I’m voting for Obama this year, just like I did four years ago. I am somewhat less enthusiastic than I once was, but that’s probably likely any time your candidate faces re-election.

The decision has not required any real time or attention from me, however. There’s no credible opposition to Obama from the left. [...]

There’s no question Obama’s supporters on the left are a little dispirited. Some people think that’s unfair. Why should we hold Obama responsible for not implementing a progressive agenda when the GOP won’t even pass legislation to pay our bills? And that’s true — we’ve had a thoroughly and effectively obstructionist GOP.

But I [...]

A more conservative friend of mine posted the following federal budget information:

This states the USA financial position succinctly: US Tax Revenue $2,170,000,000,000 Fed budget $3,820,000,000,000 New debt $1,650,000,000,000 National debt $14,271,000,000,000 Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000 Now just remove 8 zeros and pretend it is a household budget: Annual family income: $21,700 Money the family [...]

Based on the actions of the Tea Party caucus as well as the conversations I’ve had with rank-and-file Tea Party people, it’s a mistake to see the Tea Party is “fiscal conservatives” or “anti-tax.” It’s more useful to think of them as the Confederacy risen again, striving to recreate the Southern antebellum economic and political [...]

I said this on Facebook but I think it’s worth saying here, too. If you’re angry about our national politics — especially the manufactured and totally pointless crisis over the debt limit — you can’t just “throw the bums out.” You have to:

Identify the bums Not replace them with insane clown bums

I’m flabbergasted that the GOP has turned down deal after deal from Obama, especially considering that many of those deals would have made deep cuts to social programs they hate while alienating Obama’s base and depressing his fundraising. Watching Obama in this fight has had me regretting every dollar I sent to him in the [...]

So we are all waiting to see whether or not our nation can pay it’s credit card bills on time. Heaven knows I’ve been late a few times on mine, but I always found it embarrassing — I never considered it a principled act of courage. But different strokes, et cetera.

It is beyond boggling [...]

So maybe you like Michelle Bachmann’s politics. But did you know she has migraines? Those can be pretty bad. Maybe they’re bad enough that she shouldn’t be President. You know, just for safety’s sake.

Yeah, I think that argument is pretty stupid and irrelevant too, but Talking Points Memo has a reader who thinks [...]

When I look at the paralysis in Congress right now it’s hard to hold onto any hope in the American experiment. Honestly, our biggest argument right now is on whether or not we feel like paying existing debts. And the party of fiscal responsibility is the one threatening to default on loans rather than raise [...]

I consider myself to be a relativist. I’m not a “hard relativist,” which is someone who believes all points of view are of equal worth. I’m somewhat puzzled about how someone could come to that kind of conclusion anyway. How do you assign enough value to a proposition to make it equal anything?

I am [...]