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If I Were President, I’d Be A Dictator
Jonathan Chait illuminates the gap between what the President would do if he was an autocrat and what he can do limited by Congressional procedure, a distinction lost on some frustrated progressive pundits.
Few people follow the arcana of Congressional debate. They attribute all political outcomes to the president, and thus when the outcome is unsatisfactory, the reason must be a failure of presidential willpower.
Rachel Maddow offered a perfect example of the phenomenon the other night. She delivered her fantasy version of the speech President Obama should have given. It was filled with unequivocal liberal rhetoric. I was struck by this portion, explaining how she would pass an energy bill:
The United States Senate will pass an energy bill. This year. The Senate version of the bill will not expand offshore drilling. The earlier targets in that bill for energy efficiency and for renewable energy-sources
…
Popularity: 14% [?]
A Winning Message?
Gallup has out numbers on where the electorate’s at on the season’s legislative proposals:
Long and short, it looks like voters (1) want some new action taken to boost the economy as well as (2) regulations against what they see as harming it; and of course (3) that that they’re still skeptical of healthcare reform. Given the parties’ positions on the those issues, it would look like the advantage falls 3-1 for Democrats (unless Republicans can neutralize the impact of voters’ preference for more stimulative spending).
Roughly, it does–though that 1 is a pretty weak one for Republicans. On that: repealing healthcare reform does have a statistical majority. But inertia is a property of matter political as much as any other, and 50% isn’t really a rally cry to place …
Popularity: 3% [?]
In Plain Sight
Via Jamelle Bouie at Yglesias, a new report funded by the NAACP highlights one of those really awful things you (me) never would have realized existed on your own: because prisoners are usually apportioned electorally in the area in which they’re imprisoned, they lose the ability to participate civically in their home community.
Incarcerated persons are often held in areas that are far removed, both geographically and demographically, from their home communities. Thus, prison-based gerrymandering not only weakens the political strength of communities of color, it is also eerily reminiscent of the infamous “three-fifths compromise,” which enabled Southern states to amplify their political power by counting enslaved and disfranchised African Americans as amongst their constituents.
That prisoners, a small population comprised disproportionately of minorities, are counted in rural districts, which are disproportionately white, is hard to ignore.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Are College Graduates Really Less Professional Than Older Workers?
Hardly all of us
NPR reports on a York College study that found many college graduates aren’t prepared for the professional aspects of the workplace. Among the sources cited was a senior who apparently found the advice below edifying:
One helpful hint: When you sit down for that first interview, do not ask how many weeks of vacation the position offers.
As a writer for a a student-oriented website and as a student myself, I might be biased against the claim that today’s graduating collegians are less prepared for the professional environment of the working world than generations past (the report doesn’t show anyone making the claim–but if the phenomena wasn’t a trend, why would it be written up?). But just look at that quote for a second. Then tell me whether …
Popularity: 6% [?]
Don’t Knock The American University
Last week Elisa Stephens, President of the Academy of Art University, wrote at the Huffington Post that American universities are not focused enough on preparing students for the global job market. Where the university is gauged by ‘a myriad of factors, from campus life and course offerings to SAT scores’ and so on, she said, ‘A business is a success if it produces a good product or provides a valued service’.
I’m not sure why Stephens assumes that universities aren’t valued according to their output–the criteria she lists sound like the US News and World Report rankings, which concern admissions and which are less essential to the admissions process than the fact that the most selective universities, which send more kids to better jobs, admit students with the best test scores and grades. Besides, many students do choose their university for career preparation, be it …
Popularity: 6% [?]
