From TNR, should Obama try to create more jobs or lower the deficit? An exclusive account of the White House debate. From Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi on Obama's Big Sellout: The president has packed his economic team with Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway (and three responses; is Robert Rubin more important than the U.S. Congress? Ezra Klein wants to know; and Chris Lehmann on the (partial) vindication of Matt Taibbi). The world’s greatest dysfunctional body: Why the U.S. Senate can’t govern. The Gatekeeper: How a little bureaucratic office became the biggest impediment to Barack Obama’s health care plans. Deal or die on health care: Why progressives should support a Democratic compromise (and more). Progressives vs. Democracy: The health care debate reveals a nasty tendency within liberal politics. From FireDogLake, a book salon on Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics by Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler (and more at TPM Cafe). A look at how the only thing evangelicals will never forgive is not hating the “Other”. Long-feared by US intelligence, Muslim radicalization is gaining momentum in the United States. How to empty Guantanamo: As one Washington diplomat oversees the closing of Guantanamo Bay — one prisoner at a time — Michelle Shephard tracks his progress. From Slate, Obama's War and Peace: Fred Kaplan on how the president accepted the Nobel while sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan; and with his Nobel speech, Obama shows an idealistic tough-mindedness. How well does our embattled president grasp just war theory? Michael Walzer investigates.
