This And That

I don’t often read Charles Krauthammer’s column, but for some reason I read it today. As usual, I didn’t agree with most of it, but he had a metaphor for writing a daily column that I think applies neatly to writing a blog. He said, “…is like being married to a nymphomaniac ― as soon as you’re done, you’ve got to do it again.” I consider that a good excuse for skipping a day or two now and then.

Where shall I start today? Important stuff first. It’s 2:00 pm and our driveway has not been cleared of the nine inches of snow we had yesterday and last night. This is very unusual; normally the snow is cleared early in the morning. I called and left a message, but it’s Sunday, so who knows when it will be delivered?

Now for the unimportant(?) stuff. Among other things, politics has been defined as the art of the possible. Obama got two huge lessons in pragmatism in the past three days: first at Copenhagen, where he salvaged an agreement to agree, but little else. He almost wound up with nothing, and nothing is what it may yet turn out to be. He had to shuffle more than a professional poker player.

His second lesson came at the hands of Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska (as if Joe Lieberman weren’t enough). The Senate bill gave up too much, but hopefully some of the good stuff will be restored in the upcoming months of negotiations between the House and the Senate.

Barack is learning what works in Washington. Not much.