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"So the scandal—the real scandal—is that 501(c)(4) groups have been engaged in political activity in such a sustained and open way."
— Jeffrey Toobin on the real I.R.S. scandal: http://nyr.kr/19lLQLp -
"There’s been so much written about changing political demographics since President Obama was reëlected last November that you could be forgiven for believing that we now live in a country called Liberal America.” But “the wheel of history never stops turning, and no majority is permanent."
— In today’s Daily Comment, George Packer writes about changing opinions in America: http://nyr.kr/Z5ceTZ -
"For anyone looking for a real diplomatic initiative, this trip was just that: a disappointment. Obama was all embrace: no pressure, no initiative, no insistence…But the trip, for all its limitations, is worth unpacking because it is one of those events that could turn out to be deeply significant…"
— In today’s Daily Comment, David Remnick writes about Obama in Israel: http://nyr.kr/YetAUZ(Source: newyorker.com)
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Obama in Israel: What’s His Game Plan?
What is Obama really up to with his visit to Israel? John Cassidy has some thoughts: http://nyr.kr/YrNpT0
Photograph by Uriel Sinai/Getty.
(Source: newyorker.com)
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The Three-Billion-Dollar Brain→
Gary Marcus explains why any investment in neuroscience, like Obama’s brain-mapping project, the focus of which is on developing new techniques for gathering unprecedented amounts of neurological data, needs theorists:
It is easier to collect massive amounts of data than to understand them… To make sure that the Brain Activity Map yields true insights, theorists need to be equal partners with data collectors, deeply involved from the outset.
Continue reading: http://nyr.kr/ZGyLL4
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How will American foreign policy evolve during Obama’s second term? Tonight, David Remnick is hosting a conversation about international relations with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, and New Yorker staff writer Philip Gourevitch.
Watch a live video of the discussion above, and click-through for more: http://nyr.kr/W1GSSv
Here, see full videos of the previous installments of The Big Story.
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"Was that so hard?"
— Amy Davidson on Attorney General Eric Holder’s letter to Rand Paul, answering Paul’s question about the President’s authority to to use weaponized drones to kill Americans not engaged in combat on U.S. soil: http://nyr.kr/XVEH2i(Source: newyorker.com)
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"If you’re operating at Louie Gohmert’s level, try harder."
— Alex Koppelman on the White House’s need to step up their gamesmanship in the sequester fight: http://nyr.kr/YdBZ40(Source: newyorker.com)
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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.
