2012: 1996 all over again?

Some pessimistic thoughts on 2012, shamelessly lifted from Allahpundit. First, this observation from Douthat:

[S]ometimes the “person who can win” decides not to run, and you’re left to choose between people who can’t. The last time the Republicans made big gains in the mid-term elections and then faced a vulnerable-but-formidable Democratic incumbent two years later, they found themselves choosing between Bob Dole, Lamar Alexander and Pat Buchanan in the primaries, while figures like Colin Powell and Dick Cheney (now there would have been a primary campaign!) stayed on the sidelines. It could happen again: Just because the Republicans seem to need a better candidate than Mitt Romney doesn’t mean they’ll get one.

Krauthammer is not much more optimistic:

Palin 2012?

NYMag

Even with the rise of the tea party, the widespread presumption is that, in the end, the Establishment candidate would prevail: “As Republicans, that’s our history, that’s our DNA,” notes Castellanos. Enhancing that presumption is another: that Palin will be prone to such horrific gaffes, appalling missteps, and gratuitous misstatements that they will clarify for Republican voters what selecting her would mean. “There’s a strong, strong possibility that she will falter, will make some big mistake,” says Weber. “Then it becomes a little bit like Howard Dean, where the party finally looks at her and says, ‘Gee, we like a lot of what she says, a lot of what she stands for, but she would lead us to a disaster.’ ”

But as Weber himself acknowledges, there is another possibility—one that he says is much on the mind of his old friend Newt Gingrich. “She could just take off and sweep everything,” Weber offers glumly.

Michelle Obama Fights Back

Although everyone realizes how vicious the media attacks on Barack Obama have been, few have recognized that the attacks on his wife have been even worse. But Michelle Obama is not going to take it anymore, and she has now responded to some of the most vile:

"The last thing we want to project," she said, is the image of a flawless relationship.

"It's unfair to the institution of marriage, and it's unfair for young people who are trying to build something, to project this perfection that doesn't exist," Mrs. Obama said.

So stop calling her perfect already, okay?

What Took So Long?

Free Ross

Although one of the few editorial positions of this blog is that we hate Conor Friedersdorf, we nonetheless are in agreement with him on the importance of getting Ross Douthat a blog. In fact, it is because we hate the aforementioned Conor Friedersdorf that we recognize the importance of a Ross Douthat Blog. Conor Friedersdorf, and in his own, uniquely annoying way, David Frum, demonstrate the need for someone who can actually do the thing that they pathetically attempt to do, (and that Reihan Salaam's too weird to do.)

QOTDSF

(quote of the day so far):

He is a man of perpetual promise. There used to be a cruel joke that said Brazil is the country of the future, and always will be; Obama is the Brazil of today's politicians.

Speaking Truth to Power

I know you're probably thinking, who can claim to speak truth to power after witnessing the Greatest Such Feat Ever, but this NPR reporter might just have outdone our Powerless Leader:

"Comparing the tactics of the Nixon administration -- which bugged and intimidated and harrassed journalists -- to that of the Obama administration was foolish, facile, ridiculous and, ultimately, embarrassing to me. I should have known better and, in fact, I do know better. I was around during the Nixon years. I am fully cognizant of what they did and attempted to do."

"I apologize for a dumb comparison."

Rudin's full-180 earned warm praise from NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard. "While it was a dumb thing to say, I applaud Rudin for quickly apologizing," Shepard wrote. "Journalists are going to make mistakes -- not intentionally but they will happen. Acknowledging them goes a long way to maintaining credibility."