PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - June 13, 2010

NPR poll not 'preposterous,' the Dems' failure to win arguments is

My Thursday column seems to have incited other commentary. Over at Red State, Dan Perrin writes that I am “dismissing the NPR poll as preposterous.” He is referring to the survey I cited at length showing Democrats in big...

By E.J. Dionne | June 19, 2010; 8:00 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (13)
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Obama, Carter and malaise (cont’d)

Thanks to Ezra Klein for the kind reference to my Thursday column and for raising a good point. Ezra takes issue with my shorthand reference to Jimmy Carter’s malaise speech, which carried negative implication. On the contrary, says Ezra,...

By E.J. Dionne | June 19, 2010; 6:49 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Green light for Alvin Greene's senate run

In what might be the best decision made by politicians in South Carolina in, well, ever, the executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party voted 5 to 1 to reject a call for a new Senate primary. This...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 18, 2010; 7:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Another question about Alvin Greene

I agree with Jonathan that Wil Haygood wrote a terrific piece this morning about Alvin Greene. As Haygood noted, Greene's nomination to the U.S. Senate remains surrounded by unanswered questions: Where did the money for his filing fee come...

By Fred Hiatt | June 17, 2010; 3:05 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (19)
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Tony Hayward and Joe Barton: losers of the week

The week doesn't end until close of business tomorrow, but I would like to anoint BP CEO Tony Hayward and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) as the losers of the week. I give BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg a pass for...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 17, 2010; 2:39 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (34)
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A vote for Alvin Greene

Alvin Greene, the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Senate from the great state of South Carolina, still confounds the people he hopes to represent -- and the rest of us. And today's story by the Post's Wil Haygood...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 17, 2010; 11:39 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Rep. Steve King race baits Obama

During an interview on his radio show on Monday, Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson and I got into a friendly tussle over whether President Obama needed to have a specific "black agenda." "So what you're saying is that the...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 17, 2010; 6:15 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (14)
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Where's Dick Cheney on the BP oil spill?

So where’s Dick Cheney? Writing for Newsweek, Ravi Somaiya observes that in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the former vice president has remained “notably silent.” What’s notable, Somaiya points out, is that, “When the Obama administration, or...

By Katrina vanden Heuvel | June 16, 2010; 5:08 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (143)
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Government against itself

Harold Meyerson and I don’t see eye to eye on every issue involving the Obama administration’s job-creation and economic stimulus efforts. But we do agree on this: If you’re going to borrow and spend money to create jobs in...

By Charles Lane | June 16, 2010; 1:50 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Mood swings in Russia and the Baltic states

Last month a noted Czech politician was in town bemoaning an Obama foreign policy that he said was “enemy-centric,” geared more to rivals such as Russia than smaller allies such as the Czech Republic. So it was interesting Wednesday...

By Fred Hiatt | June 16, 2010; 1:22 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
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The gulf oil spill and theater of the absurd

Several years ago, I saw Edward Albee’s wonderfully inventive play “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” It’s about a man who falls in love with a goat, which sounds preposterous, I know, until either you see the play or...

By Richard Cohen | June 16, 2010; 11:02 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (16)
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Obama disappoints from the beginning of his speech

Less than a minute into President Obama’s Oval Office address, my heart sank. For the umpteenth time since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began, an anxious nation was informed that Energy Secretary Steven Chu has a Nobel Prize....

By Eugene Robinson | June 16, 2010; 9:50 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (316)
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Obama's next speech on the gulf oil spill: rally the nation

We are so used to President Obama delivering stirring speeches that reflect America's dreams for itself and future generations that when he gives one that is perfectly okay, it's a total letdown. On that spectrum, last night's Oval Office...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 16, 2010; 7:43 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (11)
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A glimmer of leadership in Obama's Oval Office speech

Given all the idiotic advice President Obama has gotten about what to do about the BP oil spill, I thought his Oval Office address Tuesday night had it about right. Call to arms. Three-point plan. End our energy addiction....

By David Ignatius | June 15, 2010; 10:18 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (92)
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Oval office speech: Did Obama turn a corner?

President Obama tried to do two things in his Oval Office speech tonight. He wanted to show he was in charge by describing all he and his administration is doing to stop the Gulf oil spill while repairing the...

By E.J. Dionne | June 15, 2010; 9:47 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (159)
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Obama's address: grand setting, weak policies

The main impression left by President Obama’s address on the oil spill is the chasm between the ambition of its commitments and the thinness of its policies. Obama pledges to "fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as...

By Michael Gerson | June 15, 2010; 9:43 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (84)
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Obama calls the cops on MMS in Oval Office speech

President Obama didn't speak long. Just about 15 minutes. But he got his points across. BP is footing the bill for the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history. Removal of the oil from the water, beaches and wetlands...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 15, 2010; 8:27 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Mark Zuckerberg's iPhone dis -- a lesson in privacy

By Alexandra Petri Mark Zuckerberg is complaining about his iPhone? Excuse me while I cry into my Blackberry. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg bought a new iPhone recently after his Blackberry started hurting his thumbs. My Blackberry makes my thumbs ache,...

By Alexandra Petri | June 15, 2010; 4:30 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Yes, the BP oil spill is Obama’s Katrina

In the Gulf of Mexico, howling winds gathered and swooped down on the coast, ruining homes, destroying levees and flooding the city of New Orleans. It was an ecological disaster. It was an economic nightmare. And there was absolutely...

By Marc Thiessen | June 15, 2010; 3:39 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (39)
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Maybe the BP oil spill is an act of God, after all?

At first, I was as skeptical as my colleague Dana Milbank when I heard that GOP politicians were arguing that the gulf oil spill was an unavoidable act of God. But now even I’m starting to wonder if this...

By Stephen Stromberg | June 15, 2010; 3:05 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
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The situation with Snooki, McCain and the Salahis

Okay, I don't know which is more appalling: "Jersey Shore" Snooki talking politics or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pandering to her crowd. In case you missed it last week, the overly fake-baked Snooki complained in a scene from the...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 15, 2010; 1:39 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Gen. Petraeus's pregnant pause on Afghanistan

Gen. David Petraeus’s momentary faint got all the attention at the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning. But before the faint came the pause -- a hesitation by the general in answering a question that spoke volumes about the...

By Jackson Diehl | June 15, 2010; 12:12 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (24)
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Abby Sunderland and beyond: It's not the age, it's the immaturity

By Alexandra Petri Suggested age limitations are cropping up everywhere, making the world feel like a giant theme park. “You must be this old to sail around the world solo.” “You must be this old to even think of emulating...

By Alexandra Petri | June 15, 2010; 11:05 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Obama's Jimmy Carter moment tonight

When that oil rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20 -- killing 11 and flooding the ocean with millions of gallons of crude -- many proclaimed the crisis had the potential to be President Obama's...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 15, 2010; 10:09 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (77)
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Myths about the teacher layoff crisis

By now, you’ve probably heard about the urgent teacher layoff crisis that threatens public education across America. Due to shrinking state and local budgets, up to 300,000 teachers could be laid off, with devastating educational consequences for our children,...

By Charles Lane | June 14, 2010; 4:21 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (165)
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PostPartisan: June 13, 2010 - June 19, 2010