Quiet Declarations

Via Craig Newmark.  I hope you like remakes and sequels.

Jacob Weisberg writes that by January, Obama will have accomplished more than any first-year president since FDR.  And what’s most disheartening is that he’s probably right.

Think about it.  So far, so little has been accomplished that Democrats are increasingly frustrated about his lack of action even on the things he doesn’t need Congress for.  And yet, if President Obama does only one thing this entire year and it is sign a healthcare bill that he didn’t even write — freely acknowledging all the while that passing a fundamentally flawed version (read: potentially catastrophic; even its supporters believe it will be in need of urgent repair from Day One) is the only way to ram it through despite having a congressional supermajority — he will be remembered for “a transformation of the American social contract” and it will probably go down in history as one of the greatest presidential first years of all time.  And the president is sufficiently astute that you can bet he knows it, too.

That’s an indictment of the entire political process if I ever saw one.

If they lose today, then win next week, it could set up a BCS Meltdown scenario.  Read what Andy Staples thinks might have been had Auburn beaten Alabama yesterday:

The folks inside the hollowed-out volcano that serves as BCS headquarters probably swore up their own [you-know-what] storm at about 3 p.m. Friday when Auburn used enough trick plays to fill an entire Boise State coaches’ clinic to take a 14-0 lead. Ten men had blocked perfectly on Terrell Zachary’s 67-yard end-around, and a [stonesy] onside kick had set up Eric Smith’s one-yard touchdown catch. At the very least, a ‘Bama loss Friday followed by a ‘Bama win in next week’s SEC title game might have allowed an unwashed non such as TCU to dream of a spot in the BCS title game. At the very worst, a one-loss ‘Bama might have made the BCS championship over undefeated Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State. That probably would have prompted a few phone calls from the Justice Department, all including the phrase “Sherman Act” and followed in the BCS lair by the word [bleep].

I happen to think the SEC is so top-to-bottom superior that the world is only just when they hold the reigning national champion — and this year, I happen to think the only just world has two SEC teams playing for the championship.  But I would sell that out in a heartbeat to a TCU-Cincinnati matchup or some other nonsense if it means death to the BCS.

One is thriving, the other is failing.  Learn why.  The comparison is simplistic, but it’s not wrong.

Your gift-buying is more likely to destroy value for society than to help the economy.  Don’t just take my word for it; take George Will’s.

Related: my previous Scrooge-ish posts on gift giving.

You have been duly warned.  Now enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Maurice Jones-Drew cost more than 10,000 fantasy players (on ESPN.com alone) their “pretend games” by taking a knee at the 1 to win his real game.  The best part?  He was one of them.

I find this hysterical.

After the Titans’ 41-17 victory over the Bills, it seems that owner Bud Adams wanted to have his own celebration, caught on video flipping the bird in the general direction of the Bills’ owner.

Story here.  I guess there’s more to these 50th anniversary AFL grudge matches than I previously realized.

I’ve decided that I either don’t understand, or am too self-conscious to accept, social media.

I have a Facebook account.  I use it to stalk acquaintances I don’t feel like seeing in person, and to say happy birthday to my friends.  I also have a Twitter account.  I also use it to stalk acquaintances I don’t feel like seeing in person, provided they don’t annoy me by tweeting more than a few times a day.  On both, I am very much a consumer rather than a producer of content.

I do blog from time to time.  I don’t blog to get attention — tried that, didn’t work.  I don’t blog to advance my career — tried that, didn’t work.  And I don’t blog according to a set routine, as is quite obvious to any of my readers.  I blog inconsistently, when I have something to say, because that’s the only way I can enjoy it rather than treating it as a chore.

I recently installed a service that turns what I blog into a tweet and a Facebook status update.  I will probably get rid of this feature, because all it’s done is make me self-conscious about how many characters are in the title and first sentence of my posts.  When I make a mistake, I have to correct the mistake in three places.  And most importantly, I feel that my blog is my territory and property to improve or destroy as I please, but once the content is pushed to Facebook or Twitter I feel like I’m on community property.  (Yes, they’re volunteering to follow me, but you get the point.)

I used to think social media was just for narcissists.  Then I thought it was for narcissists and clever self-marketers.  Now I think it’s for narcissists, clever self-marketers, and people who simply have no filter.  Unfortunately, it turns out that’s 200 million people.  I might stay on the bandwagon, we’ll see.  But I’m not sure it’s ever going to feel comfortable to me.

Great column in Thursday’s WSJ by a registered Democrat who’s identified at least one really ugly unintended consequence of the health care legislation passed by the House.