Dude!
How many caught President Obama on “The Daily Show” Wednesday night with Jon Stewart? Reviews Thursday are somewhat mixed but then, how much heavy lifting are you really going to do on a comedy show, right? One exchange, perhaps, was symptomatic. Asked by Stewart about his administration’s performance on the economy, Obama claimed credit for stabilizing the financial system, the stock market and the overall economy — all at less than half the cost (in terms of U.S. gross domestic product) of fixing the S&L crisis in the 1980s, which by comparison was smaller and more localized than the recent recession. “I’d say we’ll take that,” the president said confidently.
He should’ve stopped while he was ahead. In the next breath, trying to credit his former economics adviser, Obama teed up a line no professional funny man could miss if he tried: “Larry Summers did a heckuva job …” As the studio audience started cracking up, Stewart pounced, deadpanning: “You don’t wanna use that phrase, dude!” Obama tried to yuk it off as an intended pun, but inadvertently comparing his performance on the economy to President Bush’s on Hurricane Katrina — using the same word to reference an ineffective underling — surely wasn’t the objective in what was supposed to be a friendly sit-down with Stewart.
He’s an expert
Juan Williams’ firing by NPR this week looks like it’ll be more than the typical, three-day Washington story. NPR terminated Williams as a “news analyst” after his remarks on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” — basically, that seeing people dressed in Muslim garb during air travel caused him momentary anxiety and fear, given the realities of 9-11. Williams and millions of Americans. That was too much honesty for the higher-ups at NPR, who bravely cashiered Williams, a 10-year veteran, over the phone. There’s been lots of speculation that NPR long has wanted to be rid of Williams because he’s also a regular contributor on Fox, and that there was pressure from NPR’s liberal-leaning contributors to give him the axe.
Some of the back-and-forth over Williams is interesting, some is silly — like The (London) Guardian’s Michael Tomasky, who blogs that Williams basically had it coming. No self-respecting liberal would ever appear on Fox, Tomasky writes. “Fox News wants liberalism to perish from the face of the earth,” Tomasky writes. “Going on their air on a regular basis and lending your name and reputation to their ideological razzle-dazzle is like agreeing to be the regular kulak guest columnist at Pravda in 1929. For ‘balance’.” Here’s the silly part: Several paragraphs earlier in the same post, Tomasky writes he doesn’t watch Fox. So, you might ask, how would Tomasky know anything about Fox’s “balance” or Williams’ role as a contributor? Good question.
Going to pot
Democrats running for governor and U.S. Senate in California might get a boost from a ballot initiative that would make possessing and growing marijuana legal. Politico reports experts believe Proposition 19 will drive younger-voter turnout, which should help Barbara Boxer, running for Senate re-election, and Jerry Brown, running for governor. The state’s Democratic Party is neutral on the “Just Say Now” measure, and Brown, Boxer and fellow U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein oppose it. Still, analysts believe it will help Brown and Boxer because recent polling shows the under-40 demographic supports pot legalization 59 percent to 33 percent. Of course, that assumes pot enthusiasts actually get to the polls to vote.
Junk food foolery
First lady Michelle Obama thinks Americans are too in love with sugary, buttery, creamy, salty foods. So she’s turning up the heat on restaurants, suggesting they work harder to “reprogram” the country’s taste buds. Obama told the National Restaurant Association recently Americans have been conditioned to like French fries with hamburgers, for example, which could be changed if eateries served, say, apple slices with their quarter-pounders. She’d like to see whole wheat pasta instead of white and smaller serving sizes. As suggestions — exhortations, even — Mrs. O is doing a public service. But things will get more interesting if the Big Government types start talking about regulation. Then watch out. Who knows, maybe the day approaches when Twinkie Police will crisscross the land, searching bag lunches and kicking down pantry doors. The first lady’s not there yet (the L.A. Times reports she likes fries). But draconian measures sprout from somewhere, and official frustration with a public that likes shakes, fried chicken and Ho-Ho’s could become fertile soil for sterner measures than a lecture from the first lady.
Got a light?
Sounds like CBS’ Bob Schieffer jumped ugly with House Minority Leader John Boehner concerning Boehner’s smoking habit, during their interview on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.” Schieffer noted Boehner has taken $340,000 from the tobacco industry over his political career and connected it with cigarette smoking deaths. The hint was that Boehner might push for different government policy if he wasn’t so entwined with Big Tobacco. Boehner blew that off by noting tobacco is a legal product, and he rejected the notion Americans need to be told which habits they can and can’t have by government. Schieffer was undeterred, suggesting Boehner and President Obama stop smoking together. True bipartisanship. Of course, Schieffer should know better. Politico reports the newsman is a former smoker and cancer survivor. The guess here is most people who quit smoking don’t do it because someone hectored them into it.
Burn out
News flash: The Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., says he has canceled Saturday plans to commemorate 9/11 with a Quran bonfire because backers of the Islamic center planned near ground zero have agreed to move the project. But wait: Islamic center supporters say they haven’t done anything of the sort, only that they’ve agreed to talk with Jones. So stay tuned. In any event, Jones must be feeling the pressure. While President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and Gen. David Petraeus all speaking as one in opposition to the proposed Quran roast isn’t the same thing as a voice from heaven — it’s getting close.
Don’t read this editorial
Item: A Seattle Times editorial on the Rev. Terry Jones, the Florida minister who’s planning to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday, comes to the conclusion that Jones is an idiot and should be ignored — apparently, right after Times readers finish with the editorial.
The right to inflame
The Bill of Rights means that for every Gettysburg address, for every “I have a dream” rally on the Washington mall, you get a Rev. Terry Jones. Jones leads a small Florida church and plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11. Of course, Muslims consider the Quran sacred and react bitterly whenever it’s mistreated or disrespected — much less tossed onto a bonfire. But that’s what Terry and his flock say they’ll do to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11. It’s unfortunate — Gen. David Petraeus says it makes things harder for U.S. troops fighting al-Qaida abroad — but it’s also testimony to the power of popping off in a free society. Even if your group numbers less than 50, as Jones’ independent congregation does, you can make national news by being outrageous. Even so, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended Jones’ right to burn the Quran, proving that in America not only do you have the right to express distasteful things, but when you do a camera-hound politician will come to your defense.
9.6 percent
Back in June, President Obama kicked off Democrats’ “recovery summer” with a crew of hard-hat workers in Ohio. With Friday’s announcement that unemployment edged up to 9.6 percent in August as the economy shed 54,000 more non-farm jobs, “recovery summer” might be the worst slogan since “Mission Accomplished.” Obama and his allies will continue claiming their stimulus package has things moving in the right direction, but the jobs figures say otherwise. Officials said although the private sector added 67,000 jobs last month, it was more than offset by 121,000 lost jobs on the government side. The White House and top congressional Democrats no doubt will see sunshine in the private-sector gains, but officials said the government losses were more than just Census jobs ending. State and local governments are trimming payrolls — and a lost job is a lost job. Overall, the U.S. economy has lost jobs three straight months now — and the November mid-term elections are less than two months away.
Political hate-tweet?
Fox News.com reports actor John Cusack went nuts on Twitter on Sunday, tweeting to more than 200,000 followers he wants a “Satanic death cult center” outside the offices of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey — as well as Fox News itself. No word from Cusack’s publicist (now there’s a nightmare assignment) or, for that matter, confirmation that Cusack actually authored the “hate-tweet.” If it was Cusack, it’ll be interesting to see whether there’s the kind of backlash that probably would follow if Jon Voight, Mel Gibson or another of Hollywood’s little gaggle of conservatives let fly like that.
