Ezra with the rote "there is no bully pulpit" stuff. Drum with a bit more thought. Digby nailing it:

Of course presidents can't really "persuade" people of the opposing party in a polarized environment, for all the reasons Ezra lays out in his piece. But I feel as if this whole argument is about doing something that nobody but President Obama, op-ed writers and some of his more fervent followers ever thought was possible in the first place. They're the only ones who believed that the Republicans were going to fall at his feet and work together in bipartisan harmony --- or that his magical powers of persuasion would create a groundswell of support among Independents and rank and file Republicans.

When progressives called for President Obama to make speeches it wasn't with the goal that he lift his poll numbers or get Mitch McConnell to sign on. Indeed, that's the opposite of what they wanted --- the "Grand Bargains" required to get such a deal are worse than nothing at all from their perspective. The reason they wanted him to make speeches was to mobilize his followers to help "persuade" their representatives to pass progressive legislation --- or even just reaffirm his commitment to shared goals and educate the public about what those goals are. The administration abandoned any notions of doing this shortly after the election[. . . .] But Ezra's piece reaffirms that this is the way major change happens in this environment, so you can't really blame the progressives for pushing it. That's what they wanted --- major change. And in a bit of an ironic surprise, Ezra demonstrated that in this case, the progressives were the pragmatic sorts calling for "what works" --- not the president.

See also my 8 million posts on the PPUS and the "Theory of Change."

Speaking for me only

Back in 2006, then Senator Obama decided to hand out advice to Democrats and liberals on "how to talk about religion". It was a textbook example of triangulation repackaged as the "post partisan unity schtick." It didn't work:

President Obama warned against "using religion as a bludgeon in politics," pushing back against critics who have accused him of waging a "war on religion" through recent policy decisions.

[. . .] "When we start using religion as a bludgeon in politics, we start questioning other people's faith, we start using religion to divide, instead of bring the country together, then I think we've got a problem," Obama told Des Moines's local NBC affiliate, Who TV. [. . .] Obama was responding to recent accusations that he is engaged in a "war on religion" through recent actions such as the contraception mandate.

No magic bullet for Obama on dealing with the Radical Right. It makes his 2006 speech all the more ridiculous now:

Been out of pocket. But back now. I'll find something to write about.

Open Thread.

Swamped here, sorry for the lack of posting today. And I have more than 300 emails to get through before I get back to blogging.

I see there is fear and loathing in Afghanistan.

Kim DotCom says U.S. Government officials, including those from the Department of Justice and U.S. Senate, were among the biggest users of MegaUpload:

I hope we will soon have permission to give them and the rest of our users access to their files," Dotcom told the website.

The lamest season yet of The Bachelor finally ends tonight. There's also The Voice and Smash.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Harry's Law is back from hiatus. There's a new episode of Shameless and The Good Wife.

Bravo launches a new reality show tonight about rich young Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles called "Shahs of Sunset." It's being compared to Jersey Shore and Real Housewives. Whose dumb idea was this? Ryan Seacrest Productions. Who recently acquired a $300 million stake in Seacrest Productions? Clear Channel. Sorry, Ryan, I'm not watching, no matter how many tweets you send out about it.

The stars of “Shahs,” which begins on Sunday on Bravo, are members of the reality tribe, defined not by ethnicity, nationality or religion, but by preening, boastfulness, obsession with appearances, crassness, conformism, thin skin and a tendency to violence.

...The one really unfortunate thing about “Shahs of Sunset” is the way it exploits, and will in turn amplify, a previously localized phenomenon: the longstanding stereotyping of Los Angeles’s Iranian-Americans as vulgar, materialistic show-offs who don’t fit in among the city’s supposedly more cultured elites.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Don’t believe the accounts of HBO's movie Game Change that say the film humanizes Sarah Palin. The story line is exactly the opposite. Sarah Palin, as we all knew, was a desperate Hail Mary Pass by John McCain, completely unvetted and incompetent for the job of Vice President. The film confirms this. It also portrays her as ignorant beyond our wildest imagination and verging on mental illness, veering between bouts of catatonia, manic behavior and paranoia, coupled with having mini-meltdowns.

By all means watch it. Even though it confirms much of what we already knew, it still produces chills. Had McCain, then 72 years old, won the election, this woman would have been next in line to be President. My review is below [More...]

It's Daylight Savings Day. Make sure you change all your clocks.

Here's an open thread for the news of the day, or whatever else is on your mind.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight.

Via Mashable, this is the only clock you need.

Is anyone watching Game Change? I'm not sure I'm up for a humanizing take on Sarah Palin. (Update: I watched, and I'm glad I did. My review is here.) The new episode of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's Q'Viva: The Chosen might be more pleasant.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Afghanistan sent a delegation to Guantanamo to convince 5 detainees to transfer to Qatar. They agreed.

The five, allegedly Taliban leaders, won't be freed but transferred to less restrictive custody and their families will move there to be with them.

One may be Mullah Norullah Noori. Here's his detainee assessment file. Others who may be among the five: Mullah Khair Khowa (reportedly a former interior minister) and Mullah Fazl Akhund (reportedly a former army commander.)

Via Think Progress, 98 Rush Limbaugh sponsors have now instructed Premiere Radio Networks not to put their ads on Rush's show. But now it's not just Rush. Their memo to to "Traffic Managers" said:

To all Traffic Managers: The information below applies to your Premiere Radio Networks commercial inventory...They’ve specifically asked that you schedule their commercials in dayparts or programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).’

[More...]

The Associated Press has obtained two reports on the NYPD surveillance of Muslims. One is here and the other is here. The reports show widespread surveillance by the Intelligence Division's Demographics unit based on religion.

Gloria Allred apparently needs to get back in the limelight. She's sent a letter to Palm Beach prosecutors saying Rush Limbaugh should be prosecuted for his comments about Sandra Fluke. The basis: An 1883 statute: [More...]

Here's Sabu on December 25 taking credit for the Stratfor hack:

We did the hack under #antisec which is an operation within anonymous.... we are decentralized

Here's what was taken from Stratfor and released:

860,000 usernames, emails, and md5-hashed passwords; data from 75,000 credit cards, including security codes used for no card present transactions; and over 2.5 million Stratfor emails, internal Stratfor documents from the company’s intranet, and support tickets from it.stratfor.com.

While Sabu had his associates and followers thinking he was on the run, he was actually encouraging others to commit the same crimes he always had, except this time under the direction of the FBI. [More...]