MATT CONTINETTI: Obama Campaign Team’s Prowess Vastly Overrated.

I think Obama’s big problem for 2012 is summed up in this quote from Salena Zito:

Richard Furillo stood with his son Matthew at his son’s workplace; a lifelong Democrat, he voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t again. “I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change,’” he said, referring to the president’s old campaign slogan.

I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change’ may turn out to describe a lot of people who voted for Obama in 2008 and aren’t so happy now. At least, that would be my worry if I were on Team Obama.

JOHN HAWKINS INTERVIEWS STACY MCCAIN.

VOTING WITH THEIR WALLETS: With the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president this month, the wealthy in France are suddenly scrambling for places to stash their money for a while. “Well-heeled French citizens are scouring real estate opportunities in neighboring countries like Britain and Switzerland. The United States — particularly New York and Miami — is also drawing French investors looking to pick up rental properties or pieds-à-terre, brokers say. In recent months, as Mr. Hollande’s victory appeared more possible, the French stepped up their house-hunting visits to New York, several brokers said.”

Fine for them, but where do we go?

WHY ARE THE BEST COMPETITIVE EATERS SO SKINNY? Mostly so they don’t die.

Meanwhile, great book title: Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream. As I recall, the book isn’t as good as the title.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low. “Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in. . . . Some may interpret the NCES numbers as a sign that today’s generation of young people simply has grown lazier, but analysts say that’s not necessarily the case. It’s their opportunity to work, not their desire, that has fallen off a cliff.”

JIM TREACHER: Why does Donald Trump keep saying Obama was born in Kenya, when even Obama has stopped claiming that?

JAY COST: How Patronage Ruined The Democratic Party.

An extract from his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic.

ANSWER: CHOOM. Question: What’s the sound of David Axelrod’s weekend getting ruined?

JOHN HAYWARD: Romney, Obama, and the 2012 preference cascade: You are not alone.

POINTING OUT BULLSHIT FROM MARKOS MOULITSAS. I remember when he sort of mattered. But it’s not surprising that he resurfaces to defend Brett Kimberlin.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction.

PATRICK RICHARDSON: Self-Sufficiency: Preparing For Severe Weather Season.

WHO’S MEGHAN MCCAIN? OH, RIGHT. GOProud slams Meghan McCain for calling Breitbart ‘extremist.’ “She went on a liberal network with a liberal host and demonized Andrew Breitbart. During his life, Andrew Breitbart did more for gay people, and showed more political courage on behalf of gay people, than Meghan McCain could ever dream of.”

I’m glad they did, although I can’t imagine anybody much cares what Meghan McCain thinks about anything.

HEH: “There’s diversity at Harvard?”

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals in Lawn & Garden.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS Live-blogging the Scott Walker/Tom Barrett Wisconsin recall debate.

UPDATE: Bottom line: “There was a glaring question that was never asked, which was what would Barrett do to solve the state’s budget problems. He’s never been specific, and he totally got away with it (unless the home viewers noticed it on their own).”

SMALLEST ARTIFICIAL HEART keeps baby alive.

JIM TREACHER: Jon Stewart, 2000: “I think I would say I’m more of a socialist.” Funny how in the Age Of Obama that’s become a dirty word.

MEMORIAL DAY: Take the Memorial Day Challenge and Watch “Honor Flight” Trailer!

IN THE PAST I’VE PRAISED BARKEEPER’S FRIEND and the other night I used it to clean out an All-Clad pan that had some nasty burned-on stuff and in 30 seconds it was like-new. It’s good for rejuvenating stoneware with knifemarks, too.

Just more of my rampant hypermasculinity.

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Hey, don’t blame faculty lounges for Obama. “If you think President Obama has bad ideas, say so. If you want to criticize his record, go ahead. All of that is politics as usual. Please don’t drag the faculty lounge into it.”

HEH: Did Salon Just Call Someone Else “Middlebrow?”

Middlebrow is essentially a derogatory label for the aspirational middle class. Who do you people think you are, learning shit on your own, watching TED videos and skimming Wikipedia on your lunch break?

Don’t you know there’s only one acceptable way to learn things? If it didn’t cost you $40K in student loan debt then it’s not real learning. You honestly think the average undergrad survey course is deeper than a TED talk?

Just shut up and pay your taxes. And read Salon, of course.

Did I really just see Salon Magazine call somebody else “middlebrow?” Let he who is without a trash can full of Starbucks cups cast the first stone.

Heh.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: My Boyfriend Isn’t Ready to Be My Daughter’s Dad.

TERROR IN THE TIDES: Ezra Levant interviews Matt Vadum about Brett Kimberlin.

UPDATE: Kimberlin Funders Stunned to Discover They Fund Kimberlin.

SHOCKINGLY, THIS CUNNING PLAN FAILED: Man ties himself to tree, puts on a blindfold, exposes genitals and waits for some anonymous sex.