Opinion: In today’s pages: Fannie and Freddie, fuel for the oil fire, Foothill South
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Columist Jonah Goldberg says it’s wrong to blame speculators for our energy problems, and Human Rights Watch’s Sara Darehshori says the ICC did the right thing to indict Sudan’s president. Author Nora Gallagher offers an ode to her dead Volvo, and Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye Jr. thinks voters will want a president who can pass an emotional IQ test:
You can’t fake emotional intelligence, but it does require some of the same skill possessed by good actors. Ronald Reagan’s screen experience served him well in this regard, and Roosevelt was a master ‘actor.’ Despite his pain and difficulty in moving because of polio, he maintained a smiling exterior and was careful about how he was photographed. Critics sometimes fault the Barack Obama or John McCain campaigns for trying to stage-manage their candidates’ appearances, but this is nothing new. It has simply gotten much more difficult because unmanaged moments can so easily find their way to YouTube or the blogosphere.
The editorial board says the government’s pledge to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is wise, but we should work to make it unnecessary. The board also urges the Department of Commerce to go ahead with a public hearing on the Foothill South toll road, no matter how large the expected crowd. Finally, the board chimes in on the New Yorker cover kerfuffle, wondering why everyone is so worried about Americans who can’t grasp satire:
It may be that there are some spectacularly literal-minded Americans who will see the New Yorker’s over-the-top portrayal of Obama as a confirmation of their worst fears. But then, they weren’t going to vote for him anyway.
On the letters page, readers discuss Phil Gramm’s comments about whiny Americans. Westchester’s Dan Pellow says simply, ‘Gramm is a millionaire who is totally out of touch with reality.’
*Cartoon by Tom Toles, Washington Post