Without the housing claim, it would have been hard to depict the Bush economic record as very much of a success. Employment was up, the Dow was up, but median incomes still lagged behind 2000 levels. It was the rise in home prices that represented the administration’s main argument that its economic policies had helped the American middle class. No way was the administration going to act to slow – let alone halt – that rise. To the extent that political appointees regulated the lending industry, the political appointees understood what was expected of them and did not interfere.
I don’t raise this point to cast aspersions, but to inspire thought as to how Republicans can deliver better results next time. Republicans talk budgetary policy (that’s why Paul Ryan has become a heart-throb of the party). They need to think about economic policy. The measure of success is not shrinking the deficit – that’s just a means to an end – but raising incomes. We need an open discussion about why our policies failed to deliver that result in the 2000s as a preliminary to doing better after 2012 or 2016.
Which is roughly a paraphrase of the president's critique yesterday. I suspect the answer is pretty bleak: conservatism as it has evolved since the 1980s has no fundamental solution to how to raise the incomes of the lower middle class in a global economy where Chinese and Indians can do what any American can for a fraction of the cost. If that's true for high-tech, how much truer for other sectors? Education is key, and is one of Obama's least-appreciated emphases. In other words, the free lunch is over. America's unique advantages and blessings during the Cold War have been removed. Protectionism won't help. And even higher levels of education won't make much difference. At some point, as David Brooks shrewdly notes today, the culture will have to adjust away from the pursuit of wealth to the pursuit of happiness within far more constrained horizons.
What I fear and see is the right's inability or refusal to face this or to innovate genuinely new policies to address these questions (Manzi is an exception who proves the rule). And in its place, they will offer a cultural politics of reaction at home and war abroad. They will intensify the red-blue divide, and blame the "elites" for everything, and turn Islam into the modern equivalent of Communism (unwittingly helping the enemy), and take the world to the brink of chaos. That's what I fear in my bleaker moments. Because it works for a while. And it will make millions for those who want to use America's decline rather than reverse it, and will distract the heart by deadening the mind. And I see no one with the gravitas or decency or responsibility in the GOP to be an Eisenhower.
That's why Obama still matters. It's why, in my view, he matters more than ever.
A different approach for the holiday weekend. A reader writes:
I think you’re just throwing us a bone here, since you assume that no one will play on Labor Day weekend. I’ve never tried the contest before because they all looked too difficult, but I was able to google that trolley in seconds, so I thought this one would be easy. The trolley appears to be the MBTA Green line in Boston. The street appears to be Commonwealth Ave. However, I’ve been up and down it three times in Google maps now, and I don’t see a turnaround like the one in the picture. Perhaps it’s not as easy as I suspected …
Another writes:
I never thought I’d see one I’d know so immediately! My dad grew up in Brookline and later my grandmother moved back there; I myself lived right off Comm Ave for years while in grad school. I grew up in Boston. I love seeing home! And that shot is Beacon Street if ever anything was. Admittedly, it’s been six years since I left so I had to double-check with Google Street View to get the exact address. Google says it’s 1207 Beacon, which sounds about right. After Sarajevo and East Timor and god knows what else all over the world, I’m really cheered up seeing a place I know and love!
Another:
You are going to get a ton of correct answers to this one. I’m a little curious as to how many people who actually live in that building write in.
Another:
This VFYW was almost shamefully easy. A quick glance indicates it’s the U.S. (cars, parking meters, possibly Georgian- or Gothic- style architecture of the building in the foreground). The dead giveaway is the Kinki-Sharyo Type 7 light rail vehicle in the background: It bears the unmistakable silver and teal paint scheme of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line in and around Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. A quick scan down the street with Google Maps’ satellite view looking for a courtyard with a fountain led me to 1209 Beacon Street, Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Google Earth, the second-floor window from which the photo was taken is at about 42°20’35.01″N, 71° 6’57.06″W.
Total searching time: under 5 minutes. Also, if it makes a difference for the run-off, I’ve spent a total of one day in Boston in my life but have studied its transit system a great deal from afar. The Green Line is rather well-known, as it runs through America’s oldest subway tunnel. I knew my master’s degree in transportation systems engineering would pay off one day!
Another:
I’d go GoogleMap the son of a bitch to figure out the exact latitude and longitude of the window, and the hour at which the photo was taken, and what the photographer’s horoscope said that morning, but here in Massachusetts we’re having a lovely respite from a week of heat, so I’m going outside.
Another:
First, modern cars + right hand side = America. Then I saw the trolley. I could recognize that trolley anywhere: It’s the late 1980s rolling stock of the MBTA Green Line built by Kinki Sharyo, which they had to buy in an emergency because the Boeing-Vertol models were so terrible that they had to reinstate the PCC cars from the 1950s. Given that, the above-ground location narrows the scope even further to somewhere to the immediate west of Boston proper (i.e., Back Bay, South End, Beacon Hill, etc.).
Let’s go even further. The design of the above-ground track in conjunction with the road rules out the D Line (which is independent of the roads, for the most part). The E Line can also be ruled out, for Huntington Avenue (which is where the trolley is grade separated up until about Brigham Circle, which it then becomes part of the road) is a wider road and has no trees lined to it. The vast majority of the B Line is also ruled out due to lack of trees and road layout, and after looking through the section of B Line of which this picture could have come from (the last three stops, basically, from Chiswick Road west), that can be ruled out as well. This leaves the C Line, of which almost the above-ground portion is based in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Because I’m assuming that a lot of people are going to get the city right, I’m going to attempt to nail down the address. The angle of the cars behind the track suggest that this is one of the C Line parking lots, and looking closely at the upper left and the fact that the trolley doesn’t look in motion, it is near an intersection and likely a stop. Given the size of the trees by the tracks, this means it is somewhere after St. Mary’s Street (the first above-ground stop), before Coolidge Corner (the major stop on the C Line, and where I briefly used to live), and the building from which the shot came from the south side of Beacon Street. Roving on Google Maps gives me a direct hit. From the street view, it was hard to confirm it due to some excess greenery, but the red building across the street (the Holiday Inn Boston-Brookline) gives me the confirmation. Thanks to someone leaving some registered addresses, I’m going to take a stab: 1207 Beacon Street, just off St. Paul Street and its respective stop.
Another:
The Green Line? Seriously?
You guys are just trying to figure out how many people actually look at this contest, aren’t you? Your answer unveiling is going to have to be reformatted this week, due to a dearth of erroneous replies. Of course, now I’ll have to come up with a great story to actually be the winner of the book. Fortunately, it just so happens that the fountain in the photo was brought over from the old country by my great grandfather, and at his request, we buried his ashes beneath it when he died. This is why I proposed to my wife right there in that courtyard many years later. And next Sunday, my newborn son will be baptized in those very waters.
Another:
Yawn. Light rail image search for trains with green stripe: Boston. Find MTA map, guess Green Line, follow in Google Maps to U-shaped driveway at 1209 Beacon St. Too bored to figure out the apartment number. Nite, nite.
Another:
I expect you’ll get lots of complaints that this was too easy, but it was just right for me! The view screamed “New England in fall” but Googling that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I decided the green-and-white tram was my best bet, and sure enough, searching for images of that while bearing ‘New England’ in mind quickly lead me to the Boston MBTA Green Line. They have a super-useful Interactive Street Map. I searched along it in Satellite view, looking for where the tram line ran in the middle of road, shaded by trees. I spotted the fountain and courtyard after about 15 minutes. Here’s the building’s Wikipedia page and here it is on Google Streetview. The building across the road, with a distinctive flash of green just visible, is a Holiday Inn. Love this contest!
Another:
The name of the apartment complex is Richmond Court, owned by aptly named Sullivan & Co.
Another:
It’s an apartment building on the National Register of Historic Places. According to Street by an iron fence, brick and stone posts, a fountain, and private gardens. Richmond Court was designed by Ralph Adams Cram who went on to design All Saints Church, further west on Beacon Street, as well as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, and many buildings at West Point and Princeton University” … which included the monstrous chapel opposite McCosh Hall, where I used to work.
Another reader sent a black-and-white photo from the turn of the century (click to enlarge). Another:
Since this one is straightforward, I thought I would try to go the extra mile and try to figure out whose window this is. The town of Brookline’s municipal website has an assessor’s atlas that shows the allocation of street addresses to the different sections of Richmond Court. We appear to be in the 1211 section, on the second floor. After finding the assessor’s atlas, I went to the Mass. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds website, hoping that the Richmond Court units would turn out to be individually-titled owner residences. Alas, Richmond Court appears to consist of rental units – good for affordable housing, but bad for me. Ultimately, I cannot say which apartment number this is, or who rents it, since rental lease documents are not public. The entire building and its land appear to be owned by a trust. No doubt the historical significance of the structure and its status on the National Register have thus far prevented a condo conversion. In any case, if I Google “1211 Beacon St” with “Brookline”, I find that a doctor and a couple lawyers have recently lived in the units with the 1211 address. That’s Brookline!
Another reader found the original floorplan here. Another:
The only business at this address is a dentist, who gets great reviews on Yelp. Not sure if this is his office.
Another:
I’d bet that some of those cars parked in front belong to patients of Dr. Ken Thomases, the dentist next door. Which reminds me, I’m looking for a dentist up here; anybody know if he’s any good?
Another:
I am not sure of the address, but I know the building well enough. After graduating from college I went to India, to study Carnatic music and travel around. When back in Boston, I spent a year working painting apartments, for the company that owned this building. In a way, this is really a view from MY window, because unless they later installed more energy efficient windows, I probably painted the bit of window frame visible in the lower left corner. Those were great apartments, and rent controlled in those days. How I wanted one of them!
Another:
I have a particular fondness for this VFYW, and this building. I am a realtor, and have rented several units here. I have also worked as a bartender in the building next door, ridden that C-line T right outside 100 gazillion times, received over a dozen parking tickets from those pesky meters along Beacon St. (thanks Fenway Park parking prices), occasionally stayed at the Holiday Inn with the green awning across the street, endured the horrible Brookline Red Cab drivers parked out front, and now work one block away. Great to get one that is so personal to me!
Another:
Now that’s amusing. I used to live in that same apartment complex on the other side of the courtyard. It’s a great place to watch the Boston Marathon as the runners go right by about 2 miles from the finish line.
Another:
I know exactly where that is. I lived in that apartment complex for four years, and as pristine as the courtyard looks right now, you should see it on Marathon Monday. This building is on Mile 24 of the route, and it seems like every person in the buildings invites their 50 or 60 closest friends over to celebrate. Start early, stay late. Super super fun. Epic disaster on Monday night. I miss living there already!
Another:
This looks like the view from the third floor of the building where I live at 1211 Beacon Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. Attached is a view from my window on the fourth floor of our building during the Boston Marathon, which runs right in front. Thanks for the view!
Another:
I look at the contest picture every week and wonder how anyone can even make a guess. I’ve almost stopped reading the guesses you post because it makes me feel something like stupid or unworldly (or that I’m spending too much time actually working at my job). But this week I’ve got it … because my sister lived in this building about 5 years ago. I emailed her to be sure and she says she was on the other side of the hallway (and one floor up, she thinks), but used the same entrance. I’m not sure if actually having been (nearly) in the place of the photographer is “cheating.” If so, thanks for the jolt of electricity I felt when I saw that the picture was her old apartment building.
Another:
I went to BU and actually have friends who used to live in the building, and in fact briefly dated a girl who lived there. That’s a great little courtyard in front, which made for some nice BBQs and the like over the years. Never expected to see somewhere so close to home on here.
Another:
My girlfriend used to live in the same complex (1215 Beacon) so I recognized this as soon as I saw it. On our 3rd date, a little over three years ago, we had our first hug was on the sidewalk right outside the gate when I dropped her off after seeing a movie. Is that enough to make us the winners this week?
Another:
Having the Green Line train in the picture from the MBTA made this too easy. I lived in that area for four years. Randomly, I spent a night playing German board games in that exact apartment complex three years ago. This picture provided a strange, vivid flashback to a night I barely remember.
Another:
The funny thing is, I didn’t even need to know about transit in order to get this one. After I finished undergraduate education, I spent a year in Boston as an Americorps volunteer for a non-profit called the Urban Ecology Institute. During that time, I went on a date or two with a friend of a friend who lived in that apartment complex. Alas, it didn’t work out (for a number of reasons, including her and my mom having the same last name), but I saw the picture today and made me think about that young woman, that apartment building, and what could have been.
Another:
It would appear that the residents of this particular building have created a Facebook group on its behalf.
Another:
I’ve been following these contests with amazement, wondering how folks have been able to figure out such random places so accurately. So I was quite surprised to not only recognize the city in the photo, but also recognize the location as being the old apartment of a friend. A two minute search on Google Maps confirmed it, so I e-mailed my friend to check. She says, “That is totally my old apartment! Good eye. If I were a betting person, I would say it was taken from the third or maybe the fourth floor of 1211 Beacon Street (I was on the second, and it looks higher).” This was a fun experience for me. I was surprised how easy it was to recognize a city I’ve called home, and how easily I recalled a location I have only been to at night during the winter. Thanks for providing a great excuse to catch up with an old friend!
Another:
You can’t possibly know how much this one meant for me to find. I am a 2L law student currently at Boston University (a great law school, but not really one of those dastardly ivy-league schools that has been the topic of recent debate on your site). I work as a Resident Assistant at BU to help pay my way through school, just a block or two West of Fenway Park. I was so disappointed to learn recently that I had to be “on-call” for all of labor-day weekend and labor day itself, meaning that I am not allowed to leave a 10 minute radius from my area of campus. I spent much of Friday night and early Saturday morning dealing with a very serious student issue, so I didn’t sleep much. When things finely calmed down this afternoon, I checked your blog, and it just put a smile on my face after an otherwise long and sad day.
While I had never been by this specific building, I had a hunch in might be in my neighborhood. I decided to take a walk down Beacon Street for about 10 minutes (making sure not to leave my zone in case of emergencies on campus), and sure enough I found it about three blocks from my apartment. I attached a few pics taken outside, but alas I lost my connecting cable and had to upload camera phone pics of the pics. If I get a chance I can send along better pics later. Thank you again for the amazing treat.
Thanks to you; those pics are better than you realize. Another:
This is Beacon Street, just a few doors up from St. Paul Street. I can’t believe I know an exact location for one of these; I’m so excited! I’m going to drive over and get the exact address now. [next email] I couldn’t see the exact number, but Google says it’s 1223 Beacon, so I’ll go with that. It was definitely taken from the second floor, probably the back corner window as seen in my poor quality iPhone pic.
Another:
My wife and I just moved to Boston, so imagine our surprise and delight when our favorite photo game hit so close to home! We immediately recognized the green line train and knew the image was captured in Boston. As a fun little Saturday diversion, we decided to walk to Cleveland Circle (the end of the C Line) and take the train until we found the exact spot. We probably looked a bit ridiculous peering out the windows of the train, or maybe we just looked like your garden variety Boston tourists, but we finally found the building on Beacon Street in Brookline.
Another:
Since the addresses on Street view were approximate, I decided to bike over there to find out the exact address. The window in question is at 1211 Beacon Street, St. Albans Hall, part of Richmond Court. A plaque on the wall mentions it’s in the National Register of historic places and was completed in 1898. I’ve included a picture of the window from the courtyard.
Another:
Long time reader, first time participant. While I wouldn’t know Islamabad from Kuala Lumpur from Cape Town, the sight of the green line train told me that this had to be somewhere in/near Boston – practically in my own backyard! For years I commuted into Boston and there are only a few locations where the T runs at street level. Google maps gave me the location, although in the Google street view the courtyard is obscured by vines. After a short field trip and some research I found out the place. I saw at least two other suspected Dish readers checking out the location and snapping photos so I know that I’m not the only one with the correct answer.
Another:
My girlfriend and I were quickly able to find the window using Google Earth, then we paid a visit to the site to take some pictures. In the few minutes that we were there, another couple arrived also to take pictures of the window (they asked us “are you guys here from View From Your Window too?”). I’m guessing that your inbox this week is going to have more than a few winning responses containing photographic evidence.
Another:
A million people will get this, but I’ll try anyway. Here’s an overhead shot from Google Maps. I’m no match for the folks who can nail Estonia or Islamabad, but I’m a Boston boy, and I rode the Green Line for a long time, in every sense.
Another:
I feel guilty even emailing, as I walked by this exact location earlier today after a fun Labor Day Oreo Fry. (It was just as much fun as it sounds. And better.) I appreciate the inclusion of Boston/Brookline in the VFYW contest – the way the Sox have been performing recently, we can surely use the pick-me-up!
Another:
I suspect a bunch of readers will get this one, and the trickiest part is not confusing Brookline with Boston, which surrounds Brookline on three sides. This is my first contest, and I don’t have any funny ties to the picture, other than I live just down the street and I’m pretty sure my dog has relieved himself in front of that courtyard. And how can you say no to this face?
Another:
I lived between the B and C lines. Sometimes I would get off at Coolidge Corner, the next stop, and grab dinner at Rami’s, which had the best falafel, or Anna’s Taquiera, which had the best burritos in town. I moved back to SoCal a few years ago after living in Boston for a decade. While I don’t miss much about Boston, particularly the weather and Celtics fans, I do miss my friends and days like I am imagining this one to have been. I especially enjoyed this time of year, when I’m guessing that this photo was taken. Fall is approaching but the days are still warm and less humid; the nights are finally starting to cool off; and some leaves are hinting at the fall foliage to come (I have no doubt that some of your readers will be able to identify the trees and which ones tend to turn first).
The photo was actually taken last October. Another:
I’ve never even been to Boston or the Northeast. I’m just a broke Georgia redneck who can’t afford to travel. This is my vacation – scouring the globe to win this addictive contest every Saturday. I went to YouTube and watched a half dozen videos of train fanatics, who actually record their subway rides on MBTA and post them. I road that green line all over Boston.
Another:
How did I find it? Saw the commuter train. Looked for similar pictures with Google images. Figured it was probably the MBTA Green line. Decided an Andrew Sullivan reader in the Boston area would probably be a student (you know, one of those elites Conor likes to complain about). Saw the Green line goes to the Boston College and Cleveland Circle area, then dropped into Google Maps to search for the roundabout with a fountain in the middle. Noticed Beacon Street had the rail in the middle, and from there, it was easy.
For the record, I’ve only visited Boston once, spent all my time downtown, and I’ve never been to Boston in the fall:
Another:
It’s taken over an hour, entirely on a mobile phone, but it’s been fun. I guess this means the contest was too easy, but I’m chuffed. Sitting in bed with a mobile phone I can track down the precise window on another continent. This really is an age of miracles – it’s nice to be reminded of that sometimes.
Another:
Imagine for a moment how difficult the VFYW contest would have been only fifteen years ago. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to succeed in less than fifteen minutes, without leaving my bedroom! Now all I need is just a few context clues and an internet connection.
Another:
So about 8% of the 150 guessers got Islamabad right. By going to the US this week, I predict you’ll have over 300 entries and over half will get the city and state (with the winner probably able to tell us all something interesting about that fountain). I’m addicted to the contest, and you are mixing in just the right amount of easier and harder images. I get close about one out of five, but can be completely off about half – being able to nail one every so often is just the right hook to create an addiction. Thanks for the diversion on a rainy Anchorage morning.
Closer to 600 actually. Only a few dozen guesses were not Brookline. Perhaps the most spectacular miss:
I usually spend so much time trying to figure out all the possibilities, based on topography, architecture and paving styles that by the time I have a guess it’s already Wednesday morning. And I’m still wrong. So this time, I’ll get it over with quickly and guess Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila, Philippines. I believe that’s the MRT blue line running along the median. I await my humiliation.
Another:
I’m sure the winning entry will be from some enterprising Boston-Area college student who spent all day Saturday riding the green line and, having found the spot, took a photo of themselves climbing the tree outside the window in question, but for me, seeing that circular driveway and those stone-topped pillars on Google earth and having the thrill of knowing I got it was all the reward I needed. What a great feature the window view and the contest are. You guys make me a believer in blogs.
The winning entry goes to a previous near-winner of one of our most difficult puzzles:
I won’t be the first of the hundreds that send this in to you. And I didn’t ask my girlfriend to marry me right at St. Paul’s MBTA stop or anything. I got Lausanne because I lived there. I got this one out of luck, because while I never lived there, one week ago I moved to Boston. After four years of long-distance relationship that began in Beirut, then variously involving Québec, Geneva, Lausanne, New Haven, and Boston, my girlfriend and I are finally living in the same place. “Même maison” has been our mantra for a long time, even though it has come at some career costs. I’d been visiting her on some weekends over the past year, and she lived about four blocks from here. We passed it a handful of times.
Rosenbaum's analysis was interesting but his framing is fatally misconceived. He talks about "murdering civilians," which is always a war crime – no need to hand-wring about drones there. I used to present target packages complete with information that helped commanders judge how many civilians we were likely to kill if we blew up the house. We used our own 'algorithms' to decide what level of (estimated/projected) collateral damage was acceptable given military objectives. Because, you see, all the way since forever war has involved a certain predictable amount of civilian casualty. That's a major reason why war is so awful.
The argument can be made that the relative painlessness for one's own side has tricked us into underrating the damage we do, and that part of the discussion is both interesting and persuasive. The stuff about murdering civilians just gives me a strong feeling like he hasn't thought very hard about the topic.
Mark Blumenthal rounds up mid-term projections by political scientists. The chart above, by Nate Silver, examines the issues on the websites of candidates in the "33 Congressional districts currently labeled toss-ups by The New York Times political desk." Silver:
Democrats have criticized Republicans for their vague agenda – and certainly the Republicans have not articulated anything as succinct as the Contract With America, which may have aided their exceptional performance in the midterm elections of 1994. But Republicans do appear to have a message that is at least reasonably clear to voters, and reasonably consistent from one Congressional district to the next: pick us, and we’ll repeal health care, secure the border and reduce the size of government. Democrats, meanwhile, who two years ago seemed to have a glut of agenda items, are now having trouble articulating to their constituents exactly what a Democratic vote would gain them. Perhaps that’s why Democrats are having trouble both with the sizable number of voters who are dissatisfied with both parties – and in motivating turnout among their base.
Weigel reads today's polls, which forecast doom for the Democratic party come November. His analysis:
[T]his was the Democratic plan for 2010:
1) Health care bill is passed and becomes more popular as people receive the benefits.
2) Economy recovers and stimulus money starts showing real impact.
If that isn't happening, what is the Democratic comeback scenario? And if you're a Democrat, do you break out the defibrillator and try to convince people that their local economy is turning around because of legislation X, Y, and Z, or do you rev up the base by saying that the new Republican majority wants to use the bad economy as an excuse for more tax cuts and deep entitlement cuts? Clearly the Democrats are opening the second door, hence all of the attention on Paul Ryan's austerity "roadmap."
Josh Green is perplexed by the politics of Obama's proposal for $200 billion in business tax cuts:
It appears unlikely that anything but the small-business bill will make it through Congress before November. A better bet is that the initiatives that Republicans favor will get taken up early next year–meaning there's a good chance that a (probably) Republican Congress will kick things off by passing a massive tax cut for business. And who do you suppose will benefit from that scenario?
Sometimes it's amazing to recall that Democrats control Washington.
But Obama, like Clinton, is not the Democratic party and the more radical a Republican Congress the more Independents may return to the fold.
The thing I dislike most about Bacevich’s writing is when he talks about the personal failings of his antagonists as if they somehow lend extra ammunition to Bacevich’s arguments concerning the policies those antagonists promoted. So Allen Dulles's alleged womanizing is brought up in this book, as was James Forrestal's personal failings in Bacevich's last book. (Although you will note the policies of neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama get any added credit for the principals being devoted family men and good parents.) For a guy who writes about "the intractability of the human condition," you would think Bacevich would understand that all of the actors in U.S. foreign policy — "good" and "bad" — are as sinful and broken as the rest of us. Have a little mercy on them, eh?
I know of few writers more interesting, knowledgeable or as engaged on the subject of the war with Islamist terror as Lawrence Wright, whose one-man play will debut on HBO tonight. And here's an insight culled by Scott Horton from an interview with him that seems to me less examined than it should be:
Humility is a highly valued character trait in Islamic culture. When bin Laden’s followers praise him, they often invoke this quality. The fact that bin Laden is from a wealthy family makes this aspect of his personality all the more appealing. Humiliation, on the other hand, is imposed from the outside. It is one of the most common words in bin Laden’s vocabulary. For many Muslims who resonate with the term, their humiliation may be cultural or religious in nature—the sense of Islamic societies being overpowered by Western values, mores, and political dictates. But it is also true that a number of Muslims have been physically humiliated. Ayman al-Zawahiri, for instance, the number-two man in Al Qaeda, the doctor always at bin Laden’s elbow, was imprisoned for three years in Egypt following the Sadat assassination. Like many of his companions, he was brutally tortured. I think the particular appetite for carnage that sets Al Qaeda apart from other terrorist organizations was born in the humiliation such men suffered in those prisons.
I do believe that Islamism, like Christianism, is a response in part to cultural humiliation. The humiliation comes from modernity's triumph. How do you look at modern Europe and America, for example, with their immense wealth, scientific achievement, cultural vivacity, extraordinary diversity … and square it with the notion that our lives would be better off under Sharia or the brittle constraints of pre-Darwinian Biblical literalism or the contrived theoconservatism of the American far right? Yes, yes: I'll repeat once again that there is no comparison in action or intent between the radicals of Islamism and the radicals of Christianism; Christianists have not a smidgen of the record of violence that Islamists have. But the psychological under-pinnings of both are about, it seems to me, the unbearable knowledge of the success of modern liberalism in its battle with primordial theocratic security. And so the pre-moderns are infused with Nietzschean ressentiment – from Wasilla to Quetta. (Yes, that's a core argument in The Conservative Soul.)
Genuine Christianity needs no such ressentiment; you see it almost nowhere in Jesus' words or in the lives of most saints. His kingdom is not of this world. Islam is more complex, in my amateur reading of it, more related to political and territorial and collective unity. But it too has a history of piety and learning as much as politics and violence and the challenge is to support the former while not pushing its moderates toward the latter in an era of WMDs. That's why the neoconservative and Christianist campaign against the Cordoba complex seems to me such a self-fulfilling act of self-defeat. And why, of course, the wicked genius of 9/11 was to provoke the very reaction that would drag even more Muslims into the ressentiment camp. And yes, a central needless rampart of this ressentiment was America's adoption of torture of Muslim prisoners – everywhere in the war, in every branch of the military, as a disgusting illegal act of deliberate policy and betrayal of core values. Its awful consequences – and the refusal of Obama and the Congress thus far to hold the torturers accountable before the world – will reap yet more terror in the years ahead. There are few things more humiliating than being stretched and contorted into agony for hours on end on the order of an American president.
How then to encourage Muslim humility and alleviate the toxic effects of Muslim humiliation? We can do nothing about the former. That is the vital task for Muslim reformers who are, to put it mildly, scarce on the ground in the Arab world. But we can do something – or not do some things – about the sense of Muslim humiliation – and Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, his open respect for Islam, and his dogged determination to forge a settlement in Israel/Palestine are critical parts of this long strategy for winning the war of ideas. That's why I believe the two-state solution in Israel/Palestine is more important than some argue. It will not defang the Islamists; in fact, it may enrage them. But an actual deal, especially forged by Barack Hussein Obama, would alleviate a deep source of humiliation, rubbed raw every time a new settlement is built.
That is the task of this president in this war, as David Petraeus understands: to defend religious freedom at home, to pursue relentless and precise war against the terrorists abroad, and to remove as many obstacles to the transformation of Muslim humiliation toward Muslim humility as we can. It is an immensely difficult and thankless and tough task. It will stretch beyond one generation. But I can see this president trying and I am sick of those who want him to fail for petty or partisan reasons. This is far too grave a struggle for that.
And that also means more Western humility and less neurotic faux-pride. We can and should be proud of our inheritance of freedom and the wealth of all forms that freedom creates; but we need not and should not make the rest of the world resent it more than absolutely necessary. That, one recalls, was George W. Bush's promise as a presidential candidate: a humble America. He subsequently forgot, in a forgivable way after 9/11, what we must always remember.
Republicans have already backed themselves into a corner — they've made the president out to be the devil; they've all but ruled compromising; and they've committed to a path that almost certainly ends in a government shutdown. GOP leaders may have even deluded themselves into thinking that they're more popular than Obama (they're not), and that if a shutdown hurts the economy, they'll avoid blame (they won't).
Bernstein nods and compares Obama's experiences with Republicans to Clinton's. The president's strategic position is far stronger than much of the chattering class now believes. In some respects, a Republican House would suit him well.
The dead giveaway is the Kinki-Sharyo Type 7 light rail vehicle in the background: It bears the unmistakable silver and teal paint scheme of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line in and around Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. A quick scan down the street with Google Maps’ satellite view looking for a courtyard with a fountain led me to 1209 Beacon Street, Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Google Earth, the second-floor window from which the photo was taken is at about 42°20’35.01″N, 71° 6’57.06″W.
First, modern cars + right hand side = America. Then I saw the trolley. I could recognize that trolley anywhere: It’s the late 1980s rolling stock of the MBTA Green Line built by Kinki Sharyo, which they had to buy in an emergency because the Boeing-Vertol models were so terrible that they had to reinstate the PCC cars from the 1950s. Given that, the above-ground location narrows the scope even further to somewhere to the immediate west of Boston proper (i.e., Back Bay, South End, Beacon Hill, etc.).
also be ruled out, for Huntington Avenue (which is where the trolley is grade separated up until about Brigham Circle, which it then becomes part of the road) is a wider road and has no trees lined to it. The vast majority of the B Line is also ruled out due to lack of trees and road layout, and after looking through the section of B Line of which this picture could have come from (the last three stops, basically, from Chiswick Road west), that can be ruled out as well. This leaves the C Line, of which almost the above-ground portion is based in Brookline, Massachusetts.
major stop on the C Line, and where I briefly used to live), and the building from which the shot came from the south side of Beacon Street. Roving on Google Maps gives me a direct hit. From the street view, it was hard to confirm it due to some excess greenery, but the red building across the street (the Holiday Inn Boston-Brookline) gives me the confirmation. Thanks to someone leaving some registered addresses, I’m going to take a stab: 1207 Beacon Street, just off St. Paul Street and its respective stop.
Street by an iron fence, brick and stone posts, a fountain, and private gardens. Richmond Court was designed by Ralph Adams Cram who went on to design All Saints Church, further west on Beacon Street, as well as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, and many buildings at West Point and Princeton University” … which included the monstrous chapel opposite McCosh Hall, where I used to work.
that the Richmond Court units would turn out to be individually-titled owner residences. Alas, Richmond Court appears to consist of rental units – good for affordable housing, but bad for me. Ultimately, I cannot say which apartment number this is, or who rents it, since rental lease documents are not public. The entire building and its land appear to be owned by a trust. No doubt the historical significance of the structure and its status on the National Register have thus far prevented a condo conversion. In any case, if I Google “1211 Beacon St” with “Brookline”, I find that a doctor and a couple lawyers have recently lived in the units with the 1211 address. That’s Brookline!
pristine as the courtyard looks right now, you should see it on Marathon Monday. This building is on Mile 24 of the route, and it seems like every person in the buildings invites their 50 or 60 closest friends over to celebrate. Start early, stay late. Super super fun. Epic disaster on Monday night. I miss living there already!
over and get the exact address now. [next email] I couldn’t see the exact number, but Google says it’s 1223 Beacon, so I’ll go with that. It was definitely taken from the second floor, probably the back corner window as seen in my poor quality iPhone pic.
My wife and I just moved to Boston, so imagine our surprise and delight when our favorite photo game hit so close to home! We immediately recognized the green line train and knew the image was captured in Boston. As a fun little Saturday diversion, we decided to walk to Cleveland Circle (the end of the C Line) and take the train until we found the exact spot. We probably looked a bit ridiculous peering out the windows of the train, or maybe we just looked like your garden variety Boston tourists, but we finally found the building on Beacon Street in Brookline.
the exact address. The window in question is at 1211 Beacon Street, St. Albans Hall, part of Richmond Court. A plaque on the wall mentions it’s in the National Register of historic places and was completed in 1898. I’ve included a picture of the window from the courtyard.
Long time reader, first time participant. While I wouldn’t know 
visit to the site to take some pictures. In the few minutes that we were there, another couple arrived also to take pictures of the window (they asked us “are you guys here from View From Your Window too?”). I’m guessing that your inbox this week is going to have more than a few winning responses containing photographic evidence.
with Boston, which surrounds Brookline on three sides. This is my first contest, and I don’t have any funny ties to the picture, other than I live just down the street and I’m pretty sure my dog has relieved himself in front of that courtyard. And how can you say no to this face?
The Dish 