Truth, Lies and In Between

Good article in the Wapo for a change…

What’s Next, Mr. President — Cardigans?
By Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie

Barely six months into his presidency, Barack Obama seems to be driving south into that political speed trap known as Carter Country: a sad-sack landscape in which every major initiative meets not just with failure but with scorn from political allies and foes alike. According to a July 13 CBS News poll, the once-unassailable president’s approval rating now stands at 57 percent, down 11 points from April. Half of Americans think the recession will last an additional two years or more, 52 percent think Obama is trying to “accomplish too much,” and 57 percent think the country is on the “wrong track.”

From a lousy cap-and-trade bill awaiting death in the Senate to a health-care reform agenda already weak in the knees to the failure of the stimulus to deliver promised jobs and economic activity, what once looked like a hope-tastic juggernaut is showing all the horsepower of a Chevy Cobalt. “Give it to me!” the president egged on a Michigan audience last week, pledging to “solve problems” and not “gripe” about the economic hand he was dealt.

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Conservative Reading List:

• George Will explains why we need to stop soaking the wealthy.
• Obamacare will cover 12 million illegal aliens.
• Bill Kristol comments on Kennedy’s support of rationed health care.
• Victor Davis Hanson knows that record deficits will ruin the Obama presidency just as balancing the budget will save it.
• Governor Mitch Daniels is running the Indiana state budget with a surplus.
• More apologies from the Obama administration; this time for global warming.
• Toomey: We’ve Really Lost Our Way – Manasee Wagh, Philly Inquirer
• Europe Thumps U.S., Again: Lower Taxes, Now Freer Trade – WSJ Editorial
• Healthcare Marathon May Hit Wall This Week – Jared Allen, The Hill
• Reformers’ Claims Just Don’t Add Up – IBD Editorial
• What’s Next, Mr. President – Cardigans? – Matt Welch & Nick Gillespie, WaPo
• Pelosi: Make Millionaires Pay for Health Care – Mike Allen, Politico
• Should Official Poverty Guidelines Be Revised? – Mark Perry, Carpe Diem
• POLL: Obama Faces Trouble on Stimulus and Deficit – ABC News
• Banks, Battles, and Overconfidence. – Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker
• The 50 Greatest Movie Monologues – Film.com