“‘That’s where you can predict the supervillain or superhero,’ said Adam Galinsky, a social psychologist at Northwestern University. ‘The average person is corrupted by power, but a select few see power as responsibility.'” [Mother Nature Network, via LuxMentis]

Most years we’re able to happily ignore Time’s esteemed Washington correspondent, but his Monday column was so thoroughly perplexing, we decided to try out Google’s new beta Halperin-English translator.

Barack Obama is being politically crushed in a vise. From above, by elite opinion about his competence. From below, by mass anger and anxiety over unemployment.

Translation: Fuck Politico. I’m winning this morning.

With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters.

Translation: I’m not going to bother citing sources.

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This just in from the Stinque Emailbag:

Donate $3 now to be automatically registered for a chance to win a trip to meet President Obama backstage in Las Vegas.

Is Zach Galifianakis filming a sequel? Because that totally sounds like a high-concept premise.

So, what does Silent Creative Partner do? Well, among other things, he does this.

The Human Carnival [Tumblr] • HC Twitter feed

We’re not sure why all the Obama Philly Rally news is coming from Fleet Street, but here’s the rest of it:

If billionaire Alki David is an honest man, the man who streaked in front of Barack Obama at the president’s rally today in Philadelphia will be paid $1 million for his stunt. The man who performed today’s stunt, which captured the attention of the Drudge Report and an Associated Press photographer, is 24-year-old Juan James Rodriguez, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned…

The requirements of the streaking stunt, David told me, are that the streaker must have been within “eye-shot and ear shot of the president, they have to scream the name ‘battlecam.com’ six times, and they have to be nude.”

Before we leave These Isles, let’s go to David Niven for the call: “Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?”

Man Streaks in Front of Obama for $1 Million [Weekly Standard]

Some Bozo in Philly (callback!) threw a book at the President on Sunday, but never mind that. When we visited the Daily Mail website to filch the photo, strange blue targets appeared on Obama’s person. And then we saw it: They’re hotspots for a popup display advertising the clothes being worn. Stay classy, Fleet Street!

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Teabagger		Costume
	Rich Iott	Col. Klink
	Christine O’Donnell	Witch Hazel

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