Open Threads

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, a frighteningly smart guy. I’d love to hear his real, honest, not-positioning-for-2012 response to Obama’s speech tonight because I suspect he’d have some sharp and useful criticisms.

Now, I suspect that Jindal is relatively intelligent since he was a Rhodes scholar. And, anyway, all Indians are smart, right? But if he’s never made any sharp or useful criticisms of Obama, then why should we believe that he has any? His educational pedigree doesn’t make his nonsense any more logical, just as David Brooks’ faux erudition doesn’t make his vacuous vagaries any more incisive.

Look, there are Republicans who have said intelligent things about the stimulus — Charlie Crist and Arnie (who support it) and Marty Feldstein who supports it with reservations, for example. But Republicans who unreservedly oppose the stimulus have not made any good points about their opposition. Repeating things that Herbert Hoover said 80 years ago does not qualify as a good point.

This really is the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.

Reasonable Republican clubPost + Comments (41)

Some other thoughts I had last night, in no particular order:

1.) Hillary Clinton looked great. Relaxed, happy, and content. She honestly looked ten years younger than she did during the campaign, and I am not one to reflexively compliment Hillary (how does that work for the understatement of the decade). Also, there was a very intimate look between her and Obama as he approached the stage. There was something about the nonverbals there that seemed to suggest Obama really trusts her. Watch it for yourself.

2.) Also while you watch it, notice the cameraman with the shiny black hair following Obama- watch how he just blends in. When you watch the feed, you notice Obama greeting everyone and you notice everyone around him, and only if you pay attention, you will see the cameraman. He is that good at blending in- he looks like a mouse darting around. I thought that was interesting.

3.) Jim Jones is a man. I imagine being called into the Commandant’s office must have been terrifying. I bet he can kill you with his bare hands, but would never need to, because his stare would kill you first.

4.) I am still a sucker for a uniform. Just love the Joint Chiefs standing up there in their dress uniforms. Blah blah blah, I’m an authoritarian, blah blah blah. If you had any idea how much work it is to make their uniforms look that good, you would understand.

5.) The speech was an obvious home run. The polling data is through the roof.

6.) Is it just me, or were the pundits on every channel (except MSNBC, where the gushing was spoofable) playing it pretty straight and true last night?

7.) I have decided that anyone who decries the lack of specifics in a speech like this is someone who just wants to bitch about something but has nothing to complain about. There are never any specifics in speeches like this. Ever. What kind of rousing oratory would it be to read line by line from a budget proposal? Get a grip, folks.

At any rate, I have stuff to do. Consider this your open thread until someone says something appalling at the WaPo chat in a couple hours. You can almost set your clock to that, and thank God DougJ is reading those so I don’t have to.

Other Random Thoughts and an Open ThreadPost + Comments (125)

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” – it’s just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic right now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill, but that idea that we’re just gonna – that government is going to have no role, the federal government has no role in this, that – In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say “government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending,” it’s just a form of nihilism. It’s just not where the country is, it’s not where the future of the country is. There’s an intra-Republican debate. Some people say the Republican Party lost its way because they got too moderate. Some people say they got too weird or too conservative. He thinks they got too moderate, and so he’s making that case. I think it’s insane, and I just think it’s a disaster for the party. I just think it’s unfortunate right now.

I’m sure Brooks criticizes Jindal not because Brooks has actual convictions, but because he has a pathological need to seem reasonable.

Jindal sets off Burkean alarm bellsPost + Comments (126)

Can’t he say “president” properly?

Jindal’s responsePost + Comments (125)

I’m picking out a thermos for you.

Speaking of morons, here is agood review of Eastbound and Down, which I saw last week completely by accident.

CBS Sunday MorningPost + Comments (273)