Kristof with a great line in his op ed today about Obama (that even Mitt Romney told me he agrees with – see: http://edreform.blogspot.com/2011/10/romney-and-race-to-top.html):

 

He has been superb on education, weaning the Democratic Party from blind support for teachers' unions while still trying to strengthen public schools.

 

And, in the same op ed, Bill Clinton with an equally great line:

Clinton said that Romney did "a very good job" as governor of Massachusetts and would be a credible general election candidate. But Clinton added that Romney or any Republican nominee would be hampered by "a political environment in the Republican primary that basically means you can't be authentic unless you've got a single-digit I.Q."

Which reminds me: a handful of people sent me irate responses to my email a few days ago because they thought I was engaging in a partisan attack on the Republican Party – which I often do, but in this case I was doing precisely the opposite.  I was calling on moderate Republicans to take back their party from pinheads, nitwits and extremists and restore the Grand Old Party that, believe it or not, I yearn for.  I think this country desperately needs TWO strong, sensible parties to negotiate solutions to the difficult problems we face, and I think both parties in many ways have veered off this track.  I have a partisan view that the Republican Party has veered further – yes, the Democrats have had primary candidates that included Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader, but none of them was ever leading in the polls! – but regardless, I'm doing my best to restore sanity to my party, and I'm calling on my Republican friends to do the same.  One friend emailed me to say he's doing so by supporting Romney, which is a good start.  Will the almost certain selection of him as the candidate be enough to pull the Republican party back to genuine, rational conservatism?  I hope so (but I'm not holding my breath).

-----------------

November 26, 2011

President as Piñata

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/opinion/sunday/Kristof-President-As-Pinata.html

A YEAR before President Obama faces re-election, take a look at what has happened to other Western leaders confronting voters in this economic vortex.