memeorandum: Obama and the Burden of Exceptionalism (Shelby Steele/Wall Street Journal)

9:25 PM ET, September 1, 2011

Top Items:

George Stephanopoulos / Politics:

James Carville: White House ‘Out of Bounds’ Over Speech Flap — Democratic strategist James Carville told me that the White House was in the wrong when it requested that the President address Congress on the same night and time as a Republican presidential debate.

Discussion: Hot Air, Don Surber, Big Government, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, The Hill, The Politico, Moe Lane, CNN, Right Wing Nut House and Outside the Beltway

Roger Simon / The Politico:

W.H. furious over speech delay — It seemed like a trivial matter: On Wednesday, House Republicans forced the president to delay his speech to a joint session of Congress by one day. — Who cares? The White House cares. Very much. — “It is a big deal that the House said ‘no’ to the president …

Discussion: msnbc.com, JSOnline, Pajamas Media and FrumForum

Cenk Uygur / The Huffington Post:

Is Obama Playing Rope-a-Dope? — Here was the headline on Yahoo from Wednesday night: Obama bows to Boehner on jobs speech. — I can tell you what any progressive who has been paying attention thought, “Oh boy, here we go again.” — President Obama has now changed the day of his address to Congress to accommodate the Republicans.

Discussion: Swampland, RedState, Don Surber, National Review and The TrogloPundit

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Speaker John Boehner Should Resign For His Unprecedented Insult To The President — The mainstream media, and even some in the liberal opinion media, have completely missed the point of President Obama's dust-up with Speaker John Boehner over the date for Obama's address before a joint session of Congress.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Fox News, Pajamas Media and Verum Serum

Ezra Klein / Bloomberg:

About Ezra Klein — Ezra Klein is a columnist and blogger at The Washington Post and a policy analyst for MSNBC. His work focuses on domestic and economic policy-making, as well as the political system that's constantly screwing it up. — Expect Obama Speech to Yield Lots of Talk, No Action: Ezra Klein

Discussion: The New Republic and Washington Monthly

James Downie / Washington Post:
Obama-Boehner speech spat should worry Democrats

Discussion: Firedoglake, Mediaite, Althouse, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Mad Kane's Political Madness, Scared Monkeys and New York Times

The Hill:
Obama, Boehner reach deal on timing of address to Congress

Discussion: The Politico

Matt Negrin / The Politico:
White House: Send us your petitions

Discussion: Associated Press, ThinkProgress and Economist's View

Rasmussen Reports:

Perry 44% Obama 41%; President Leads Other GOP Hopefuls — For the first time this year, Texas Governor Rick Perry leads President Obama in a national Election 2012 survey. Other Republican candidates trail the president by single digits. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, Hotline On Call, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GOP 12, Indecision Forever and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

NationalJournal.com:

Democrats Distancing Themselves From Obama — Rep. Pete DeFazio, D-Ore., introduced then-presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama at a campaign event in Oregon in 2008. Now he seems to be recalculating how close is too close to be to an unpopular President Obama.

Discussion: The Hill

Quinnipiac University:
Obama Approval Hits All-Time Low, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Economy Is Getting Worse, More Voters Say

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Hotline On Call, Washington Wire, Campaign 2012, Daily Kos and Wake up America

Joe Klein / Swampland:

Romney=Kerry; Perry=Dean? — In my print column this week, hidden behind the magic wonderwall, I indulge in a little presidential campaign history: Four years ago, in September 2007, John McCain-the eventual Republican nominee-was dead in the water, having raised and wasted a ton of money and fired most of his staff.

Joshua Green / Associated Press:
Perry can't exploit key weakness for Romney

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and GOP 12

Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Perry Overtakes Romney as Top GOP 2012 Pick; Most Say Palin Should Stay Out of Race

Discussion: Politics, Hot Air, TPMDC, Ben Smith's Blog and Outside the Beltway

The Huffington Post:

Pima County Repubs Raffle Glock As Fundraiser; Same Gun Type Used in Tucson Shooting … Talk about a killer gimmick. — An Arizona Republican fundraiser is offering as a prize the same type of gun used in the attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, The Raw Story, Balloon Juice, ThinkProgress, Seeing the Forest, Wonkette, Hotline On Call, The Truth About Guns, New York Magazine, ImmigrationProf Blog, The Political Carnival and Religion Dispatches

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

Tucson Republican Leader Slams County GOP For Giffords Gun Raffle — Eyebrows shot up all over the country Thursday following news that that the Republican Party in Pima County, AZ — home to Tucson and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D) district — is raffling off a Glock similar to the one used to shoot Giffords in the head in January.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politics

Fawn Johnson / The Atlantic Online:

Obama Rolls Out a Jobs Plan That Doesn't Need Congress — The president has asked federal agencies to find solutions on their own. His message to lawmakers: We can do this without you. — President Obama is either fed up with Congress or he's testing his own administration's mettle. Or both.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Smartypants, The Other McCain, Pajamas Media, The Political Carnival, The Democratic Daily, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, The Lonely Conservative and The Mahablog

Mike Rosenberg / Mercury News:

Dude! Free weed lying on San Jose street snatched up by bystanders — It was a pot head's dream: Free marijuana lying on the street for the taking, without a cop in sight. — San Jose police say a truck illegally carrying marijuana crashed and ended up on its side near Oakridge Mall early Wednesday …

Discussion: Associated Press, Pajamas Media and L.A. NOW

Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:

Florida Republicans Fight To Keep ‘Cohabitation’ Of Unmarried Couples Illegal — Thousands of unmarried couples who are living together in Florida may be surprised to learn that they are actually breaking the law. Under outdated and rarely enforced state laws that have been on the books since …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Sun-Sentinel and Wonkette

Sarah Kliff / Washington Post:

Big health premium hikes can get ‘Scarlet U’ starting today — A big thing is happening in health policy right about now. Starting this morning, the health-care law requires regulators to review every double-digit premium increase for health insurance plans.

Discussion: Healthwatch, Hit & Run and ThinkProgress

Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:
Perry Proposed A Bi-National Health Insurance Plan With Mexico In 2001

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Trail Blazers Blog and Wonkette

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

Is The Great Recession Forcing Graduates Of Elite Colleges Into A Desperate Life Of Rockstardom? — As we saw yesterday, the recession's bite has been broad, including on the earnings of recent college graduates. But this seems to be going a bit far:

Discussion: New York Times and epi.org

Shelby Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Obama and the Burden of Exceptionalism — Post-'60s liberals, with the president as their standard bearer, seek to make a virtue of decline. — If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times: President Obama is destroying the country. Some say this destructiveness is intended …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The New Republic

George Bennett / Palm Beach Post:

FEMA'S use of term ‘federal family’ for government expands under Obama — Posted: 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, Augt. 31, 2011 — Don't think of it as the federal government but as your “federal family.” — In a Category 4 torrent of official communications during the approach and aftermath …

Discussion: Cafe Hayek, americanthinker.com, Sister Toldjah, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, No Left Turns, The Lonely Conservative, LewRockwell.com Blog and Pajamas Media

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

White House downgrades 2012 jobs, economic forecasts; cites ‘turbulence’ — The Obama administration downgraded its forecast for economic growth Thursday, predicting turmoil in the economy will likely keep unemployment above 9 percent through next year's election.

Discussion: RealClearPolitics Video Log, Hot Air, The Hill and Pajamas Media

Vanity Fair:

The 2011 New Establishment List: And the Top Spot Goes to... This year's New Establishment list identifies the top 50 of an innovative new breed of buccaneering visionaries, engineering prodigies, and entrepreneurs—"The Age of Information gives way to a burgeoning Age of Technology," as Graydon Carter puts it.

Discussion: FishbowlDC and Hullabaloo, more at Mediagazer »

Carrie Johnson / NPR:

Justice Department Tougher On Abortion Protesters … The Obama Justice Department has been taking a more aggressive approach against people who block access to abortion clinics, using a 1994 law to bring cases in greater numbers than its predecessor. — The numbers are most stark when it comes …

Discussion: The American Independent, Shakesville and ThinkProgress

CNN:

TRENDING: New Hampshire GOP chair resigns — Concord, New Hampshire (CNN) - Embattled New Hampshire GOP Chair Jack Kimball resigned his post Thursday, forestalling a planned vote by the party's executive committee that could have ended in his removal. — In an emotional speech …

Discussion: Associated Press

LawProf / Inside the Law School Scam:

Indignation — I don't want to make this blog a narcissistic exercise (what the world world needs now is another law professor's self-absorbed musings like I need a hole in my head), but I want to preface this post with a couple of personal observations. Writing this blog has been very gratifying …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Other McCain and ThinkProgress

Mary Lu Carnevale / Washington Wire:

Grassley, Issa Expand ‘Fast and Furious’ Investigation — That didn't take long. — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said they were expanding their probe into a troubled anti-gun-trafficking program, two days after the Justice Department announced a shake-up of officials who oversaw the program.

Discussion: Examiner, Doug Ross, Sipsey Street Irregulars and The Daily Caller

David Weprin / Jewish Press:

TURNER VS. WEPRIN - IN THEIR OWN WORDS — By: … The Jewish Press: You're running in a heavily Democratic district, yet a recent poll showed you ahead by just 6 points. — Weprin: Turner ran [last] November and got 40 percent [against Anthony Weiner] and this latest poll has him at 42 percent - just a two-point increase.

Discussion: Hotline On Call

Sara Horowitz / The Atlantic Online:

The Freelance Surge Is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time — Welcome to the Gig Life. The boom in independent work is changing the way we think about jobs and careers. Does Washington get it? — REUTERS — It's been called the Gig Economy, Freelance Nation, the Rise of the Creative Class …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

John Hooper / Guardian:

Berlusconi vows to leave ‘s**tty’ Italy in conversation recorded by police — Transcripts from blackmail investigation reveal the Italian prime minister's frustration with his country — In a sign of his frustration at the investigations into his alleged crimes and misdemeanours …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Mish's Global Economic … and TPMDC

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

Five GOP Presidential Candidates Have Proposed Eliminating Capital Gains Tax, A $1 Trillion Giveaway To The Rich — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) — Yesterday, 2012 GOP presidential long-shot Jon Huntsman unveiled an economic plan that …

Discussion: Concord Monitor, Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway and The Political Carnival

John DiStaso / unionleader.com:

Primary Status: Huntsman camp confirms firing of NH campaign manager — THURSDAY, SEPT. 1 UPDATE: FIRING CONFIRMED. The Huntsman campaign has just confirmed our report below that state campaign manager Ethan Eilon has been fired and that Sarah Crawford Stewart will take over many aspects of the job.

Discussion: The Politico, The Caucus, The Daily Caller, TPMDC and msnbc.com

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

Lieberman: Obama's concern with offending Muslims hurts war effort — The Obama administration's fear of offending Muslims will hurt the U.S. war against terrorism, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday in a speech blasting the president's new counterterrorism strategy.

Discussion: Washington Monthly