Obama Re-Writes History on Bush and Jerusalem
Now this is just getting silly. The Obama White House is gearing up for a Supreme Court case in which it will defend its refusal to list “Jerusalem, Israel” on the passports of Americans born in the Israeli capital. As part of its preparations the administration recently scrubbed all the captions on a White House photo gallery of Vice President Biden in the city, changing “Jerusalem, Israel” to “Jerusalem.” The optics of methodically erasing the word “Israel” from the White House webpage caused a predictable uproar.
Obama Re-Writes History on Bush and Jerusalem
Must-Reads from Magazine
The Torment of Ajit Pai
The radicals become fanatics.
At some point predating Donald Trump’s ascension to the presidency, political activism evolved from a civic exercise into a lifestyle. For the initiated, traditional forms of political organizing are too passive. In the activists’ minds, the objects of their fixations represent an existential threat, and there aren’t many behaviors that are proscribed in a fight for survival. For the fanatical opposition to Donald Trump, in particular, even the most mundane aspects of governance are inflated into a struggle for our very way of life. This is how opposition to an arcane, bureaucratic decision by the Federal Communications Commission transformed from a liberal cause into an obsession. This is also how the FCC’s chairman, Ajit Pai, became the subject of almost daily persecution.
A Year of Jobs
Employment is strong.
The December jobs report, out this morning, reported 148,000 new jobs in December while the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.1 percent. The number of new jobs was below expectations (184,000 jobs) and below both October’s number (revised to 211,000) and November’s (revised to 252,000).
The Extreme Danger of an Irrelevant President
Who is in charge here?
When it comes to the conduct of American foreign affairs, the Trump administration has recently been performing competently—even admirably. That comes as a surprise to many observers because the administration’s successes are a direct result of the president’s failure to govern as he campaigned. Given the discrepancies between how the president talks about foreign affairs and how his administration conducts itself abroad, foreign governments could be forgiven for thinking that the president did not have the final word on how U.S. pursues its interests—or even what those interests are. That could put the United States and the world in a uniquely parlous place.
Bannonism Goes Bust
Podcast: Steve Bannon's Waterloo.
In the second COMMENTARY Magazine podcast of the week, the hosts discuss Steve Bannon by the avatar of his movement: Donald Trump. Clearly, the damaging quotes Bannon provided to the journalist Michael Wolff are worth taking seriously, even if the rest of the book is dubious. Finally, the hosts dive into the evolution of the Trump administration from populism to conventional Republicanism, and how that impacts the immediate future.
Trump Unleashes the Economy
Will voters notice?
The New York Times had a startling headline in the print edition this week, above the fold and in the left-hand column no less: “With Red Tape Losing Its Grip, Firms Ante Up.” The gist of the story is in the first two paragraphs:
A wave of optimism has swept over American business leaders, and it is beginning to translate into the sort of investment in new plants, equipment and factory upgrades that bolster economic growth, spurs job creation — and may finally raise wages significantly.
