Oh, Maureen Dowd. Now we know why Gawker made fun of you the other day.Dowd starts the Obama era with one of her flaccid, contrived pop culture references. "Not since Klaatu landed in a flying saucer on the Ellipse has Washington been so mesmerized by an object whirring through the sky…" Ugh. Did anybody you know see "The Day The Earth Stood Still"? We didn't think so. The rest of the piece is a typical blend of impressions, quips and very conventional wisdom -- except for this bizarre passage, describing the feeling of joy and camaraderie this week in DC . Dowd writes, "I grew up here, and it was the first time I’ve ever seen the city wholly, happily integrated, with a mood redolent of New York in the weeks after 9/11."
First off, "redolent" means "smells of," which is kind of a clunky usage. But the real question is why Dowd thinks that New York City in the wake of 9/11 was filled with "joy."
Tom Friedman says he hopes Obama is a "radical" president. After a few hundred words explaining why the sky is falling, he gets to the meat. We need "a gasoline tax, national health care (and) banking reform."
Hey, remember when the big news of the day was that Rick Warren was giving an invocation at the Inaugural? Guess what? He came. He spoke. Life went on. Democracy somehow endured.
Now that the Inaugural hype is over, we hope, Politico.com offers seven reasons for healthy skepticism about the new administration. The president, they say, will face issues, "in which the test will be Obama’s ability to act quickly and shrewdly — and not merely describe his actions smoothly or impress people with nuance." The authors also note that the "watchdog" media is cutting jobs, and the reporters that remain, either from general laziness or being in thrall of Obama, won't be doing a lot of hard-hitting investigative work.
If you are desperate to read something that isn't about politics, and who isn't at this point, check out the awesome essay by Wayne Curtis in The Atlantic that celebrates the return of the classic cocktail to the heart of American nightlife. Now that's change we can all believe in.
