> And Seth thinks this can't be what they are thinking because ...
> it's too stupid for smart people to think? If Ezra Insider says his admin
> buddies think it, why indeed shouldn't we take that as evidence that they
> do?
Seth's question is astute and logical, but it's not relevant. It assumes that this can't really be happening, but all evidence suggests that it really is happening.
There's another factor here: Obama can do something tremendously unpopular because he won't get criticized for it by his opponent, and the unpopularity of his act doesn't make the field of Repug candidates any less unlikable.
Seth and Bhaksar almost had me convinced for second that Obama was doing something political. But no, he's doing the adminstratively correct move. Like Tessio, he always was the smart one.