Yesterday, George Packer drooled all over David Brooks’ vacuous “Burkean bell” critique of Obama, which can be summarized as “it sounds complex, so I don’t think it will work.” Today, Amy Sullivan tells us that Bobby Jindal would have been brilliant if only he’d told us what he’d really thought: Jindal is a smart guy, …
Losing the thread
Atrios makes a point about wingnut mythology that’s along the lines of what I’ve been thinking for a while: I’ve written before that I think part of the problem that conservatives/Republicans face is that their mythology has become a bit too complex for mere mortals (people who don’t listen to Limbaugh and read The Corner …
Jindal sets off Burkean alarm bells
From MyDD (via TPM): DAVID BROOKS: Uh, not so well. You know, I think Bobby Jindal is a very promising politician, and I oppose the stimulus because I thought it was poorly drafted. But to come up at this moment in history with a stale “government is the problem,” “we can’t trust the federal government” …
Polling notes
I just got off a conference call with the Greenberg-Quinlan-Rosner polling outfit and the big take away here is that the response to Obama’s speech was almost the same among Republicans as among Democrats. The phrase I heard was “I have never seen anything like this before.” Another point is that the talk about the …
Jindal’s response
Can’t he say “president” properly?
Burkean bells and Brooksian star bursts
George Packer on David Brooks: David Brooks is going to be one of the best critics the Obama Administration will have, because his reservations and attacks are based on a world view that’s not only viable and thoughtful but almost always proved right: the view that we human beings overrate our ability to solve problems …
What if?
Sorry but I have to indulge my WaPo chat fixation again today: Washingotn, D.C.: Tonight, Obama will no doubt say he inherited this mess, not his fault, etc. What would have happened if Bush, after 9/11, got up there and said. We need to understand this was Bill Clinton’s fault for gutting our intelligence agencies …