* Today is the 5th anniversary of the signing of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. To commemorate the occasion, President Obamaa wrote a note on Facebook.
This anniversary reminds us that in America, we have the power to change – to make sure more of our loved ones and friends and neighbors share in our country’s promise. Together, we’ve won some big victories. And I’m going to spend every minute I have left as president working with you to move our country even closer to our founding ideals.
* Brian Beutler has one problem with David Frum’s analysis of conservatism that Martin Longman wrote about today.
Where it does fall short is in its unwillingness to confront the question of why enlarging the GOP electorate by reaching the voters Donald Trump is now reaching requires espousing the nasty bigotry Trump is now espousing. Frum strains to avoid using the “r” word, which requires engaging in tortured but familiar apologetics, like so: “What set them apart from other Republicans was their economic insecurity and the intensity of their economic nationalism.”…
It is possible to imagine all these white voters became disaffected for character weaknesses unrelated to race. But Occam’s razor suggests there’s quite a bit of racism in the mix.
* Apparently some folks on the right had a bit of a hissy fit about President Obama admitting to a couple of NYT columnists that he doesn’t watch cable news. Funny thing…the President told Michael Lewis the exact same thing three years ago and no one seemed to care.
He doesn’t watch cable news, which he thinks is genuinely toxic. One of his aides told me that once, thinking the president otherwise occupied, he’d made the mistake of switching the Air Force One television from ESPN, which Obama prefers, to a cable news show. The president walked into the room and watched a talking head explain knowingly to his audience why he, Obama, had taken some action. “Oh, so that’s why I did it,” said Obama, and walked out.
* In a sure sign of just how far down the rabbit hole the GOP and media have gone, today we had actual reporters writing stories on the grammatical roots of being “schlonged” because one of their candidates used the word in reference to one of his opponents. Nuff said.
* As if it existed in a completely different universe from the preceding item, today’s must-read is a powerful piece by Greg Jaffe titled: The Quiet Impact of Obama’s Christian Faith.
* Finally, if you’ve been putting off making a donation to the Washington Monthly until later, there’s no time like the present to check that one off your “to-do” list. At this link you can make a one-time donation, or opt for a monthly, quarterly or annual commitment.
One you’ve done that, feel free to take a listen to this rockin’ “Merry Christmas to the World” by Sounds of Blackness. And no, you’re not allowed to peak until you’re done 🙂
