Obama: One Termer?

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend last night and amongst other topics covered was how Obama has really seemed to lose his footing over the summer, and has worked himself into an awkward position going into what will likely be one of the most important legislative huddles of his presidency. The administration has seemed out-of-whack lately. What was once a cool group of young, hip, bright politicos (albeit for the first 3 months of the presidency) has become a bumbling and stumbling loose grouping of inexperienced staffers. I think it all began with the President's loose-lips on Henry Louis Gates-gate. What is quickly becoming a mismanaged health care reform push surely isn't helping morale. The newly revised and truly staggering deficit projections for this next year from the CBO will surely deal another serious blow to an administration that is already limping. For the first time I have started to think that Obama might be a one-term president.

This will only become a possibility if Republicans become effective dissenters and offer sensible policies and alternative solutions to what are real and significant national issues.

Obama: Premature Folder?

I have been very surprised with the ease with which Obama has seemed to fold both his IMAC plan (Independent Medicare Advisory Council) and now seemingly the public option as part of his goals for health care reform. I'm not going to offer comment on either of these policies because, to be honest, I feel unqualified. But nonetheless I find it interesting that Obama has been so quick to back down from some of the bigger pieces of his reform ambitions.

One other note: Sarah Palin effectively killed of IMAC herself with her infamous comments (on Facebook no less) about "death panels." Interesting from a woman who most had assumed upon resignation would slip away into irrelevance... I'm not so sure she is going away that fast.

"We're Already Practically A Gerontocracy"

Ross Douthat has a really important piece in today's NYT.

Important Reads

Hey yall, sorry for the light blogging. Will be back up to speed shortly. In the meanwhile, I'll point you to some important reads:

Camille Paglia on Healthcare (via BFMc from Spitting Image - thanks!)

Hitchens (the preeminent Clinton criticizer) on Bill and NorKor

Anne Applebaum on August and Crises

John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods) on Obamacare

Luttwak on the likely failure of attempts at diplomacy with Iran

Mexico as a declining Futbol Power


Thats probably a good start... Be back soon

Flags - San Juan, Puerto Rico

I took this picture in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I loved my time there.

Updated Info On The Iranian Plane Crash

It seems that the plane crash that killed 168 in July in Iran was due to some cargo destined for Hezbollah.

Ynet

Naharnet

Iran supports terrorist organizations. Case closed.

Frustrated

I just listened to an absurd clip of Mark Levin's show that I'm sure he counts as a reasonable retort to David Frum's entirely reasonable and intelligent analysis/criticism of Levin and his "book" Liberty and Tyranny. Instead Levin plays the part of a playground bully who resorts to name calling and immature foolishness that makes him look, well, incredibly foolish. This makes me depressed. Levin's metric for how bona fide one is as a conservative is the number of books one sells, as he repeatedly refers to the fact that he has sold over 900,00 and Frum only 4,000. LOL. At this point in my writing this entry I am laughing incredibly hard. IS LEVIN SERIOUS?! What the F is wrong with these people and how the HELL do they get nationally syndicated radio shows!? And WHY OH WHY do so so so so so so so many people get drawn into their tomfoolery and take their analyses of hard-hitting policy issues seriously?! It's such a tragedy.

These moments make me feel like the GOP is doomed because the type of conservatism that "sells" right now is such a joke. It's such an unsustainable mishmash of nonsense and jokers that literally has NOTHING to offer the country in the way of effective governing or policy strategy. This type of conservatism is wrong on everything from the economy to the environment mostly because the people talking about these issues (Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, and so many other INTELLECTUAL GIANTS!) know next to nothing about the issues other than REALLY REALLY SHITTY TALKING POINTS. Most of the people above don't even have a college education! And they are hi-jacking a movement that is enriching them and their cronies by writing incredibly shitty books. It's really depressing...

I invite you to compare the two critiques (Frum on Levin and Levin's response and commentary on Frum) and then decide which person you think might be most effective as a leader of a conservatism. It's a hard call I know...