THEIR LEARNABLE MOMENTEDITORIALNEW YORK TIMESThe Senate must also take the lead, starting now, in curtailing the House’s attempts to roll back reform. Several bills have already passed, and others are pending, that would give broad exemptions to regulation for all manner of derivatives trades — loopholes that would allow JPMorgan-style trading to proliferate. JPMorgan’s fiasco should be a teachable — even a transformational moment: one that ensures that all the necessary financial reforms are finally put in place.HOW CHANGE HAPPENSBY DAVID BROOKSNEW YORK TIMESIn a country that desperately wants change, I have no idea why a party would not compete to be the party of change and transformation. For a candidate like Obama, who successfully ran an unconventional campaign that embodied and promised change, I have no idea why he would want to run a campaign this time that regurgitates the exact same ads and repeats the exact same arguments as so many Democratic campaigns from the ancient past.
Must-Read Op-Eds for Monday, May 21, 2012
CATHOLICS WON’T GO QUIETLYBY MICHAEL GERSONWASHINGTON POSTForty-three Catholic institutions, including the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University and the archdioceses of New York and Washington, filed suit Monday in federal court to overturn the mandate. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called all Catholics to 14 days of “prayer, study, catechesis and public action” on religious liberty from June 21 to the Fourth of July. This is smack in the middle of the presidential season. It also, not coincidentally, starts around the Feast of St. Thomas More, who said, “I die the king’s faithful servant, but God’s first.”NATO’S BLIND SPOT ON INTERVENTION IN SYRIAEDITORIALWASHINGTON POSTSyria’s conflict, already increasingly violent, might well degenerate into full-blown sectarian warfare; this war could jump into Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, and al-Qaeda would profit murderously from this opportunity. NATO leaders might feel that if they don’t talk about Syria, these outcomes won’t be blamed on them. They are, after all, preoccupied in their search for the exit from Afghanistan. But President Obama and his allies cannot shirk this issue indefinitely. As Syria burns, the Libya “victory” rings increasingly hollow.CORY BOOKER’S APOSTASYEDITORIALWALL STREET JOURNAL
The Obama campaign’s attacks on Bain haven’t gone very well, in part because the claims are so transparently cynical. Everyone knows they’re cherry-picking facts, focusing on the rare Bain Capital failures while ignoring the successes—all in order to distract attention from the failed results of Mr. Obama’s economic policies. Presidents who have to take their own party allies to the woodshed for the offense of telling the truth don’t tend to win re-election.THE DUMBING DOWN OF JOE BIDENBY WILLIAM MCGURNWALL STREET JOURNALThe truth is that there are two types of Washington people to be wary of. The first are those who emphasize how smart they are. The second—and they are often the same people—are those quick to label others dumb. Certainly Mr. Biden is more loquacious than most pols, and he’s had more than his share of doozies. What makes it different in 2012 is that the same Beltway establishment that once hailed Mr. Biden for speaking his mind now finds that highly inconvenient. In other words, for President Obama to remain all-wise and wonderful with this record, Mr. Biden has to be the stupid one.CHICAGO BOOKS MAYOR FOR TELLING TRUTHBY JOE SCARBOROUGHPOLITICONow [Cory Booker] will surely pay a steep political price for his honesty. Never mind the fact that many of the big money contributors who made Barack Obama’s historic election possible four years ago continue to practice the same brand of capitalism that made Mitt Romney rich. And many of those contributors are being asked once again to support Barack Obama’s campaign. Cory Booker may have been forced to produce a hostage video last night, but it is Barack Obama who remains handcuffed today to the same big money capitalists that he still blames for ruining America.
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