Harsh words for Obama from Frum, frenemy

Since at least early 2008, former Bush Jr. speechwriter David Frum has been a trenchant critic of Republican extremism. He saw Sarah Palin for the unqualified fraud she is.  He saw the need for a Republican healthcare reform strategy beyond blocking/negating/demonizing the modified Romneycare put forward by the Democrats. He acknowledges the need for stimulus from both the Fed and the Federal government.

He has therefore earned some credibility as a critic of President Obama.  And his latest, Obama's 5 Big Mistakes, delivers a pretty devastating brief that Obama has failed to lead -- in fighting for further stimulus after the first dose, in coddling bankers, in negotiating away the store -- or more precisely, the debt ceiling. And worse, in ceding core Democratic priorities:

The Libyan conundrum, and the blogger's

Those who knew little or nothing about Libya before the current crisis, yet feel the temptation or responsibility to "take a stand, might envy  Nicholas Kristof's understandable pride in the basis of his own judgment:

I opposed the 2003 Iraq invasion because my reporting convinced me that most Iraqis hated Saddam Hussein but didn’t want American forces intruding on their soil. This time my reporting persuades me that most Libyans welcome outside intervention.

For those of us lacking that basis, the demurral of James Downie is refreshing: