Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. That might seem like a long time ago when it comes to standard news cycles, but I decided that someone has to take their time when responding to think it through a bit. If you’re already tired of this analysis, I’ll understand.
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Different Roles
The public flagellation over the loss in Massachusetts has started to consume Democrats, as nearly anyone could expect. But there’s one angle to this that has been strangely missing, a way of looking at it that we used to be able to count on – that Martha Coakley was a woman. Was that important? I happen to think that it was, but not necessarily in the way that most people might expect. If we’re going to prevent this kind of loss in the future, there are many lessons that we should learn. This is one of them.
and Statistics
It should have been an easy win. The Republicans hadn’t held that seat in the Senate since John F. Kennedy defeated Henry Cabot Lodge in 1952. But something went terribly wrong, something that will probably echo through the summer and into the mid-term election this November. That means that the Democrats have 10 months to either figure out what’s wrong or descend into a paralyzing psychoanalysis about the past, present and future of the party.
Guess which I think is going to happen?
Popular Front
President Obama has finally taken a more populist tone on the economy by proposing that the TARP money given to the financial institutions in the midst of crisis be repaid by a special tax on large banks. It’s a good start, but only a start. What matters is how this plays out over the next few weeks and whether or not it catches on. Less obvious, however, is that support of this approach is going to be good politics for everyone as we head into an election year, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Happier Time
Perhaps it was nothing more than a good way to avoid work on the first few daze back after vacation, but the idea of Popular Doom caught the attention of a lot of people. Last night, however, we had this wonderful essay by John Oliver at the Daily Show that I have to bring into the discussion, if for no other reason than to ride his coattails:
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Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 