The XX Factor: What women really think.

Obama in the News Today

Interesting post by Andrew Sullivan in response to Hitchens' current piece in Slate about Obama and cynicism. I have to say I'm with Sullivan on this one. I think if the mask were going to come off Obama and reveal some foul, calculating monster within, it already would have. Sure, all politicians are to some degree calculating; they have to be, to survive at all. But Obama has really made such calculations as transparent as he can. And he has for the most part resisted stooping to the petty mudslinging that passes for political discourse today. Sure, we can catch him out on exceptions now and then. And I think there are some real questions about how untested he is, and whether he'll be able to make good on his many promises to the American people. But I don't find him to be a powerful hypocrite. Meanwhile, Hitchens' piece and Sullivan's response only underscore the very solid point of David Brooks column in the New York Times today: That whatever you make of Obama, it is time for Hillary Clinton to bow out of the race gracefully. Read it; it's more cogent than I can be. The power of language is real. And the longer Clinton stays in the race and hashes it all out with vicious political rhetoric, the more that power will be driven home to all of us. As Brooks says, Obama's ratings have already dropped in the polls.