News for July 25

Hope Without Borders: Obama in Germany

Bloggers and media outlets respond to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s speech in Germany. Check out Politico for mainstream coverage of the speech, or watch it yourself at MyBarackObama.com. Choice essays from the Web:

Jack & Jill Politics: “We may have different flags, languages and cultures, but today Senator Obama spoke to a foreign crowd that was just as hopeful for change as we are . . .”

The Daily Kos: Amazing photos from the speech.

BBC News: The British news service wonders how Obama’s moment in Berlin is playing across the pond. Also check out BBC reporter Justin Webb’s blog for links to other UK news commentary.

The GOP’s Reporting Deficit | Politico

Politico reports that while conservatives spend most of their Internet energies on commentary and analysis, progressives are taking advantage of new media to focus on reporting, unearthing facts, breaking news and digging up new information to put out into circulation.

Batman’s Secret Ideological Identity: Who is The Dark Knight Really?

Is The Dark Knight a libertarian or a progressive movie? Does Batman better represent Dick Cheney or George Bush? Or does the hero archetype too easily let us imprint our ideas of what a shining (dark) knight should be? The varied musings on the blogs offer interesting takes on who The Dark Knight is to each writer.

Matthew Yglesias at The Atlantic.com: Dark Knight’s Batman sees himself the way Dick Cheney sees himself. Batman understands himself as a reluctant warrior who would like nothing better than to retire and turn the city over to Harvey Dent. Batman knows that some of the corners he cuts to get the job done make him less than heroic. But Batman is proud to be less than heroic.

Ta-Nahisi Coates:  It’s worth noting that one of the most poingant moments in the film comes when Batman sees he can no longer terrorize the mob into squealing. But really, I don’t want to make an argument for why the Dark Knight is actually a lefty movie and not a right-wing defense of the War On Terror. 

The Washington Post Online: There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight” … is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. 

Obama’s Prayer | Politico

The Israeli newspaper Maariv obtained and published the prayer Sen. Barack Obama left at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:

The paper reports that the note was taken by a yeshiva student who was at the wall at the time — a mark of how virtually nothing remains private.