Wiretap: Political divisions, millennial confusion

 
Barack Obama’s second-terms problems don’t look much different from George W. Bush’s problems and Bill Clinton’s problems. The question these days for a president is whether it’s possible to hold together a politically divided country. Ron Brownstein writes in the National Journal that the problem is structural, and that, as matters stand today, it’s unlikely that any president would be more than what Will Marshall calls “the president of half of America.”

The poll shows that millennials aren’t really libertarians. They’re just confused. Of course, which generation isn’t? Via Vox.

The German-American spy story. It’s like the Cold War, except without the Cold War. Via Amy Davidson at the New Yorker.

So you want foreign policy advice from Dick Cheney? Here’s a look at some of his greatest hits. Via the Atlantic.

On the other hand, you could go with Rand Paul, whose views on foreign policy could radically change how Republicans see the world. (If you want to see the world the same old way, try Rick Perry’s hipster glasses.) Via the Washington Post.

The Guardian on Edward Klein’s “Blood Feud”: The difference between the truth and a lie.

Nadine Gordimer, the novelist who took on apartheid. Via the New York Times.

In Colorado, the first of several proposed ballot questions to increase local regulation of oil and gas industry activity has folded for lack of signatures. Via The Gazette.

[Photo by Kenneth Lu via Flickr]

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