Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Did he really fuck up the optics? Or are these criticisms those of people paying way more attention to weedy details than Biden's targeted audience?

I think Biden suffered no loss, and enjoyed possible gain, from his approach.

It was designed to satisfy the most progressive wing of his party, which it did. It also provided a reprieve to tons of poor people in Trumpland, who may now feel a bit more love for Joe and the Democratic Party generally. The fact that conservative media attacked the extension as unconstitutional also makes Biden look like a hero who stuck his neck out for the little guy.

The crowd of people hand-wringing over Joe allegedly ignoring the rule of law is tiny in comparison to the voters who benefited from the delay.

What he did may be cynical, arguably an elevation of politics over duty. But in a moment where the rule of law seems increasingly malleable and more voluntary than compulsory, doesn't Joe have a solid argument he's just doing as one does when one is in Rome?

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Yeah, Biden is increasingly looking like just a good ordinary Joe to most Americans. It's a pretty good look.

The smartest thing he does is manage to piss off and please everyone in roughly equal quantities. If you're a progressive, you have a few things where he's pissed you off and a few things where he's pleased you; same if you're middle of the road. Even conservatives like some of what he does, especially the fact that he pisses off people they don't like regularly.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Agreed. But he's not intentionally pissing off anyone. He's just doing what he thinks should be done and not aiming anything at perceived enemies.

His administration is deftly laying low among a number of other issues which occupy each news cycle -- quietly drafting in air traffic filled with many much more sexy and salacious stories.

The only criticism gaining any traction against him is that he's causing inflation. And that's not a red meat issue. It's only really interesting to investors following CNBC or hardcore Fox watchers looking for a reason to hate. And if this inflation is transitory, as I think it will be (I find Yellen and Powell persuasive on that issue), that criticism will be up in smoke by the end of the year.

And any attempt to argue that he's at fault for the Delta uptick is ludicrous. Even among conservatives, it is universally recognized that the fault for that lies exclusively with dimwits who refuse to get vaccinated.

ETA: If this inflation is transitory, the market and economy may really go bananas in Q1/Q2 2022. A lot of people have made a lot of money in the past year, and not just in the market. They've saved a ton of money, but for the moment, a lot of assets appear overvalued. If this inflation rolls over into a bit of deflation in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, you'll have a shit ton of cash out there suddenly realizing it has enormous purchasing power relative to the limited purchasing power it has today. Could create another boom in later 2022.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

half the vax refusing are Biden voters.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

That seems unlikely to me. The population of the country is something like 328 million. Something like 81 million voted for Biden, so about a quarter. I do not believe that Biden voters are so disproportionately likely to refused the vaccine, relative to Trump voters and those who did not vote. YMMV.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

African Americans are a real vax concern, as anyone who has read on the issue knows. The city of Detroit is low 40s on % vaccinated, yet voted 94% for Biden. It’s why we see some of the commercials we do with Black celebs urging people to get the vaccine.

As my old girlfriend Paigs would say, “it’s a foul truth!”

Oops
 

Time for Proskauer Rose to call its E&O carrier. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ny-tim...to-staff-union

Re: Oops
 

And the press release blaming it on an associate or staff member will drop in one... two... three...

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

I’m in Chicago at the Langham Hotel, which sits across Wabash from The Trump Intercontinental Hotel. I keep looking out my window trying to get a sense of who would stay there.

Like in NY I would eat at Jean Georges (sp?) which leases space in the Trump hotel on Central Park. The restaurant is not affiliated w face fuck, and signed the lease when he was still just a two bit hustler. But staying at the hotel now? Unless it’s some kitsch thing, or a blogger looking for material; I do not get it.

It’s too expensive for the MAGA hat crowd, at least the stereotype. And the billionaires he actually helped would be slumming to stay there. They’d be at the Langham, a few floors up from Hank, but here.

Still, the Trump is pretty full. And I know, because, consistent with Trumpian taste, the glass walled hotel is parking deck up to the sixth floor. I can see a pretty full parking level out my window. NWTAF?

Re: Oops
 

I accidentally forwarded a fishing email to defense counsel instead of our help desk, first time in 25 years. Might have been pretty funny if they tried to click to download my "PayPa1" information instead of alerting me right away.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Today I want a search function to find my first post in 1998 or post 9/11 when I said that Afghanistan would end exactly as it has.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Afghanistan has ended in exactly the way one would have expected from a foreign policy proposition endorsed by both Trump and Biden.

Also, while I left the GOP six years ago, it is times like these that serve as a reminder as to why I can never go Libertarian.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

The stereotype isn't true. The MAGA crowd contains a lot of relatively affluent suburbanites.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

Not to undermine Less' powers of prediction, but Afghanistan has ended exactly as pretty much anyone should have expected.

Re: Objectively intelligent.
 

A lot of people made a lot of money there, but did anyone really think that the US military was going to be able to make the Afghan government legitimate, cohesive and durable? Props to Biden for deciding not to kick the can down the road any longer, and let's remember that it was W. who got us into Afghanistan, and that Obama (for eight years) and Trump failed to do much of anything there.