Michael B. Duff

"That's why it's so important to avoid unforced errors. It's one thing to use up political capital in the name of radically remaking the health care delivery system ,or funneling cash to favored constituencies, or even absorbing undeserved blame. It's quite another to use it up by gratuitously spouting unpopular opinions about subjects the president has no power to decide. But a lifetime of receiving praise for his words, and the false sense of intellectual superiority that came with it, seems to have left Obama unable to resist the urge to play the role of opiner-in-chief, and thus unable to avoid self-inflicted wounds. "

GILLESPIE: Having lived in LA and D.C., I'd have to say that differences are few and far between and constantly exaggerated. The two cities have nothing in common, other than they are packed with conniving bastards who are convinced of their own genius and want to finance everything with other people's money.

When Democrats can't get what they want, despite having the White House and solid majorities, Washington is broken. I'm curious if we'll get similar stories lamenting lack of "progress" when the Republicans are in power. Notice the root of the problem. When the President is elevated to the status of Omnipotent Daddy-God, no issue is too trivial to go through the White House.

That may be Steve Jobs’ real legacy. In an age when the West is deeply ashamed of its wealth and power, he’s created an environment where it’s okay to enjoy technology — and he’s seduced the people who are most likely to despise it. I suspect more sanctimonious anti-technology rants have been written on Macs than on any other platform. That thought kept coming back to me as Steve unveiled his latest line of toys for grownups.