WELL SAID – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 1:29 P.M. ET:  I often turn to City Journal, the publication of the Manhattan Institute, for real wisdom about the events we cover.  A new piece in City Journal sums up what we're seeing, and does it very well.  Required reading: 

The publication yesterday by the House Intelligence Committee, under the leadership of chairman Devin Nunes, of a four-page summary memo regarding FBI surveillance of a Trump campaign advisor in 2016 is the long-awaited opening act of an extended drama about the Obama administration’s abuse of power—which, when all is revealed, might yet outdo that of the Nixon administration.

Obama concealed his sharp-edged, Chicago-style machine politics under the rhetorical cover of progressivism. He was protected by a press corps that first enlisted in his administration and then fought to stop Donald Trump. But now that Obama is out of office, his ability to intimidate is much diminished. This past week, a 2005 picture of a beaming Obama next to a bright-eyed Louis Farrakhan surfaced, after having been held back for more than a decade at the behest of a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who had been tried for corruption by Obama’s Justice Department after he refused to toe the party line about the “peace-loving” mullahs of Iran, has now seen the charges against him dropped. Z Street, a hawkish nonprofit supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Israel, had been tied up with IRS matters since 2009; it has just been released from its legal chains. Democrats are holding to the line that the prophet of hope and change ran a pure administration, virtually free of scandal. But the memo is probably just the beginning; we’re likely to see many more revelations come out.  

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  We emphasize that we are just at the beginning of inquiries into the life and times of Barack Obama and his merry men, and not-so-merry women.   Trump may be a rough guy, but he gets the job done.  Obama was a smooth guy, and got nothing done.

February 3, 2018