Cheat Sheet

What’s the stuff of Bill Kristol’s nightmares? The Obama family puppy. “While we’ve all known that Obama is a very skillful politician,” The New York Times’ resident conservative writes, “he hasn’t until now been a particularly empathetic one.” And yet when Obama discussed his family’s puppy deliberations in his press conference, “he deepened his bond with every dog lover in America. … And he demonstrated a dry and slightly politically incorrect wit by commenting that ‘a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.’” The selection of Rahm Emanuel deepens Kristol’s anxiety, as it demonstrates that he’s “not going to be mindlessly leftist.” You know things must be bad in the GOP when even Kristol writes, “It could be a tough four or eight years for conservatives.”