In Brief: Note to President Obama: Stop Walking the Tightrope:
Oh, sweet Barack, you know what to do when someone blindfolds you, makes you climb a post, uncovers your eyes, hands you a pole, and says, "See that tightrope? You gotta walk it if you wanna get to that other post"? Unless you've got a gun to your head, you say, "Shove it up your ass. I'm gonna climb down, walk across the ground, and wave at you when I get there." But not you, dear, smart Barack. You grimace, grab that balancing pole, and step out onto the tightrope. No, didn't have to. But someone told you that you should. And you believed them.

Every fucking major speech, Barack, since you were elected, other than that one health care forum where you handed Republicans their asses in public (and the other one where you did it in private), you have time and again said and done things that are supposed to bury the hatchet with Republicans, as if this one thing, this one remark, will be the magic phrase, the "Open, sesame" of the cave of right-wing goodwill. That hoodoo doesn't exist, man.

Last night's speech was no exception. No blame for the Iraq war, just the merest mention that it cost a fuck of a lot of money. A shout-out to George W. Bush, fer chrissake. More buried hatchets than at Little Big Horn. And then, as usual, no direction to us.

(Laterer today: What we want from you.

Update: Okay, tomorrow then.)