Matt Drudge Gives Obama Reasons To Drink @12:45 PM
Matt Drudge is STILL running this meretricious caption which implies that Barack Obama has a drinking problem even though it was clearly debunked yesterday. In fact, he's added the debunking bit to make it look as if the President doesn't take good care of his teeth. He's crafty, that guy. Anyway, the President does not have a drinking problem. But, really, could you blame him if he did? 7
On Obama (Riding a Pooping Pegasus Clinton) @2:10 PM
It showed at Postmasters in the fall, and just showed in Chicago last month, but one can watch artist Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung's video 'In G.O.D. We Trust' on his website, if you need your brain fried. 1
American Question Time Is A Bad Idea @11:40 AM
In the wake of President Obama's appearance at the House Republican conference last week, a "politically diverse group of bloggers, commentators, techies and politicos" have organized "an online campaign, Demand Question Time, urging President Barack Obama and GOP congressional leaders to hold regular, televised conversations like the extraordinary exchange in Baltimore on Friday."
Obama Among The Republicans @3:40 PM
Everyone will see what they want to see in President Obama's Q&A with the House Republican conference today—Democrats will be emboldened by the President's sometimes aggressive tone, Republicans will praise the sharp questions from their members, C-SPAN will be thrilled that people are paying attention to C-SPAN, etc.—but I think this was the part I enjoyed most. READ MORE 15
The State of the Union, As It Goes @9:39 PM
10:22 p.m. And it is over. Obama has never chanted "USA, USA, USA" before in his life. And it shows. Apart from that? I give that a pretty high marks for an ending. We don't quit! I don't quit! It was like a really good car commercial, back when we made cars. Still, it was nowhere near as ornate as some of the hyper-engineered Bush speeches? But it was less manipulative and therefore more persuasive. But! Now that that is concluded, we would like to hear from you in the comments, so we can know more fully what we all think of this speech tomorrow. READ MORE 126
Barack Obama Is Your New iPad @4:05 PM
I had no plans to buy an iPad—I have no plans to ever buy an iPhone, and if I do you are authorized to strike me in the face with something sharp and rusty—so I did not really follow the frenzy of speculation on all the functions what we until very recently referred to as the Apple Tablet might contain. Still, I'm a little taken aback by the immediate and vocal lack of enthusiasm for the product. What does it lack? What was everyone hoping for that did not materialize? This is a very rough thought that I may or may not refine, so take it as such, but the iPad is a lot like Barack Obama: Everyone was able to project their own fantasies and aspirations on a product with which they were mostly unfamiliar, only to sour on it once they realized that it did not live up to their impossible expectations. Only with the iPad it took about seven minutes for the disappointment to set in. I don't know what that says about our accelerated culture or how we confuse hype and excitement for the tangible realities of life, but it says something. I mean, probably. Like I said, I'm still trying to work it all out. 63
Republicans Told To Zip Their Lips Tonight @3:25 PM
Remember how when you were a kid and a guest was coming to speak to your class your teacher would sit you all down beforehand and talk to you about how important it was that you were all on your best behavior? Well, this is exactly like that, except these are ostensibly adults who need to be reminded not to shout things at the President of the United States. America! 16
Obama Surrenders To Mob, Mob Unimpressed @11:10 AM
Here's one thing you have to say the Obama administration has been remarkably efficient at: managing to piss everyone off. The president's proposed spending freeze is certainly no different: Republicans say it doesn't go far enough, House Democrats say they won't support it, Paul Krugman calls it "a betrayal of everything Obama’s supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view — and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008." READ MORE 31
Democrats Back To Comfortable "Helpless Losers" Status @9:00 AM
It's a little depressing that they only needed a year before they had to dust off this headline, right? In vaguely related news, here's an interview with Barack Obama by Time's Joe Klein. Now, I'm no political strategist, but can somebody please tell the president to stop talking in lettered lists? You read something like this—"And my theory, Joe, has always been, A: A lot of peoples' skepticism is entirely justified. B: That there's no reason why government should inherently be inefficient. C: At a time when we've got such enormous problems and such limited resources, people are going to be looking to government for help."—and halfway through you're already making mental bets on how far down in the alphabet he's going to go. (See also.) I hate to say it, but I'm ready for a president who treats us all like very dull children again. Apparently, it's what works. 15
Real America, with Abe Sauer: Obama's First Year in Pictures–Horrible, Horrible Pictures @2:30 PM
Exactly one year ago today, Barack Hussein Obama stood in Washington, D.C and recited the oath of office. Ten minutes later, men and women across America immediately started ordering CD-ROM copies of Learn Adobe® Photoshop® with Video Professor. What follows is another installment of The Awl's ongoing coverage of noteworthy Barack Obama Photoshop. This edition: the worst, most inexplicable Obama political art from the last 12 months. The gallery is quite Not Safe For Work, Reasonable Political Discourse. READ MORE 20
The End of the 00s: The Experience of Dishonorable Debates, by Seth Colter Walls @11:30 AM
"'The world is my idea:'—this is a truth which holds good for everything that lives and knows, though man alone can bring it into reflective and abstract consciousness."
—Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study, too, and that's how things will sort out."
—Anonymous Bush 43 aide, to Ron Suskind READ MORE 9
I Feel Bad About My President's Neck @9:39 AM
You know what makes for a bad morning? It's when you finally read one of those 9000-word HuffPo pieces that have been going around for a couple days, about how the President is whiffing, and how this healthcare bill is kind of bullshit and… you pretty much agree with it? I am not really feeling the love. I kind of want to go back in time and vote for Kucinich or maybe your mom. Anyway, when it comes to HuffPo, it helps if you: 1. Ignore any of the writer's historical examples, because I actually don't know anything about history and yet his simmering reduction of the past is suspicious to even me? And: 2. substitute any common word such as "said" or "expressed" every time the author (Drew Westen) uses "messaging." 3. Also, it really wouldn't take an editor longer than 8 minutes to cut 500 words, consider springing for that Arianna. (<3 you, whatevs!) Oh and 4. This essay is a total cheat because it's about "perceptions" and he has no idea what is going on in the White House behind "clothes doors." (Eighth-grade joke.) But other than that…. really, it looks like this healthcare bill is the worst Christmas present ever. 31
The Annotated White House Flickr Feed, with Ana Marie Cox and Jason Linkins: A Message To You, Salahi @4:30 PM
Our President: so busy! So photographed! And here are Air America's Ana Marie Cox and the Huffington Post's Eat the Press editor Jason Linkins to trawl the documentary evidence of our White House in action. READ MORE 15
"This is all one big overblown latke. I feel that we need to save our communal kvetching in reserve for when it's more called for and really matters."
—Rabbi Levi Shemtov addresses the GIGANTIC CONTROVERSY over the Obama White House Hanukkah party, which is apparently a huge "fuck you" to the Jewish community because the guest list is slightly smaller than last year's. 9
This Greenpeace ad suggesting the regrets world leaders will feel in the future if they are unable to effect some sort of relief for climate change at this week's conference in Copenhagen makes its point fairly well but, 20/20 jokes aside, if Barack Obama has another year like the current one, he's gonna look like this by 2011. 5
"It's ridiculous for someone to send my Facebook post. You guys are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill."
—Arlington, TN, mayor Russell Wiseman is upset that someone shared a private Facebook message in which he wrote that "Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load…..try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it….w…hen the answer should simply be 'yes'…." 17
Stupid Conspiracies With Sarah Palin @9:00 AM
"Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I've pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask… which they have repeatedly. But at no point – not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews – have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States," says Sarah Palin. Not that she doesn't think it's a "fair question." 10
et alS, with Cord Jefferson: Obama's Kinda Meh First Year @3:40 PM
What were you doing over the Thanksgiving break, friend? Drinking? Eating? Pitying your one cousin who could have been totally cool if your aunt wasn't such a Christian whackjob? Of course you were—and good for you! That's what people do.
Me on the other hand, I'm not a person, I'm a vegan, from even before that neon green book came out. So I was doing what all vegans do when you sickos annually sacrifice poultry to long-dead Puritans: straight up fuming, about absolutely everything. Here's a fume about how hard it is to find grocery store stuffing that doesn't use chicken broth. There's a fume about how Lil Wayne actually sucks, and just the general idea of Nike. And of course, right here's a fume about Slate, a website that I love, but also one that tests my patience from time to time. READ MORE 20
Obama Aghanistan Plan: Early Reaction From The Right @8:45 AM
This would be hysterical if it weren't so predictable. 14
Real America, with Abe Sauer: Oscar Season is for Patriots @2:50 PM
Like Christmas, and puberty, the Oscar movie season gets earlier every year. This year, one ambitious writer even declared "The Oscar Season Begins In August With Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds.'" But by any measure, we are now well into the time of year when Oscar-hopeful films get dumped into theaters to be ignored by almost everyone. This season's crop? The Road, Brothers, Broken Embraces, Precious, A Single Man, Crazy Heart, The White Ribbon, Invictus, Nine, The Lovely Bones, It's Complicated, An Education, Avatar and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. (Up in the Air is disqualified for basically being the 40-Year-Old Virgin with moodier lighting.) But what about Oscar season for the crowd who thinks all those liberal Hollywood movies are for socialist pansies? For them, there is Photoshop. READ MORE 83
Your big question for the morning: Why does Barack Obama hate "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and all that it stands for? Your slightly less pressing question for the morning: Why is Barack Obama putting 30,000 more American lives at risk for a mission that will at best end in a frustrating stalemate? Questions! 8
