Mid-Week Letting Go

Some unsolicited advice from the great Ginger Rogers (and Irving Berlin) for President Obama for his Thursday night address on jobs and the economy: "Let yourself go."

Saturday Reading

Michael Tomasky on a possibly pivotal week in the fortunes of the Obama Administration:

"This week has the feel of one that might become retrospectively pivotal. If indeed we are standing there watching as President Perry is sworn in two Januarys from now, and we’re forced to ponder the what ifs, space will be reserved on that list for a week in which the administration made a boneheaded political mistake, presided over a jobs announcement with zero growth, and turned on a key constituency group.

Believe me, I’d rather be writing positive columns. But if I were a sports columnist at The Washington Post and the Redskins had lost five in a row, I could hardly write, 'Hey, gang, everything’s going according to plan.' It ain’t. I have little expectation that they’ll listen to me. I can only hope someone they will listen to breaks through soon, before it becomes too late to turn things around."

So, who the hell is Obama getting his sterling advice from these days? Must be people who have his -- and the nation's -- best interests in mind, like the Club for Growth, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and American Petroleum Institute. Well done, sir!

Suck on This: Obama Caves on Smog Regulations

The Caver-in-Chief is at it again (and you wonder why we have no hope for his upcoming jobs/ economic recovery plan!). The White House today ordered EPA to halt its proposed rule to limit smog, overruling the agency and the unanimous opinion of its independent scientific advisers. In caving on this critical rulemaking, Obama chose to side with Big Business and against the environment only days after his Administration gave its approval to the Canadian tar sands oil pipeline project.

We're certain this will finally ensure what he's been after for the past two years: the Koch Brothers stamp of approval!

(Photo: Future de rigueur beach -- and everywhere -- wear!)

Sunday Quotables

"The people of this country recognize when a leader is trying to do what is right. Take a stand, he [Martin Luther King, Jr.] would say. Go with your gut. Let the people of this country see that you are fighting for them and they will have your back." -- Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), veteran civil rights leader, in "What Would King Say to Obama?" in today's Kaplan Daily.

"I said to him [Obama], 'Do not look at what is possible -- look at what is necessary...If you only propose what you think they'll [the Rethugs] accept, they control the agenda...You need leadership with a sharp cutting edge to say, 'This is what I stand for, this is what they stand for'...Give them the narrative about why it will work [rather than] 'more of the same, of "we're muddling along.'" -- brother Hackwhacker's friend and AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, today in Milbank's Kaplan Daily op/ed, "When will the Great Nibbler show bite?"

Are you seeing a common thread here?