999

Here's a nifty chart to show you how you'd likely fare (hint: not good) under Herman Cain's 999 plan.

Why Romney Isn't Pulling Away

Lots of people are speculating why Mitt Romney has failed to pull away from his Republican rivals in the race for the GOP nomination. Some say it is because his Mormonism is a non-starter for some fundamentalist Christians, some say it is because of his flip-flops, some say it is his links to Obamacare. The correct answer in a word ... God.

It turns out God has been working the phones encouraging many of the other candidates but there is no indication God has encouraged Romney. Chris Christie is a great endorsement to help with Republican voters in the northeast but God really has crossover appeal.

"It's Math"

The Obama campaign should make t-shirts, bumper stickers, lawn signs, and posters with this simple slogan. Here's what the President said this morning:

"Either we have to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, or we have to ask seniors to pay more for medicare, or gut education. This is not class warfare. It's Math."

The Texas Miracle

It seems that Rick Perry's credentials as a "job creator" just took a bit of a hit. Some of the jobs in Texas were public sector jobs and, as there are less of those, Texas's unemployment rate is reverting towards the national average.

As the President said this morning ... "it's math."

Stuff That Makes You Say "Really?"

George W. Bush says the most nerve-wracking moment of his entire presidency was throwing out the first pitch in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series.

This explains a lot about his presidency actually.

I happened to be at the game and I can honestly tell you that wasn't even in the top 10 list of nerve-wracking things that day.

Obama's Rope-A-Dope

I have long said that Obama employs a rope-a-dope strategy with his opponents. He's done it over and over beginning with his primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2007 and 2008.

For months and months, he has allowed the Republicans to punch and scream and yell and generally make asses of themselves. Many on the left have been disappointed and even angry with Obama for not punching back. But Obama knew two things:

1) Punching back was not going to work. He cannot beat public opinion into submission.

2) By not punching back, he allowed the Republicans to have center stage ... which is the absolute worst thing that could happen to them. It turns out their ideas and plans are simply crazy and nihilistic.

This first phase is now over and Obama is now Ali coming out of the crouch and punching back. Like Foreman, Republicans are now unsure what to do and are caught a little bit flat-footed.

If you've missed the 2008 Obama, he's coming to a television near you soon.

What the F*** Has Obama Done So Far?

My new favorite website

The Criticism of Obama

Maureen Dowd has a moronic op-ed out today. Drew Westen's is even dumber. I would link to them but the quota of ignorance in society has been reached. Check back tomorrow.

Regardless, Andrew Sprung and Jonathan Chait have dismembered Westen's stupidity well enough.

The important point in all of this is that liberals need to stop fantasizing about how they think the political system ought to work but never, never, ever has. Hey Krugman, you think the stimulus bill wasn't big enough and relied too much on tax cuts? Me too. When we play fantasy politics, maybe we can invent a political system run by liberal economists. In the real world, Obama got what he could get. Hey Moulistas, you think Obama sold us out on the public option? Show me the 60 votes you rounded up in the Senate in support of it.

Barack Obama is President in the real world where Republicans control the floor of the House of Representatives and have a veto over legislation on the floor of the U.S. Senate. For all his rhetorical gifts, Obama cannot move these unmovable objects. Neither could Reagan. Neither did FDR. Those are myths and fantasies.

What S&P Did Wrong

S&P downgraded US debt and argued it did so because the debt ceiling was not raised in a timely manner and because the US Congress and the administration are not working together well to resolve the long-term debt issues.

Now the blame game begins. Republicans will blame Obama and Obama will blame Republicans. That's how most Americans will see it anyway. Ezra Klein argues S&P was right to downgrade US debt, even arguing it was overdue. As a purely economic matter, S&P probably is right. But what Klein fails to point out and what the media will ignore (because of their "norm of objectivity" which is not actually objective) is this: S&P is to blame for the downgrade ... because they did not blame congressional Republicans. Had S&P and the larger Wall Street community stepped in and asked Republicans to be more reasonable and to stop playing around with the nation's debt ceiling, none of this would have happened. Because S&P tried to stay out of politics even when they knew who was right and who was wrong in this dispute, the Republicans pushed ahead with this outrageous and destructive political strategy. And worse, they now feel empowered to do it all over again and again and again. Even in the downgrade, S&P could have said that Republicans need to compromise on taxes. Instead, S&P said Republican intrangisence on taxes is equivalent to Democratic intrangisence on entitlements. That's just not true. It is untrue. It is wrong. S&P is lying ... in order to appear objective.

In essence, S&P is causing the downgrade

GOP Opposition to Obama's Birthday

No agreement had been reached so Obama was forced to act unilaterally.