Jason Linkins writes...
Would it be too much to ask for someone -- perhaps one of his New York Times colleagues -- to give famously airheaded columnist Thomas Friedman a bit of an explanation of what is actually going on in the world of politics? Or just provide him with some sort of real world mooring point to which his precious barnacles of thought could cling? I ask because of this part of his most recent column:
Here we are in America again on the eve of a major budgetary decision by yet another bipartisan "supercommittee," and does anyone know what President Obama's preferred outcome is? Exactly which taxes does he want raised, and which spending does he want cut? The president's politics on this issue seems to be a bowl of poll-tested mush.
Here we are in America on the eve of a major budgetary decision that Friedman wants to write about, and he's somehow unaware of the fact that the President's preferred outcome is publicly available, and a mere Google search away. But Matt Yglesias, who steps up today to serve as Friedman's intern on the matter, has made it very easy. Here is Obama's preferred outcome in depth and here it is in brief.
Here is the telephone number for the Office of Management and Budget's "media inquiries" department: 202-395-7254. Thomas, you should "unlock" your iPhone, press the "phone" icon, then press "keypad," then type in those numbers in order, and finally press "call." (Oh, and put your ear to the phone! You will hear some noises, but try not to panic: eventually they will sound like a recognizable language.)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/thomas-friedman-new-york-times_n_1097530.htmlWhy anyone pays attention to the Fried Man, I'll never know!