An open letter to CNN: Stop letting Republicans play you like fools

By Michael J.W. Stickings

CNN: "Biden stands by Obama on 'hot mic' controversy."

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Dear CNN,

Please excuse the language, but there is no fucking controversy. All Obama told President Medvedev was that he'd have more flexibility to work on a nuclear arms deal after the election.

And so Biden was completely right: "The idea that in this election year we're going to be able to deal with an agreement with the Russians on further reducing our nuclear arsenals... is difficult.

Actually, I'd say that's an understatement. It's next to impossible.

Republicans are trying to score political points off the president's remark -- including Romney, who used it, pathetically, to try to deflect attention away from releasing his tax returns.

They're trying to turn this into a controversy. Do you not see that?

And you, like so many in the mainstream media, are playing right along. Or, rather, right into their hands, making something out of nothing and being the mouthpiece for their anti-Obama narratives.

And it really is nothing. All the president was acknowledging was a pretty obvious political reality. In any election season, you just can't get things done, particularly important things like an arms agreement.

I explained all this in a post I wrote in response to how Republicans were making a big deal of it, using it to smear the president as anti-American, as prepared to sell America out after the election:

Winning an election means pandering, at least to some degree, to the electorate, and on national security issues, particularly complicated international ones, Americans are, by and large, deeply ignorant and prone to prolonged spasms of jingoism. Particularly on the national state, you need to be "tough," or at least to appear to be, and for the jingoistically ignorant that means saber-rattling. Republicans have been successful on the national state in large part by playing directly to this jingoistic ignorance and so by appearing to be tough (e.g., torture detainees! bomb Iran! flaunt America's nukes like a massive national hard-on!). All President Obama is doing is recognizing this unfortunate political reality...

President Obama, far more than pretty much every Republican, understands the complexity of international relations. What he is saying is not that he will capitulate, that he will give Russia whatever it wants, but that he will work with Russia on long-term solutions to these challenging problems, that he will treat Russia as a partner for peace.

Republicans are just vomiting up their usual partisan outrage. If they don't believe it, they're cynical. If they do, they're just plain stupid.

As for you and the rest of the media, you'd do well to stop letting them play you for fools.

Enough already.

Somewhat less than best regards,

Michael Stickings

Romney-Perry 2012?

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

Via twitter:

"John Judis's pet theory: Romney persuaded Perry to stay in the race. Suggests keeping close eye on who Perry superpac attacks."

-- Noam Scheiber (@noamscheiber)

It's hard to imagine Romney going with Perry after the Texas governor's embarrassing performance, but he would need tho pick a solid right-winger and Perry certainly has the bona fides, if not the skill.

Though Perry may be too far out there on the right for the national stage, what with past flirtations with neo-secessionism and Tentherism, among other things. And who can forget his ugly gay-baiting in Iowa?

More likely, it would be a young conservative stud like Ryan or Rubio, or maybe Haley if she can deliver him South Carolina and help beef up his faux right-wing cred. Or maybe a more established fiscal conservative like Daniels.

Though Perry would be an amusing choice, for sure. Imagine the veep debate. Biden may often stick his foot in his mouth, but Perry, who can barely string a coherent sentence together, when he can even stay awake and remember where he is, makes him look like a Shakespearean orator in the mold of Sir Laurence Olivier with the cerebral firepower of a Stephen Hawking.

Robert Reich says it will be Obama-Clinton in 2012

By Richard K. Barry

Okay, my break is over. Back to politics.

Robert Reich, former Secretary or Labor under President Bill Clinton, says that the Democratic ticket in 2012 will have Hillary Clinton as the vice presidential candidate. He's quick to point out that it's based on absolutely nothing, which reminds me that, also based on absolutely nothing, I suggested many months ago that Hillary would run for the top job in 2016. Hey, why not? It's all idle speculation, though, to be fair, there is some logic to Reich's musings.

Here's his thinking:

Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that's been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that.

Moreover, the economy won't be in superb shape in the months leading up to Election Day. Indeed, if the European debt crisis grows worse and if China's economy continues to slow, there's a better than even chance we'll be back in a recession. Clinton would help deflect attention from the bad economy and put it on foreign policy, where she and Obama have shined.

The deal would also make Clinton the obvious Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 — offering the Democrats a shot at twelve (or more) years in the White House, something the Republicans had with Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush but which the Democrats haven't had since FDR. Twelve years gives the party in power a chance to reshape the Supreme Court as well as put an indelible stamp on America.

I think we have all heard it said that Joe Biden covets the Secretary of State gig. I'm not sure where that comes from, but we've heard it, which means a job swap could work. And no matter what Hillary Clinton says, if offered an opportunity to position herself to become President of the United States of America, she won't say no.

Robert Reich is not the kind of guy who just says stuff. I think he may have a point. Bottom line is that this will all hinge on the extent to which Obama and his team think they need the help. If this is the only way they can get themselves comfortable with their re-election chances, I see no reason to dismiss the possibility.

And now that the GOP has finally stopped fooling around with the idea of nominating the gift to Obama that would have been Newt Gingrich, it does look like Mitt Romney. And if it's Romney, it will be a race. And if it's a race, all hands will be on deck for Democrats, maybe even Mrs. Clinton's.

Could happen.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)