Sunday Reading

The Kaplan Daily has the always insightful Drew Westen looking back on the mistakes made by the Obama Administration that could translate to an election day loss. (Westen has often been way ahead of the curve in advising Democrats how to position themselves policy-wise and politically; it's too bad his advice was often ignored or followed too-tepidly.) While we still believe this is Obama's election to lose, it's frustrating to know that this needn't have been such a struggle. As Westen says,

"So, beyond the anemic economy, why do the latest polls show the former Massachusetts governor in a dead heat with the president? Because Obama’s administration made three crucial errors that enabled the Republican obstructionism that has tied his hands for the past two years, with GOP leaders shooting down any idea — even if it’s one of their own — that might have helped the president strengthen the economy. And those mistakes have made possible what was unimaginable in January 2009: that a private-equity baron lacking a sense of noblesse oblige, and preaching the gospel of deregulation and lower taxes for the rich, might actually win the presidency four years after those policies led to the collapse of the U.S. economy."

Also, the Kaplan Daily has an editorial about Rethuglican voter suppression - calling it, rightly, a modern version of the old poll taxes that were meant to keep minority voters away from the polls in the Jim Crow South. We need more media outlets to shine a light on this Rethuglican attempt to pull off an election day coup.