2 phenomenal pieces from the new yorker begin today's post:1. the new yorker endorses barack obama. This campaign has been so long and wearying that it took quite a bit to inspire me. and the editors of the new yorker did just that, with this stirring piece in which they remind all of us of what we've forgotten. I had forgotten the extent to which the idea of Obama restores every facet of life in which we find ourselves betrayed by government. and this is important, when you turn to another riveting feature on
2. evaluating voter tendencies in ohio. george packer paints a compelling, if concerning, portrait of the struggles of ohio voters to accept a candidate of obama's mold: lofty, young, and liberal with a littany of promises. While Obama has the coherence to validate his proposals, is this marketable to low-income white voters who have been burned by democrats over the years and are conditioned by the subtle prejudices of race and class? a legitimate question, and a concerning when when you consider the critical swing states (colorado, nevada, florida, ohio, north carolina, pennsylvania, new hampshire, minnesota).
Next, paul krugman skewers the mccain health care plan. the argument is very simple. mccain cuts the tax breaks for employers to provide insurace. so obviously, they don't. then everyone gets some money to buy health care. people with money have some extra money to buy it -- great! sick people and poor people get fucked - bad. what encapsulates the mccain campaign better?
But the people gaining insurance would be those who need it least: relatively healthy Americans with high incomes. Why? Because insurance companies want to cover only healthy people, and even among the healthy only those able to pay a lot in addition to their tax credit would be able to afford coverage (remember, it’s a $5,000 credit, but the average family policy actually costs more than $12,000).Meanwhile, the people losing insurance would be those who need it most: lower-income workers who wouldn’t be able to afford individual insurance even with the tax credit, and Americans with health problems whom insurance companies won’t cover.
Note: post-debate, this has got to be the biggest point that obama scored over mccain, particularly in noting how people with pre-existing conditions get left out. well, that and mccain's insane plan to buy all the bad mortgages, which is either a) already in the bailout, in which case, who cares, or b) not in the bailout, in which case, wtf is the bailout for, and c) way to increase government ownership, stalin. oh, and also mccain's insane "speak softly"/"next up, baghdad" gaffe.
The new republic has a very nice piece entitled, "barracuda". the critical point here: palin often took challenges personally, turning dissenters into political opposition, and devoting herself to eliminating her detractors. does this sound...eerily familiar? (new york times subnote: cheney! cheney! cheney!) Part of the reason i found the article so fascinating was that it paints palin as motivated very little by logic, and very strongly by victory. and that seemed to work out quite well for her.
slate's ten to toss
i absolutely loved slate's "ten to toss" article. in this article, the awesome emily bazelon along with chris wilson tear apart 10 of president bush's most egregious executive orders (reminiscent of this american life's evisceration of bush's "signing statements"). from presidential secrecy to separation of church and state to violations of the geneva convention, there are are some great orders to toss in this list, and the list itself is a reminder that we did not have merely a well intentioned neophyte in office, but a president/VP tandem determined to covertly push forward a socially neoconservative agenda while protecting their consituency at every turn.
the red sox advance, defeating the angels 3-1. what are the key points here:
- jon lester. amazing. even if he didn't beat anaplastic large cell lymphoma, amazing. but he also did that.
- jason bay. the kind of 5 tool player i love.
- theo epstein. this red sox team is the 4th iteration since their first championship. they continue to be competitive in a way that's one step ahead of the market by being flexible. by the way, this is also a testament to terry francona's managing.
- justin masterson. jesus, the guy is a rookie. he's not ready to be your 8th inning setup guy. okajima and delcarmen can do the trick. save masterson for 6th/7th innings eating. trust me; with daisuke, you're going to need to fill those middle innings.
- the rays are a great team that terrifies me. great pitching, good OBP guys, great defense, great speed. we'll see.
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