Opening the Day: Obama in Iraq

by Matt Stoller [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

The clear story on all the cable shows is Obama in Iraq today.  Lots of other stuff is happening, but we are moving into the slower political days of summer.

• Jose Antonio Vargas of the Washington Post has a piece up about Netroots Nation.  There was lots of coverage of the event, but it seems like it's settled into its niche; a conference with a bunch of liberal bloggers.  Vargas to his credit explores the links between bloggers and mainstream issues, while still failing to grasp what makes up movement building.  FISA is not the be-all and end-all of anything, it's a symbol of a government gone mad.  

• Obama is in Iraq with David Petraeus and Chuck Hagel.

• Lieberman is open to speaking at the Republican National Convention, but he won't attack Obama.

  "I want to help him. I'm not going to attack Obama. I am going to explain why I, as an independent democrat, support McCain, hoping that I can convince other independents and Democrats to join me in choosing the man who is clearly more ready to be the president America needs today," Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday."

• Obama took in $25M on one day, leading to his $50+M haul in June.

• Republican JC Watts is launching a black news channel.

• The DSCC is targeting the following states with an expanded field presence: Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia

• Rick Warren is going to host both nominees on August 16 at his megachurch.

• Time Magazine does a piece on Dennis Schulman.

  Blind since his childhood, Dennis Shulman graduated from Brandeis with honors, has a Ph.D. from Harvard, is a nationally-recognized psychologist, a published author, and was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 2003. Not exactly an underachiever, but Shulman has set himself the challenge of becoming the first Rabbi ever to serve in Congress - and the first blind congressman since 1935.

• I have an interview with the Real World on how the netroots has not yet changed political decision-making.

• Lindsay Beyerstein has an important story on McCain aide Randy Scheunemann.  Yes, he's corrupt.  But this one's special.

• Obama endorses a new way to measure poverty.

• The Prospect does a good interview with J Street Founder Jeremy Ben-Ami.

I'm intrigued by Obama's one day money haul of $25 million dollars.  I suppose any effect FISA might have had, and there's really no way to know, was drowned out by donors who want to take on John McCain.  It is actually interesting to consider how the political incentive is to tell your donors that the race is close and so you need their money, while explaining to the press that the other side isn't gaining traction and is a bunch of losers.

What are you reading?