(Faux) Summer Reading

It is way too gorgeous outside in Manhattan (high of 86!) to do any deep political thinking, or work, so I’d suggest you print out the following articles, find a nice bench or spot on the grass, and enjoy some light reading.

• Rachel Slajda at Talking Points Memo has an entertaining post on right-wing paranoia about the census.
• Since the disfunctions of the US Senate have been such a hot topic in these parts, I can’t recommend Jennifer Senior’s New York Magazine piece on the subject enough.
• Is there anything more entertaining than speculating about Supreme Court vacancies? Nope!
• Even though it’s a few week’s old, I’m still recommending Jane Meyer’s remarkably frank takedown of Marc Thiessen’s execrable book to everyone I know.
• Apparently I’ve been mispronouncing Jonathan Lethem’s last name for years.

The State of Our Union Is… Sassy!

The State of the Union is so overhyped. The speech rarely has any substantive political effect, and it’s important to remember that Obama’s first-year problem has not, depite the past month, been one of narrative. Matt Yglesias makes a great point today:

[W]hat we’ve learned time and again over the past year is that there’s only so far that great speeches get you. [...] Obama seized the mantle of responsibility, pragmatism, and seriousness while challenging the GOP to show some good faith and willingness to be a constructive partner in government. But what he’s never been able to do is to generate the kind of specific, concrete political pressure on incumbent Republican senators that inspires them to vote “yes” on his bills or confirm his nominees. And nothing in his speech changes that dynamic.

It wasn’t a great speech, but it didn’t need to be. No speech is every going to change Olympia Snowe’s vote, or make Lieberman less of an asshole. But what I saw, and what I think the American people saw, was a pissed-off President not afraid to call out his enemies. He’s angry, and so are we! It was a brilliant piece of performance art. Watching Boehner and Cantor smirk through Obama’s rousing defense of the stimulus and bailouts and tax cuts served as a reminder of the fact that the Republicans are simply refusing to legislate. They’re not doing their jobs, and they’re incredibly unpopular because of it! There’s a reason Obama is far more popular than anyone in Congress, and, pace Scott Brown, it’s decidedly not because Americans are against health care reform. The triumph of last night was the return of 2008 Obama, just when we need him.

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