Michael Lewis On Barack Obama September 17, 2012 THIRD QUARTERLY ESTIMATED TAX DUE Today. Or as I put the 1040ES link in this space a year ago: Patriots Pay Taxes. DREDGEFEST! Reason enough to visit New York. Any of us with GLDD among our long-term holdings will enjoy this Bergman-esque 86-second short film, which introduced me to the concept of the “Anthropocene.” (More on eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages here. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the Age of Aquarius, it was the Anthropocene. The Me Decade, the Year of the Woman, Irish History Month, Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week, National Peanut Butter Day, Amateur Hour, Minute Rice, instant coffee.) LAWRENCE KUDLOW BOOSTS OBAMA A Republican, he writes: I have long believed that stock markets are the best barometer of the health, wealth and security of a nation. And today’s stock market message is an unmistakable vote of confidence for the president. Except as Paul Krugman deliciously notes, Kudlow was writing about the previous president. With the market now double its level of three years ago, may we assume Mr. Kudlow is voting Obama? THE VIRGINIA-PILOT ON MR. ROMNEY September 14, 2012 American presidents don’t indulge in public tantrums during international crises. They don’t exploit the deaths of American servants in an attempt to score cheap political points. And they don’t accuse American diplomats of sympathizing with terrorists. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did all of those things this week, in the midst of attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East, thus providing his opponents and voters with ample reason to question his ability and judgment in foreign affairs. . . . “It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions [Romney said], but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” As has been widely reported, Romney’s assertion about the administration’s “first response” is not true. His misstatement in the heat of a developing crisis is one thing, but to repeat it hours later at a news conference transforms a misstatement into something else. . . . It is Romney’s vile assertion that the White House “sympathizes with those who waged the attacks” – with terrorists – that is so far beyond the pale, so far beyond the bounds of American civil discourse that the Republican candidate should be ashamed of himself.It amounts nearly to a charge of treason, an allegation that requires evidence. Romney has none. What he does have is an ambition to be president, an ambition that seems to have overwhelmed his sense of decency. . . . MICHAEL LEWIS ON MR. OBAMA I posted the audio link Friday knowing that some of you might have more time to listen over the weekend. For those with faster eyes than ears, here it is in Vanity Fair. (The Huffington Post has a story about the writing of the story.) Stewart Dean: “Michael Lewis just sucks you in with an account of how impossibly demanding the President’s job and responsibilities are, akin to walking on water, and then he recounts how Obama does that miracle daily, and does it jaw-droppingly well, while remaining an approachable, decent person. More than anything I’ve heard or read, this assures I will vote and support and contribute to Obama. The man is a wizard in all the best ways.”