Our top five reads of the day:
- Michael Tomasky wonders why liberal donors haven’t been more aggressive in countering the tea party: “The stupid, feckless Democrats, from Obama on down, have to do something about this. And liberal donors, too. They are not responding to this moment at all. No one is creating groups and efforts to counter the tea party. That takes money and imagination and initiative.”
- Jon Avlon digs into American history and sees many echoes of Glenn Beck: “Here’s the good news: We have faced down forces of demagoguery before. The damage they do can be limited by our determination to call them out, standing up to extremes wherever we see them, stopping the politics of incitement before it leads to something ugly and indelible.”
- Wendy Kopp sees progress in education reform, but argues more hard work lies ahead: “Despite my optimism about the potential to change educational outcomes, I worry that we underestimate the work that lies ahead. Without the willpower, capacity and patience to carry out the hard work, good policies are mere pieces of paper.”
- Bill Gates (via Andrew Revkin) defends his call for massive investment in energy R&D: “Our renewable portfolio, as it exists now, is not good enough to get us where we need to be. Without R&D investments, we are not going to be able to address climate problems in time. “
- Hooman Majd tackles the claim that sanctions are sowing discord among Iranian leaders: At a base level, it ignores the long history of clashes and rivalry between strong personalities in government and among the ayatollahs. Moreover, history has shown that outside threats tend to create unity rather than divisions among Tehran’s leadership; that unity does not need to be coerced.
