Miscellania

Some disparate comments for today.

There is a new liberal blogger on the net whom I would recommend, New Age Democrat. Go read his first post. I don't agree with everything he says, but he is certainly approaching the right questions in the right way. It's good food for thought.

As for the inaugural, everyone who claims that Bush's speech represents some brave idealistic venture (i.e. my bete noire David Brooks, among others) need to read the Washington Post. Apparently the 2nd Inaugural heralds only more of the same: torture, imperialism, and hypocrisy. I doubt the rest of the world takes expressions of American ideals very seriously when the same person enunciating them is grossly violating those very same ideals. There is something very ironic about the AP headline "Bush Starts New Term, Seeks to End Tyranny" (kudos to my wife for spotting that one).

Finally, I want to redeem myself with Ed Kilgore by endorsing his latest post on winning in the South. I think Democrats should study not just Schweitzer's campaign but those of Warner, Easley, and Bredesen. It has been argued that it is difficult to translate those sorts of successes to the national level, but the emphasis on developmental economics that makes these candidates successful is precisely what we should be doing at the national level. Our country needs a strategy for creating new jobs, and God knows the Republicans aren't going to come up with one. And I certainly think that the party (and the country) would benefit from prominent centrist black politicians. It's long past time.