Random Catchup

Sucks being sick for a weekend, but I'm gradually getting better. Thanks for asking, even if you didn't. Anyways, stuff I risk falling behind on if I don't throw it into an aggrepost:

» ABC13: "Pastor Joel Osteen part of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006"
Shameless plug alert, but it seems my pastor will be one of Barbara Walters' Ten Most Fascinating People for 2006. As alluded to on the other blog, I'm curious to know what he did in 2006 that he didn't do in 2004 (release a book that would go on to sell 4 million copies) or 2005 (open up the doors of biggest church in the USA). There's a story once told by a local radio sportscaster about one of my favorite Houston Aeros hockey players. Upon arriving in Houston, the player - a pretty imposing enforcer type - was sought after by said sportscaster - who was a bit intimidated by the guy or so the story goes. Upon asking for a few minutes for an interview, the player looks broodingly down at the radio guy and says rather menacingly, "OK, but don't ask any stupid questions." Anyway, I'm sure Walters will violate that rule tonight.

» Time: The Fresh Face (Joe Klein)
» Time: Why It's Dangerous For the Maverick To Be the...Front Runner (Karen Tumulty)

Two great reads for the price of one in this week's Time.

In the case of McCain, Tumulty is rather critical ...

McCain insists that he has always been more conservative than many of his fans believe him to be. But the most important perception people have about McCain is not about ideology; it's about integrity. After staking his reputation on the moral high ground by speaking truth to power on issues ranging from deficits to torture, McCain is uniquely vulnerable to anything that hints of hypocrisy--even on questions that ordinary politicians would get a pass on. To have a shot at winning a presidential election these days, for instance, it is nearly a requirement that candidates opt out of the federal finance system, forgoing its matching funds because it's too difficult to mount a credible campaign within the law's spending caps. But that move, however pragmatic, would look bad coming from an author of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance-reform law.

Also, it's harder for McCain than most to explain away inconsistencies. How, for example, could a deficit hawk vote to make President Bush's tax credits permanent after opposing their passage in the first place as fiscally irresponsible? Or why, after declaring Jerry Falwell to be an agent of intolerance during the brutal 2000 primary campaign, did McCain deliver the commencement speech last May at Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia?

In the case of Obama, Klein is relatively upbreat, but still not entirely starstruck ...

The raising and dashing of expectations is at the heart of almost every great political drama. In Obama's case, the expectations are ridiculous. He transcends the racial divide so effortlessly that it seems reasonable to expect that he can bridge all the other divisions--and answer all the impossible questions--plaguing American public life. He encourages those expectations by promising great things--at least, in the abstract. "This country is ready for a transformative politics of the sort that John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt represented," he told me. But those were politicians who had big ideas or were willing to take big risks, and so far, Barack Obama hasn't done much of either. With the exception of a bipartisan effort with ultra-conservative Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to publish every government contract--a matter of some embarrassment to their pork-loving colleagues--his record has been predictably liberal. And the annoying truth is, The Audacity of Hope isn't very audacious.

Of the two, Klein's portrait of Obama is the clearest. There is, at once, a negative aspect that Obama must confront (the lack of depth to his thinking) as well as an insane peak positive (the sense of hope and inspiration that he brings). For my own thinking, if I'm Obama, I don't see how I can't run in 2008. Four (or worse ... eight) years in the Senate (or worse ... Vice President) will do nothing to elevate his Q-rating. It can only go down from here. And yet, as Klein masterfully captures, there's something so very Edwardian (as in John, Former Senator) in his depth. Granted, I think Obama's capable of being far more than Edwards ever could ... but for now, he's still a two-year old Senator with only a modicum of policy expertise and the ability to deliver one helluva speech without really selling anything in it.

Admittedly, though, I do like the little that Klein engages Obama in ... namely Obama's dismissiveness of RomneyCare as a suitable means toward expanding health care. And yet the over-reliance of Shelby Steele for some semblence of racial context is well beyond overkill for the article. But all things considered, it's about the best thing you'll read involving Barack Obama for quite some time I suspect.

EJ Dionne has a few more thoughts on a possible HRCvsObama contest. I'm not sure that anyone outside of the media is really thinking like this, though.

» WaPo: Texas 23rd: Another Democratic Pickup?

Maybe. If Ciro wins, it will be a rather stunning example of party power in that it will result from the strength and ability of the DCCC to drag Ciro over the finish line. Seriously, though ... if you're in the 23rd and just now stumbled onto this, vote for Ciro. He's not my cup of tea, politically. But the district, as drawn, is a pretty good fit for him - moreso than his prior district. Polls show it close, with Ciro down by a handful. Problem being that any polling is guesswork in terms of modelling the percent of Hispanic votes in the mix. SurveyUSA looks pretty low in their estimation, but this is a Special Election ... so anything's possible.

» WaPo: Unhappy With Democrats Over Iraq, Kucinich Plans Another Bid for White House

Crap, does this mean I have to contend with the whackjobs at the next round of conventions again?

» Sachs For President

Hmmm, why do I think I might want to bookmark this in case my party of choice flirts with losing it's mind again? Not that Sachs would have half a chance, but depending on what pans out of the Unity08 quarters and how my own party shakes out of the primaries ... this ain't a bad idea. Better than Bloomberg, anyways.

» WaPo: Cracking the Currency Puzzle (Sebastian Mallaby)

Some quality Mallaby here, even if the editor could have chosen a better title. Still, the guts of the column are far less engaging than the conclusion ...

So long as there is globalization, its rules will be debated. It will always feel odd that some aspects of the system are subject to quasi-law while others seem anarchic. But there's a perfectly good reason why trade, unlike labor standards or currency policies, is so intensively rules-based. For nearly all countries at nearly all times, cutting trade barriers make sense. But when it comes to labor standards or currency regimes, such generalization is impossible.

» AAS: Six new Democrats seek middle ground in Texas House (Gardner Selby)

Not a bad writeup here by Selby, who I'm usually pretty dismissive of as a journalist. Just read the whole thing.

» Chron: Wallis Mayor Tony Salazar wants to prepare his town for a sea change of suburban growth (Mike Babineck)

More than a little behind in noting this one. If you're like me and more than a little interested in things like suburban/exurban growth, this is a great glimpse into the local issues that such areas face. In this case, the story focuses on Wallis, TX, which is just west of the Fort Bend County border. There's already some growth visible along FM1092 that you can see via Google Earth. Though the story is a bit weakened due to the uncertain nature of precisely when any new subdivisions might get built closer to Wallis, it's a great starting point article that I hope the Chron follows up on once the inevitable does come to pass.

» I previously mentioned my own idea of a Christmas toy for myself. I'm flirting with a 30GB monster from Toshiba that looks nicely priced. There's tradeoffs galore in the decisionmaking, though. I'll probably decide by the end of the week. I did manage to pick up a nice external hard drive for extra storage space today, so life is good.