Some of the day’s best reads:

• William Galston notes there are more similarities between “real Americans” and D.C. elites:  ”But the survey doesn’t tell such a simple story—its more surprising findings have attracted less attention, probably because they don’t fit into the conventional narrative of-out-of-touch, inside-the-Beltway elites whose views are wholly out of sync with those of “real Americans.””
• Steve Clemons explains why the U.S.  should be more ready to stand its ground with China: “China wants to free-ride on US global power because it fears its own internal fragility. China knows that it’s not ready to carry the burden of global stability and isn’t ready to position itself as a provider of global public goods while it’s still in a mode of highly concentrated neo-mercantilist self interest.”
• E.J. Dionne believes Democrats could take away lessons from Australian Labor Party’s current campaigns: “It’s rare to see a dry run for an election campaign. But over the next month, Australia will provide a testing ground for some of the core themes in this November’s American elections. … Labor’s slogan, ‘Let’s move Australia forward,’ is thus all about its subtext: that Australians don’t want to return to conservatives who governed the country for 11 years before Labor’s 2007 victory.”

• Andrew C. Revkin highlights the importance of findings in studies of buildings and behavior : “Given that humans are spending ever more time indoors, with all the heating, cooling and lighting potentially attending such a lifestyle, finding  big cuts in energy use in structures can make a big dent in greenhouse-gas emissions and energy appetites.”
• Christopher Beam believes that Republicans oppose the extension of unemployment insurance for political branding: “The GOP wants to reassert itself as the party of fiscal responsibility. That image has taken a blow in the last decade. The Bush tax cuts only added to the deficit, as did the Medicare prescription drug benefit and the war in Iraq.”