A YEAR AGO IT WAS ALL “HOPE AND CHANGE,” but now it’s Leviathan stirs again.

Instapundit  "Mr Obama’s appeal for pragmatism has some value: conservative attempts to roll back government regulations have led to disaster in the finance industry. But left-wing attempts to defend entitlements and public-sector privileges willy-nilly will condemn the state to collapse under its own weight."

Did the Obama administration blow an opportunity in the Flight 253 case?

WaPo  "...The Obama administration had three options: It could charge him in federal court. It could detain him as an enemy belligerent. Or it could hold him for prolonged questioning and later indict him, ensuring that nothing Mr. Abdulmutallab said during questioning was used against him in court. It is now clear that the administration did not give serious thought to anything but Door No. 1. This was myopic, irresponsible and potentially dangerous."  A mistake that can be rectified, part 4  "...But the decision to try Mr. Abdulmutallab turns out to have resulted not from a deliberative process but as a knee-jerk default to a crime-and-punishment model."

Would the White House Fall for This?

Jennifer Rubin   "Everything is fine, perfectly fine. According to Rich, the real issue is that Obama was not angry enough or wasn’t everywhere enough. Or Left-leaning enough. You can almost sense Republican candidates and operatives holding their collective breath, smilingly nervously and whispering to each other, “They couldn’t be that obtuse, could they?” "

Congressman Lamar Smith: Media Fairness Caucus Helps Americans Get Facts to Counteract MSM Bias

Big Journalism "Voters see the media as biased, liberal and too powerful, according to a Rasmussen poll. Just two in ten Americans say reporters try to offer unbiased coverage of political campaigns. A majority of voters believe, “The average reporter is more liberal than they are.” And two-thirds think the media have too much power and influence over government decisions."

Shhh… US Marines Wrap Up Mission in Iraq– Victorious

Gateway Pundit  "If we had a responsible media in this country this would be front page news. Sadly, we don’t. Thank you US Marines. Thank you US military. Thank you Republicans for standing strong. Thank you George W. Bush."

Leftwing Professor Writes Hilarious Essay About 'Conan Obama'

Newsbusters "...a new development has set in recently: leftwing disgust with The One especially since it now appears that ObamaCare is DOA. And perhaps the absolute funniest of the leftwing critiques of Obama comes from the pen of David Michael Green, a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York."

Obama can’t get 50 votes for Bernanke?

Hot Air "Bernanke didn’t tell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up all those loans and create securities from bad mortgages that wound up as crypto-junk bonds with the patina of federal guarantees. That blame falls squarely on Congresses from 1998 until 2007."

Still Time to Get It Right; But only if Obama reverses course on Abdulmutallab.

Andrew McCarthy, NRO "The big decision is the one made at the beginning of the Obama administration, by the president and nobody else: It is the default position of the administration that law enforcement is the preferred approach for dealing with international terrorism. The standing rule is that, if a person is apprehended in the United States — even if he is an al-Qaeda operative unleashed here to kill massively — he is to be regarded as a criminal defendant, not as a prisoner of war. " And here: Lawmakers to Holder: Who decided to give Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber? "More importantly, a thorough and unrushed interrogation might have revealed information to detect and disrupt the next terrorist attack. However, because Mr. Abdulmutallab was given Miranda rights and ceased cooperating, that information is now lost." "

Step Aside, Mr. Foxman: Your Remarks About Rush Are Out of Bounds

Pam Geller in Big Journalism "As a passionate, proud Jew, I too stand with Rush Limbaugh and would take up against Foxman in a heartbeat. Thank G-d for righteous Gentiles like Rush. He is beyond delicious. He has such a yiddische heart, I’d marry him under a chupa! Here’s what Rush said today on his radio program:"

A modest health care reform proposal

American Thinker "If Congress mandated that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions and did not mandate that everyone buy insurance, many people would simply not buy insurance, wait to get sick or injured, then sign up and leave the insurance company with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills that haven't been paid. Mandating that everyone buy insurance fixes this problem, but it leads to the following hideous policy cascade:"

Killing the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Government Is Not a Good Investor

Heritage "Private investors have a personal stake in the outcome of their investments. But when politicians play entrepreneur with taxpayer money, that link does not exist; instead, the risk/reward is measured in terms of political outcomes."

Holder hasn't revealed Justice Dept lawyers who defended Gitmo detainees

Washington Examiner "...the inquiries show Republicans growing increasingly assertive about questioning the Obama administration's actions and resolve in fighting what the GOP still calls the War on Terror. Unless Holder can offer convincing explanations for the Department's recent decisions, the questions will keep coming." H/t to Beltway Confidential.