Looking at the political landscape these days is like looking at an iceberg adrift on the ocean. You know it will eventually wind up in warmer climate where it will melt, but at the moment all you can focus on is its immense proportions, its icy and formidable composition and the hazard it poses to navigation.

First, the good news. The September jobs’ report wasn’t nearly as bleak as some were expecting. The private sector added 137,000 jobs, with the public sector losing 34,000. That’s a net gain of 103,000 jobs.

I have a message for the Bill O’Reillys out there. Any time you’re feeling so repressed and burdened by your shackles that you just can’t bring yourselves to show up and collect your meager millions, just drop me a line. I’ll be more than happy to relieve you of your burden. In fact, we can trade places. You can have my slightly lower tax rate and I’ll just have to rough it with your slightly higher one. Deal?

Looking at the Republican Party these last couple of months, it’s becoming all too obvious that the powers that be are loaded with it.There is great concern within the Grand Old Party over the viability of the current crop of candidates vying for the nomination and the chance to dethrone emperor Obama from the Kremlin (er, White House) next year. Hence the ‘Draft Christie’ movement among the, how should I say it, less enthusiastic contingent of the faithful and the hopeful.

Twice in the twentieth century, Europe plunged the world into massive wars that cost millions of lives to fight and billions of dollars to wage. Now, eleven years into the twenty-first century, another major conflict in the Continent threatens to wreak untold carnage upon the globe. This time the financial cost might well run into the trillions.

Once more the government is on the brink of a shutdown, just like it was last December and this past April. Once more, Republicans have pointed a loaded gun at the country and once more we get to see why the American people have nothing but contempt for their elected officials.

The more I think about the economy, and the mess it’s in, the more convinced I have become that neither side of the political spectrum has a clue about how to fix it. Both seem hopelessly locked into a narrative that, on its own, will not solve the country’s systemic problems.

What bothered me the most about last week’s debate was the idiot in the background who shouted “Yeah” and the roar of approval from the buffoons in the audience. If you had any doubts about whether the tail was truly wagging the dog, that display should remove them once and for all.

There are an awful lot of progressives out there who also don’t see any distinction between the Republican candidates, and who think it would serve America good if Obama lost next year.

Let’s get something straight. The Democrats’ loss in the New York 9th was not due to any particular grand strategy on the part of the Right and the Republican Party, nor is it an indication that this district – about as blue as any in the nation – is in danger of turning red. Like the other special election in upstate New York – the 26th – in which Democrats were falling over each other in jubilation when it flipped back in May, districts are what they ostensibly are, nothing more nothing less.

Right there, two simple sentences in a comedy film, nailed the entire human experience and wrapped it into one rather neat and sad little package, complete with a bow and ribbon. Give somebody a paycheck – especially somebody who hasn’t had one in a while – and they’ll believe anything you say.

Funny how the GOP loves to refer to itself as the Party of Lincoln, even though that party long ago went the way of the dinosaur. Fact is, it’s been quite some time since Republicans had a president worthy of that banner. The last such one was none other than Dwight D. Eisenhower and, while he may not have been the most prolific and polished politician – even in his day – his list of accomplishments is nonetheless quite distinguished.

I have two questions to ask the man addressing a joint session of Congress Thursday night: Who are you? and What have you done with the President of the United States?

Let’s face it, everything changed on 9/11. In every way imaginable, the terrorist attacks that occurred that day represented for the United States the most important demarcation point in its history, rivaling even the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entire Civil War. Not even its own successful revolution could [...]