NP: Manu Dibango, Wakafrika

One of the reasons I'm not as disillusioned with President Obama as various supporters is at the bottom of this story about his meeting with Congressional Republicans about job growth:

By one account, President Obama also "challenged congressional Republicans to back up their criticism of his economic recovery plans with academic expertise." In other words, since every credible expert thinks congressional Republicans are hopelessly foolish about every aspect of economic policy, the president would like to see Boehner, Cantor, & Co. back up their inanities with some evidence. Research. Scholarship. Something.

This speaks volumes for me, because I've been going on and on about how the most irritating thing about modern politics and the coverage thereof is that almost no one backs up their claims. Politicians and pundits just say crazy shit, with no factual support or basis, and if they say it often enough, it becomes conventional wisdom. Karl Rove saw this as strategy. That Obama recognizes this as a problem is important. If he can actually do something about it, even better.