Month: April 2009

A Kind Of Magic

Freddie DeBoer ponders capitalism:

To me, the most sensible and pragmatic capitalist is a skeptical capitalist, one who recognizes the enormous power for good in the system but also recognizes that it is ultimately just a patchwork of conventions, laws and mores, cobbled together by disparate people with vastly different aims, and existing always in an uneasy tension. That, to me, is a simple statement of the reality of life, of human systems and their imperfections. It’s not a socialist screed or an endorsement of some sort of anarchistic future. Yet in the context of American political and philosophical conversation of the last decade, it’s tantamount to carrying Mao’s little red book.

The Long Play

It remains Obama's defining characteristic, as Marc acknowledges:

It seems to me that most of Obama's concessions to political reality are temporary and designed to further other goals; he's deferential to Congress here — he asserts his power there. He meets with Republicans to build a long-term relationship. He lets the House roll the Senate on the budget. He intervenes, surgically, when necessary.  We're obsessed with short-term, short-term, short-term — whether Obama gets France to spend more money or commit more troops to Afghanistan — and we ignore the year's worth of fundamental changes to the world that he packed into that week. 

Face Of The Day

SUMMERSChipSomodevilla:Getty

Lawrence Summers, Director of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, participates in a question-and-answer session during a luncheon with the Economic Club of Washington at the J.W. Marriott April 9, 2009 in Washington, DC. Summers spoke to the club about the current state of the nation's economy and the Obama administration's efforts to address the crisis. By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.