From the file "Great minds think alike" and Sunday's WaPo Outlook section, Matt Stoller on Obama's economic policies and how they hurt the Democratic Party. He delves into the botched handling of the foreclosure crisis, which I did not consider in my piece posted this AM, but which reinforces the argument we both made: When push came to shove, Obama choose Wall Street over Main Street.
The discussion of the movie "Silence" took a bizarre turn when Bishop Robert Barron decided to editorialize on it. Check out the comment section to this Youtube video in which, contending that the movie's protagonist, Rodrigues, did an evil thing with a bizarre analogy:
Sure it's evil: the direct renunciation of one's faith, reiterated time and again for many decades, even long after the immediate pressure is off. And lots of evil things can produce good effects. One could say that the killing of 75,000 innocent people at Hiroshima hastened the end of the war, but this wouldn't for a moment make that act morally praiseworthy.
I would note that Bishop Barron completely misses the point of the comment to which he is responding, namely, that while relationality is not the sum total of the Gospel, without a deep respect for relationality, the Gospel doesn't make sense. We had hoped the grace of office would expand the bishop's intellect beyond the world of syllogisms and absolutes, but that hope has proven vain.
At Salon, George Lakoff on how the Dems are their own worst enemies. The scene in which Nancy Pelosi is just dismissive of what he says is illustrative. And, the rest of the Democrats don't care because they have largely safe seats and she helps them with the fundraising.
