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The Tuesday Outlook

Rep. Anthony Weiner's news conference hasn't made the story go away. The debate over his fate rages on.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's news conference hasn't made the story go away. The debate over his fate rages on. And so do the tawdry details, which we'll have in appropriate measure tonight.

One thing that caught my eye today was the juxtaposition of two stories. As Ezra Klein writes, the departure of economic adviser Austan Goolsbee might be due to the simple fact that economic advice is irrelevant in an era when none of it is actionable. At the same time, we have new poll finding that President Obama is getting absolutely hammered on the economy. And, of course, the reason is exactly the same: He has no leeway to do anything positive for the economy. Not to mention the fact that he has not adopted the rhetoric of a fighter, but instead has chosen (perhaps for far-sighted political reasons, we'll see) to embrace the rhetoric of deficit faux-hawks. So what do I conclude from these two stories?


The Republican strategy of blocking economic recovery for political gain...IS WORKING.

As long as President Obama continues to spout the same economic rhetoric as Republicans and espouse the same economic goals as Republicans, the negative reactions to the failing economy will accrue almost solely to him. Maybe he's keeping his powder dry so it has resonance in the heat of the 2012 campaign, but at some point this country needs him to start caring about and fighting for jobs or it'll cost him his.