The Argument For Obama

by Stuart Shapiro

Nicholas Kristof has an op-ed that does an outstanding job summarizing why Democrats should rally around the president.  I’d copy the whole article but have to settle for two excerpts.  First, a list of accomplishments.

He took office in the worst recession in more than half a century, amid fears of a complete economic implosion. As The Onion, the satirical news organization, described his election at the time: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.”

The administration helped tug us back from the brink of economic ruin. Obama oversaw an economic stimulus that, while too small, was far …

Teen Tweeter Rejects Principal’s Demand For Written Apology To The Governor

Emma Sullivan says she won’t send a written apology to Gov. Sam Brownback because she isn’t sorry for what she did.

The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week in Topeka, Kan., when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback’s greeting. From her cellphone, she thumbed: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback,” and then specified what the comments were.

The Tweet read:  ”Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.” Sullivan actually made no …

How Mitt Romney Differs From His Father: George Romney Stood For Something

Mitt Romney idolizes his father and refers to him as “the real deal.” In fact, some of his father’s advisers don’t believe Mitt has his dad’s sense of conviction. George Romney grew to oppose the Vietnam war and imposed a state tax as governor of Michigan, something Mitt now criticizes.

Fiscally conservative but socially moderate, dedicated to forging a Republicanism that invested itself in problems of race and American inner cities, he irked conservative elements of his party. A national figure after his election as Michigan’s governor in 1962, he fought vainly for a civil rights plank in the …

Syracuse Fires Bernie Fine After Third Molestation Accusation

Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, who served for 35 years, has been dismissed after a third person has come forward to claim Fine molested him.

“At the direction of Chancellor Cantor, Bernie Fine’s employment with Syracuse University has been terminated, effective immediately,” Kevin Quinn, the school’s senior vice president for public affairs, said in a statement…

Zach Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, said Sunday that he told police that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room. He said Fine touched him “multiple” times in that one incident.

He was the third accuser to come forward …

Colin Powell: Tea Party Can’t Win Presidency In 2012

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says Tea Party candidates are too hardline to win the presidency.

“The Tea Party point of view of ‘no compromise whatsoever’ is not a point of view that will eventually produce a presidential candidate who will win,” he said on ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour.”

Powell said taking the no-compromise position isn’t helping get things done in Washington, and called on members of Congress to “come back to the center to compromise” in order to see progress.

“Compromise is how this country was founded,” he said, offering as an example the issue of …

Bill Clinton On Newt Gingrich’s Campaign: “He’s Being Rewarded For Thinking”

Bill Clinton told Newsmax that Newt Gingrich is being rewarded for coming up with thoughtful conservative solutions to problems. Clinton was especially impressed with Gingrich’s answer to the immigration issue.

“He said, ‘OK, I don’t want to legitimize immigrants who came here undocumented, illegally.’ On the other hand, a lot of those people have been here for years, they worked hard, they paid taxes, they’ve got kids in the schools, they’re not criminals, we’re going to have a hard time sending them all home, there’s millions of them. So, I’d like to have a process where they could be here …

Pakistan Orders U.S. To Leave Airbase Because Of NATO Attack That Killed 24 Soldiers

A wrongful attack on the Pakistan border that killed 24 soldiers and wounded 13 has led to the United States being asked to leave the airbase they used.

American forces were told to leave the remote Shamsi airbase, secretly given over to the US after 9/11, following an emergency meeting of Pakistan’s top civilian and military leadership late on Saturday. Pakistan has also blocked supply routes for US-led troops in Afghanistan.

Shamsi was used heavily for launching the war in Afghanistan in late 2001, and later served as the base for the US drone programme. Set in sparsely populated desert …

NH Union Leader Endorses Newt Gingrich

The influential New Hampshire Union Leader normally goes for a real conservative, so it’s no surprise they’re not picking the Mittster.

New Hampshire’s largest newspaper has endorsed Newt Gingrich for the Republican presidential nomination.

The New Hampshire Union Leader’s Sunday editorial says the former House speaker “is by no means the perfect candidate” but calls him “the best candidate who is actually running.”

In other words, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.…

Herman Cain Is Incomprehensible In CNN Interview

Candy Crowley interviewed Herman Cain on CNN Sunday morning and his responses show he tried to have it all ways and is incapable or unwilling to give clear, concise policy positions. On immigration, Cain said states should have the right to set its own rules, but when asked if that means granting amnesty, Cain refused to say yes. Cain seems oblivious to the fact that border patrol issues are national in nature.

On the issue of illegal immigration, Cain restated his support for enforcing laws currently in place, but said he would allow states to deal individually with immigrants. When …

Atlas 5 Rocket Heads For Mars To Look For Life

The Mars rover costing $2.5 billion just left on an 8 1/2 month, 352-million-mile trip to look for life on Mars.

The primary goal of the mission is to determine if Mars ever had a habitable environment at some point in its history, areas where the three necessities of life–water, energy, and carbon compounds–existed in concert.

The first two are now well established, thanks to earlier Mars missions that showed Mars was once a much warmer, wetter world. But the search for carbon compounds is a much more challenging proposition.…

Why Romney Lied

The Romney camp is trying to spin its blatantly false advertising as a brilliant ploy for attention. But Greg Sargent gets it right:

My view is that all the boasting from Romney’s advisers about their own strategic brilliance is just bluster. If they’re willing to run an ad this dishonest, why would anyone believe anything they say about it? It’s more likely that they lied, got caught, and came up with another set of falsehoods to explain the lie away. But who knows — maybe the above interpretation is true. Maybe the Romney team thinks a deliberate show of dishonesty …