Libya: Rebels take Tripoli, Gaddafi on ice

◼ It’s been six months since Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi gave his “I am still in charge” speech, ranted about rats and drugged-up children, and appealed to his “son” Barack Obama for help. - Michelle Malkin
◼ Libyan Rebels Enter Tripoli, Reportedly Arrest Qaddafi's Son - FOX
◼ Gadhafi regime appears to 'crumble' - CNN
◼ Jubilant Rebels Control Much of Tripoli - NYT
◼ Rebels move into central Tripoli - BBC
◼ Al Jazeera Liveblog
◼ A Few Caveats About Qaddafi and Libya - commentarymagazine
◼ On Martha's Vineyard, Obama monitors Libya news - LA Times

Obama doesn't expect another recession

◼ President Obama insisted the U.S. was not in danger of falling into another recession, but acknowledged in a televised interview aired Sunday that his reelection would hinge on the economy. - LA Times

He criticized Republicans for recent "brinkmanship" over raising the nation's debt ceiling but said he "absolutely can do business with them." ...Obama said he would push Democrats to find "common ground and compromise." ..."And if that's happening on both sides, there's no reason why we can't solve problems," he said.

◼ Obama Likely To Propose Job-Training Program, Tax Credits, And Infrastructure Spending - Business Insider

(Like other jobs proposals that have been reported in recent weeks, this news is presumably another White House trial balloon).

Even Dems Lose Faith In Obama's Economics

◼ In a portentous development for President Obama's favorability, the bottom has fallen out of the base of support

Before July's 51%, until then the lowest of the president's term, though still positive, the average among Democrats giving him good grades was 59%. So this month's rating represents a 37% drop.

◼ Every day, thousands more Americans are giving up on Barack Obama’s presidency. - Powerline

It was only three months ago that you could hardly open a newspaper without encountering columns full of growing predictions about the revolution sweeping the Middle East. Now the Arab Spring is swiftly becoming the embarrassing relative in the journalism family. The predictions as silly as crystal healing and alien visitations.

◼ Burying the Arab Spring - Daniel Greenfield/Canada Free Press

Lawsuit reform could be big in 2012

◼ Nobody knows where Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign will go or how far, but one thing is certain: The Lone Star State has been growing new jobs faster than any other state for the past decade and, since he has occupied the governor's chair for most of that time, Perry is eager to talk about why that happened and what needs to be done to duplicate it nationally. - Washington Examiner Editorial

Experts and pundits can debate exactly how much of the credit should go to Perry, but there is little doubt that people across America are paying attention. One of the factors Perry repeatedly cites as playing a central role in the Texas economic success is lawsuit reform. Insuring equity and fairness for all defendants and plaintiffs, he argues, is essential to creating a business environment that encourages job creation and economic growth.

A widely praised lawsuit reform measure Perry signed into law earlier this year was not the state's first experience on the issue. In 2003 and 2005, Texas adopted, also with Perry's active support, medical malpractice lawsuit abuse reforms that soon thereafter began to produce remarkable results. Within three years of the reforms' enactment, medical malpractice insurance premiums for doctors were reduced by 35 percent, saving physicians more than $200 million. That in turn reversed a growing doctor shortage in Texas by attracting a vast new influx of doctors fleeing other states with less enlightened laws to open up practices in Texas. That influx in its turn provided incentive for nearly three dozen insurers to offer new medical insurance products that helped drive down costs and improve services for doctors and patients alike. read the rest...

Obama appears to be running as if this is 2008, not 2012 — and as if the enormous damage of his presidency will be stuffed down a memory hole.

◼ Obama’s Dissociative Disorder Ploy - Commentary Magazine

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal contains these two priceless paragraphs:

President Barack Obama pitched himself onto the political scene as a man who could rise above partisan politics, and despite presiding over a bitterly divided government, he is starting the 2012 campaign still casting himself as that guy.

On a three-day midwestern bus trip, Mr. Obama tried to portray himself as an outsider. “The only thing that’s holding us back right now is our politics,” he said three times at a town-hall-style meeting here on Wednesday. “That’s the message we need to send to Washington,” he said, as if he wasn’t part of Washington.

The mind reels at the brazenness of this strategy.

◼ Campaigning as Mr. Outsider - President Obama, Touring the Midwest, Seeks to Portray Congress as the Problem - Wall St. Journal