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A decade after recognizing that the middle class might be a signpost on the way to redemption, the government is demonstrably failing to enact the will of the men and women it needs most, and thus it risks losing its greatest bulwark against the change it fears.
In today’s Daily Comment, Evan Osnos writes about the Chinese government’s failure to cultivate and satisfy the middle class: http://nyr.kr/YR7AIO
Photograph by Feng Li/Getty.
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Cartoon by Christopher Weyant. For more: http://nyr.kr/WTo7ST
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"Obama has said that when it comes to the issue of torture during the Bush years, he prefers to “turn the page.” He’s pointed out that his Administration has banned “enhanced interrogation techniques” by executive order, but another Administration can just as easily re-authorize them. Without access to this meticulous, tragic, and available history, what’s to stop the country from repeating it? Before turning the page, the President might do well to make sure he, and the rest of us, can read it."
— Jane Mayer on why the Obama Administration should push for the public release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s still-classfied blockbuster report on C.I.A. wrongdoing during the Bush years: http://nyr.kr/12satrW(Source: newyorker.com)
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A fundamental fact of modern political life is that the only way to advance a coherent agenda in Washington is through partisan dominance…
The boring fact of our system is that congressional math is the best predictor of a President’s success. This idea is not nearly as sexy as the notion that great Presidents are great because they twist arms in backrooms and inspire the American people to rise up and force Congress to bend to their will. But even the Presidents who are remembered for their relentless congressional lobbying and socializing were more often than not successful for more mundane reasons—like arithmetic.
In today’s Daily Comment, Ryan Lizza writes about the limits of President Obama’s power in the wake of the failed sequester deal: http://nyr.kr/XT5vgj
Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP.
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The Borowitz Report: Chinese Hackers Drop U.S. Government from List of High-Value Targets→
SHANGHAI (The Borowitz Report)—In a rare announcement from a notoriously publicity-shy group, Chinese hackers revealed today that they were dropping the United States government from their official list of high-value targets. Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/XIBBvc
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Live Chat: The Ethics of Drone Warfare
Years of secrecy surrounding the United States’ drone program have left many questions—about targeted killings, transparency and due process; the power of President; and where battlefields begin and end.
Today at 3 P.M. E.T., Michael Walzer, the author of “Just and Unjust Wars” and professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; Jeff McMahan, a professor of philosophy at Rutgers and the author of “The Ethics of Killing”; and New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer will discuss the ethics of drone warfare in a live chat with readers.
Follow the link to help get the exchange started by leaving questions in the comments section, and be sure to return at 3:00 for the discussion: http://nyr.kr/WJNjcj(Source: newyorker.com)
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The State of the Union
Today, the event is essentially a tool of legislative strategy. It’s no longer just an occasion for the President to present the details of his agenda to Congress and the public, though every President does do that. The real purpose now is for the President to take advantage of the unusual opportunity of having his political opponents before him as a captive audience. While the President can’t actually make Congress vote for any of his proposals, on this one night he can make every congressman and senator squirm as they are forced to decide, in public, whether to applaud for each of his ideas…
Ryan Lizza on the State of the Union address, and Obama’s new rallying cry: http://nyr.kr/VfMfvz
John Cassidy on “President Obama’s carefully plotted campaign speech, thinly disguised as a State of the Union address”: http://nyr.kr/X71G71
This is a year when the President needed to use the State of the Union to offer a coherent counter-argument to the Republican raging against government in all its forms. He succeeded reasonably well, with the help of [a word], one that gave the speech its emotional force: guns.
Amy Davidson on guns and government in Obama’s address: http://nyr.kr/XzOmuH
(Photographs: 1. Charles Dharapak/AFP/Getty Images 2. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images 3. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.)
(Source: newyorker.com)
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G.O.P. Freshmen Saddened by Failure to Shut Down Government on First Day→
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Just hours after being sworn in at the U.S. Capitol, the freshman class of House Republicans said that they were disappointed that they failed to shut down the government on their first day in office. Read more: http://nyr.kr/13bszvU
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Senatus Decadens
In today’s Daily Comment, George Packer looks at the decaying Senate and considers whether filibuster reform can save it: “The Senate is in a prolonged, self-induced coma. It does not produce creative legislation. It does not inspire important debate. It is not responsive to key national problems. Its pretense of institutional dignity is so battered that junior senators openly mock it.” Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/UrSAlC
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Three Senators and “Zero Dark Thirty”
The senators shouldn’t edit the movie; they can, and should, increase transparency about torture…
Amy Davidson on the government’s reaction to “Zero Dark Thirty”: http://nyr.kr/ZUavGH
