Weekly Meanderings

Very true (mark this).

“Today, immodesty is as ubiquitous as advertising, and for the same reasons. To scoop up just a few examples of self-indulgent expression from the past few days, there is Joe Wilson using the House floor as his own private “Crossfire”; there is Kanye West grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards to give us his opinion that the wrong person won; there is Michael Jordan’s egomaniacal and self-indulgent Hall of Fame speech. Baseball and football games are now so routinely interrupted by self-celebration, you don’t even notice it anymore.
This isn’t the death of civilization. It’s just the culture in which we live. And from this vantage point, a display of mass modesty, like the kind represented on the V-J Day “Command Performance,” comes as something of a refreshing shock, a glimpse into another world. It’s funny how the nation’s mood was at its most humble when its actual achievements were at their most extraordinary.

3. Obama’s health care reform and the young adults who voted for him.

5. Dana Milbank: “There’s no question that Democrats were justified in rebuking Wilson for his disgraceful outburst, which was a clear violation of House rules, not to mention all standards of civility. But that doesn’t mean it was a good idea to rebuke Wilson. Last week, Democrats were on the high ground: Even Republicans were scolding the lawmaker, while the majority party talked about health care. But in bringing a House resolution to punish Wilson, Democrats wound up making him a hero and turning the matter into a party-line brawl.”