QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  Just about everyone is looking with dismay at what is happening in Washington.  First-class political writer Charlie Cook sums it up, at National Journal:

Washington is now sullying America’s long-deserved reputation as the leading country in the world to such an extent that we are becoming a laughingstock. The renowned, late journalist A.J. Liebling, a fixture for many years in The New Yorker and a chronicler of then-Louisiana Gov. Earl Long, once wrote that the home state I share with Long was “the northernmost of the banana republics.” If Liebling were alive today, he might expand his “northernmost” banana republic to include the whole United States, with Washington as its sorry capital. My guess is that most members of Congress and their aides are too close to the process and don’t fully appreciate what they are doing to themselves, the institution, and the nation’s political process.

Very well said.

COMMENT:  I have an idea.  It won't be accepted, but I think it's valid.  If Barack Obama were smart, and I mean really smart in a practical, common-sense, adult-thinking way, he would go before the American people and say this:

"My fellow Americans, we are in a serious crisis.  It is so serious that it goes beyond any political or personal consideration.  This crisis cannot be solved if you, the citizens of the country, believe that all we are interested in here is our own personal futures.  This must be above politics.  Therefore, as leader of the nation, I am announcing that I will not be a candidate for reelection next year.  I will devote all my efforts to solving the problems before us, never being diverted or influenced by personal or political goals."

That would be a wise, statesmanlike thing to do.  Lyndon Johnson did it in 1968.  I think Obama's ego is too strong for him to consider such a course, but maybe Michelle can nudge him, and ask him why he'd want a second term anyway.  Second terms are almost always worse than the first, and the first has been bad enough.  If Obama declines to run, he has a shot at going out like a statesman.  If he stays, the mess will likely grow larger.

July 29, 2011