Mistaken Identity

Op-Ed Columnist

Who Is James Johnson?

By DAVID BROOKS
Published: June 16, 2011

I noticed this headline on this column on the Op-Ed page at The New York Times today and I wondered "Who's asking?" Then I realized that it was another person Brooks is interested in. And then I realized is that what Brooks is really interested in is obfuscation. He wants to shift primary blame for the ongoing financial catastrophe onto the government. No way the private sector could bear any responsibility. He notes in passing toward the end of his indictment of Fannie Mae, that: "The Wall Street-Industry-Regulator-Lobbyist tangle is even more deeply enmeshed." Just so. But where, then, is the outrage at the speculators on Wall Street and the ways they bought influence and regulatory 'reform?' Brooks doesn't evince any whatsoever. Yet he is simply repeating a recurrent theme in the right-wing narrative of the political-economic collapse. The primary problem, unfortunately, is not that the government aimed to help get people into sound housing. The problem is that politicians - at the behest of the financial industry and its cronies - eliminated restraint on the speculation in securities. Brooks knows better. He only need to read another of his colleagues at The Times (or other commentators) to see that the case for blaming the government or the working class is perhaps less persuasive than he lets on.

Obama Goes Nucular

Obama’s Obscure Pronunciation of ‘Nuclear’ Breaks With Tradition

by Andy Borowitz

Posted on Apr 4, 2010

WASHINGTON—In what some are calling the boldest move of his presidency, Barack Obama broke with a time-honored tradition observed by several U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, by pronouncing the word nuclear as it appears in the dictionary.

Announcing a new weapons pact with Russia, Obama repeatedly pronounced the word nuclear in a way that has rarely been used by a U.S. president since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

But according to Davis Logsdon, a professor of international relations at the University of Minnesota, Obama’s pronunciation of nuclear may have been key to the diplomatic breakthrough: “The Russians have heard presidents pronounce it “nucular” for so long, they may have thought he was offering something new.”

Obama’s obscure pronunciation of nuclear drew harsh reactions from members of the tea party movement, who see the president’s obsession with correct English usage as an attempt to make the nation more European. A sign at a recent tea-bagger rally read, “Obama Wants to Disconnect Your Granma [sic] and Correct Your Gramar [sic].”

Elsewhere, Sarah Palin campaigned for John McCain today in a bid to shore up his support among morons.

© 2010 Creators Syndicate.