Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize but it's the American people who deserve the credit.

After the horrors of the Bush Administration in everything from Rule of Law to Rule of Science, it was the American people who put Obama into office. This was an illustration, as if we needed it, of how strong democracies are in a sense self-correcting.

I think the Prize is as much an expression of relief as an acknowledgment of our yankee democratic process.

Sen. Schumer on the 'Opt-Out' Public Option:

"Senator Carper and I met for quite a while last night and made progress and talked to a large number of members last night, yesterday. And I am optimistic that there will be some kind of public option in the bill the president signs. I'm very optimistic."

[h/t TPM]

"Olympic Defeat for (Elitist) Obama, Too Busy with Washington Politics to Go the Last Mile for his own Home Town"

Yeah, I know, just stating the obvious.

Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-08) on Kos:

Is it just me or are the headlines from HuffPo getting a bit too strident these days?

Citizen Action-Illinois had its Annual Dinner yesterday evening. The emphasis, not surprisingly, was on health care reform. The situation for hotel workers also got attention.

Award-winner this year was Gov. Pat Quinn who arrived late due to his attendance at a service in the suburbs honoring an Illinois veteran killed in Afghanistan.

I don't see how anyone could be surprised by this action concerning a deluge (apparently) of Chinese tires.

Considering that our industrial base has been decimated over the past 30 years or so, the only government that wouldn't react in this way, is one that could totally ignore its own citizenry.

Fortunately for us, we live in a democracy. I just don't think Wall Street has connected those two dots.

I love the need of David Brooks and others to portray the teabaggers as "populist" and anti-big-government when there was absolutely no invasion of our civil rights during the Bush Administration -- from imprisonment without trial to warrantless wiretaps -- that these people had problems with.

But if someone like Brooks is going to call these people populists, at the very least, you'd think he'd be under an obligation to show how their beliefs help working people and if he can't show that, then who exactly their beliefs do help.

Term limits are such a bad idea. They undermine and weaken government by enforcing a constant turnover of public officials, leaving as permanent fixtures only the lobbyists and special interests.

But don't believe me. Prof. Eric Lane who led a task force that restructured NYC government in 1990 had this to say on WNYC last night ('hour two'):

What I can't understand is why these teabagging activities are news. I mean, just because Obama won the election didn't mean the loyal (cough, cough) opposition suddenly ceased to exist.

The fact that they're still around and that you can collect a bunch of them together thanks to their nationwide propaganda network is no big deal. They're always going to be against anything the Democrats do but they're also in the minority -- so not only is their reaction predictable but it's irrelevant as well.