represents their values, is to say that such a party “would have offered a grand bargain on the deficit two years ago, not on the eve of a Treasury default.” He agrees with Obama’s plan, in other words, but proposes to form a new party because he disagrees with his legislative sequencing.” When Did Liberals Become So Unreasonable? nymag.com
In a companion piece to Chait’s, David Frum, the last sane conservative illustrates exactly why he's so lonely. When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? nymag.com
Sully opines on Chait and Frum: "If George Bush had taken out Osama bin Laden, wiped out al Qaeda's leadership and gathered a treasure trove of real intelligence by a daring raid, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now. If he'd done the equivalent on the right of universal healthcare, he'd be the second coming of Reagan. But Obama and liberals? If I hear one more gripe about single payer from someone in their fifties with a ponytail, I'll scream."
He's even tougher on the right, and they deserve it. Why Obama Still Matters andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com
I'm sure the Muslim doctors were fine with being spared the opportunity to view Herman Cain's asshole, though every time one looks at Cain a view of an asshole is exactly what one gets. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/11/herman-cain-glad-his-doctor-wasnt-a-muslim www.nydailynews.com
Come back Juan Williams, all is forgiven! Juan Williams Gets Snippy With Chris Wallace – FishbowlDC www.mediabistro.com
Baum and Out. He Baumed big time. Steven J. Baum firm closing www.buffalonews.com
Why is it so strange that maids, truck drivers and janitors would be so generous with Liu?
They identify with his history working in a sweatshop. Kitchen confidential www.nypost.com
Forgotten, But Not Gone Department:
Whatever one thinks of John Liu (and I don't think much), this apologia for Julia Harrison by Denis Hamill verges upon the despicable.
At 127 (or however old she is), Julia Harrison has become a senile crank perennially running as the "anti-Asian" candidate. Julia used to be quite a liberal; got into politics to support Gene McCarthy. Made an inspiring speech in 86 in support of the gay rights bill (and outed her late brother in the process). But, then senility set in and she turned into David Duke crossed with Tom Tancredo. Same thing happened to Arthur Katzman and Mary Pinkett, two other great Council liberals who previously lacked a prejudiced bone in their bodies; very sad indeed. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/columnists?columnist=Denis+Hamill www.nydailynews.com
Forgotten and Now Gone Department:
Dick Schaap (1973): "In all his speeches as a cop and President of the City Council, Garelik must have made some valid points. Unfortunately, his audience probably did stay awake long enough to hear them. Garelik must have a real grudge against the people of New York to feel that they deserve him as Mayor. It has been suggested that Garelik's greatest value is that he, personally, has destroyed the stereotype that all Jews are intelligent. That's all we need–the first Jewish Mayor will be one with a goyisheh kop." Sanford Garelik, Former New York City Mayoral Candidate, Dies at 93 www.nytimes.com
More Forgotten Dead Pols Department:
Frank Hogan was Manhattan DA from 1942-1973. Bob Morgenthau served from 1975 to 2009. Richard Kuh served for 15 minutes between them.
Kuh's most famous accomplishment in life came the decade before that, when he sent Lenny Bruce to jail. To paraphrase Bruce, he was a blah who deserved never to get his blah blahed. The voters remembered and agreed. Richard H. Kuh, Former Manhattan Prosecutor, Dies at 90 www.nytimes.com