Category: The Dish

Undecided no more:

I’ll be on the first unscripted back-from-hiatus Colbert Report tonight.

"None of us would write a check to Osama bin Laden, slip it in a Hallmark card and send it off to him. But that’s what we’re doing every time we pull into a gas station," – Mike Huckabee. (Hat tip: Kerry Howley.)

A reader points out the following quote from Obama in October 2006:

Most of the time, it seems, that the president has maybe 10 percent of his agenda set by himself and 90 percent of it set by circumstances. So, you know, an Abraham Lincoln is defined by slavery and the war, FDR defined by the Depression and, and World War II. So I’m not sure that I can categorize what is, is — are those ingredients in each and every circumstance.

But I think, when I think about great presidents, I think about those who transform how we think about ourselves as a country in fundamental ways so that, that, at the end of their tenure, we have looked and said to ours — that’s who we are. And, and our, our — and for me at least, that means that we have a more expansive view of our democracy, that we’ve included more people into the bounty of this country. And, you know, there are circumstances in which, I would argue, Ronald Reagan was a very successful president, even though I did not agree with him on many issues, partly because at the end of his presidency, people, I think, said, "You know what? We can regain our greatness. Individual responsibility and personal responsibility are important." And they transformed the culture and not simply promoted one or two particular issues.

My thoughts on the Reagan parallel here.

The French newspaper echoes what can only be called euphoria from America’s allies and friends around the world at the prospect of an Obama presidency:

Obama should thank Bush in his prayers. Without him, America wouldn’t be seeking a uniter – or even a redeemer. A man capable of bringing together men and women (one third of women voted for him and not her), Blacks and Whites, Blue (Democrats) and Red (Republicans). A man who pardons the original sin of the slave and who holds up a mirror to America in which she is beautiful, multi-racial and pragmatic. A man who will heal the gaping wound of the Iraq War and restore America’s image in the world.

A little hyper-ventilating even for us Obamanians.

John Ellis reflects on the Romney candidacy – and what might have been.

Larison:

I raised a glass to Obama for defeating Hillary in Iowa, but it is time for everyone to sober up and stop pretending that drippy and meaningless optimism constitutes the path to good government …

One question to ask yourself about Obama is this: if he were white, would I ever support him?  Presumably many of his current supporters would, since they are also on board with his very progressive politics, but how broad a base of support do you suppose he would have?  Would it actually be good for the country and for black candidates in the future if the first black candidate to contest for national office were so far removed from Middle America as Obama certainly is? 

There is a difference between "drippy and meaningless optimism" and hope. If Obama were white, of course, he would not be who he is. And his long experience in balancing various parts of his identity, allowing no single part to define him, have led to the kind of judgment and maturity that I’d like to see in any presidential candidate. White or black.

Mark Falcoff has a must-read on the looming Republican crisis:

If Huckabee goes on to win more primaries he will have a reasonable claim to the nomination. He may, of course, lose New Hampshire, New York, California and Michigan. But let’s suppose that he manages to win enough primaries in the southern and border states to make the results in those three states irrelevant. It’s all a question of numbers. In spite of itself, the party might end up with him as its nominee, and with it, heading down the shortest road to disaster since the Goldwater debacle of 1964.

Make no mistake about it: an electoral defeat of these dimensions would represent a major watershed in the history of the Republican party. It would be faced with only two possible roads forward.

One is to become the party of the religious right, a sectarian agglomeration somewhat like the small ethnic parties in inter-war Europe, perhaps capable of holding some governorships and seats in Congress but never again competitive in a presidential election. The other would be to cut itself free from the religious right and seek to appeal to the wide and growing tranche of independent voters who are socially liberal but economically conservative. In that case the Republican party would gradually resemble some of the “liberal” (that is, conservative) parties who periodically win national elections in Western Europe or Canada. These parties are friendly to market-based solutions to economic problems—that is, they are broadly libertarian.

Think this is impossible? Think again.

Mike Allen and Ben Smith:

Conversations with campaign officials make it clear they feel besieged, and unsure how to sap Obama’s momentum.

Observers have long worried about the over-crowded and chaotic detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, where torture and murder of detainees has occurred under the command of George W. Bush. Now another ominous sign:

In a confidential memorandum last summer, the Red Cross said dozens of prisoners had been held incommunicado for weeks or even months in a previously undisclosed warren of isolation cells at Bagram, two American officials said. The Red Cross said the prisoners were kept from its inspectors and sometimes subjected to cruel treatment in apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions, one of the officials said.

By the end of this administration, the Geneva Conventions will have suffered a bigger blow from their original champion than any in their history.