NATIONAL JOURNAL: The World Will Blame Obama If Iraq Falls.

Well, yes. It was stable and relatively peaceful — so much that Obama and Biden were bragging about it — and then he blew the Status Of Forces Agreement negotiations because, fundamentally, he didn’t want troops to stay.

Related: What Kind Of Iraq Did Obama Inherit?

Plus, I’m just going to keep running this video of what the Democrats, including Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, were saying on Iraq before the invasion:

Because I expect a lot of revisionist history over the next few months.

Plus: 2008 Flashback: Obama Says Preventing Genocide Not A Reason To Stay In Iraq. He was warned. He didn’t care.

And who can forget this?

FACT: President Obama kept his promise to end the war in Iraq. Romney called the decision to bring our troops home “tragic.”

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 22, 2012

WHY CITY PLANNERS LOVE STREETCARS:

One of my favorite former colleagues, Emily Bobrow of the Economist, explains why streetcars are a bad idea. The short version: They don’t move faster than buses, at least not in the U.S., where they’re rarely given dedicated lanes. And because they require a big fixed investment, they’re very expensive, and inflexible, compared to buses.

So why are cities suddenly going streetcar-mad? . . .

My theory is that for cities, the high investment, as well as the inflexibility of the routes, may often be a feature rather than a bug. Building a streetcar is a way to attract investment to an area where you would like to encourage rapid development. And the reason that it’s attractive to investment is that once they’ve been built, the streetcars can’t be moved.

Putting in a new bus route may enhance the transportation options in an underdeveloped area. But a developer thinking about building on that route can’t rely on your new bus line; you could always cancel it or change the route so that it no longer goes past his shiny new building. Streetcar tracks, on the other hand, send a nice, strong signal: We’ve spent a boatload of money on this area, and it will be hideously, humiliatingly expensive to rip out all this infrastructure and move the streetcar somewhere else.

Moreover, a streetcar sends a signal about transportation options to people who are considering moving. Very few people know exactly which bus lines go past a given address. But you can see whether there’s a streetcar line just by looking down.

So, ironically, the very fact that it is a big, risky investment may help everyone agree to rapidly develop a streetcar route, generating tax revenue for a city, cash for developers, and votes and campaign contributions for the politicians who install the thing. It’s hideously inefficient, of course … but that’s politics for you.

So the preference for those rails is a concrete embodiment of distrust of politicians. By this standard, the more corrupt the locality, the more likely it is to be enthusiastic about streetcars. . . .

ME TOO: “I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing.”

Related: Obama takes half-steps to prevent Iraq’s collapse. “This is all a bitter pill for him, of course. . . . Virtually every action or refusal to act has now come back to haunt Obama.” Yeah. Why do bad things always happen to him?

VIBRATORS FOR WOMEN? LIBERATING! Sex toys for men? Disturbing. “Feminists seem to be totally horrified by these dolls, which puzzles me, as I am a feminist. . . . They say that the dolls ‘objectify’ women because they are so beautiful that real women cannot hope to compete with them on the basis of looks.” A more edifying discussion can be found here.

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: U.S. Air Strikes Against ISIS Begin.

AT AMAZON, Back To School deals galore.

Also, save up to 70% on fans.

ELIANA JOHNSON: Why Are Republicans Giving Cory Booker A Pass? “We don’t know where he lives. We don’t know whom, if anyone, he lives with. And he’s been caught in lie after lie about his heroics. Yet, this enigma of a man has emerged as the king of odd-couple bromance, using selfies and Instagram posts to burnish his stardom even as he appears surprisingly vulnerable in his upcoming bid for reelection.”

WE’RE LIVING IN BOOM TIMES! You’re better off than the average American if you can come up with this much cash.

Only 48 percent said that they could easily handle an emergency expense of $400 without running a balance on their credit card. Almost a fifth said they simply could not come up with the funds, and a similar share said they would have to take on credit card debt. Others said they would either have to sell something (9 percent), ask a family member or friend for help (12 percent), or turn to a payday lender (4 percent) to come up with the money.

The survey also captured some of the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. Thirty-five percent of Americans still felt they were doing worse in late 2013, when the survey was conducted, than they were in 2008. One in five Americans postponed a major life decision because of the crisis. The biggest delayed decision was buying a house, which it appears almost one in 10 people did. Smaller percentages also delayed moving, getting married and having kids.

The Fed report also uncovered significant differences in perceptions about finances and credit by race and ethnicity. While nearly 60 percent of whites are confident they could qualify for a home loan today, only about 40 percent of blacks and Hispanics felt the same way. The disparities were even worse for other kinds of loans.

Fundamentally transformed.

THE HILL: An Impotent President.

ADVICE: Another Reason to Love Andrew W.K.

MONEY IN POLITICS: Report: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, NEA top 2014 campaign donors; Koch No. 36. “In a major shift from the 2012 presidential campaign year, only two of the nation’s top 20 donors to federal campaigns favor the GOP, and a stunning 11 are labor unions including the AFL-CIO, and both teachers unions, according to a new report. The highly respected Center for Responsive Politics put the pro-Democratic fundraising group ActBlue at the top of the organization donor list, coughing up over $30 million, with 99 percent going to Democrats. Way down at No. 36 is Koch Industries, the conservatively run company Democrats claim control the GOP. The list includes campaigns, parties, federally-focused 527s, and super PACs.”

ROLL CALL: CDC Director Details U.S. Efforts to Contain Ebola ‘At the Source’ With Airport Screening.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Tenured Florida A&M Prof Sues Law School, Claiming Gender Discrimination in Pay.

PERHAPS IT’S MICHAEL YAKI’S BRAIN THAT ISN’T FULLY DEVELOPED: Greg Lukianoff (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) on the rights of college students. But Yaki’s owed me a videotape since 1985, so I may be prejudiced.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Fed Survey: A Third of Americans Say They’re Worse Off Post-Recession.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: How Does Institutional Bias Affect Men?

WHEN OBAMA SAID HIS ADMINISTRATION EMBRACED “THE SPIRIT OF STONEWALL,” I THOUGHT IT MEANT HE WAS GAY-FRIENDLY: Obama CMS head deleted Obamacare emails sought by Congress. “The administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) deleted some of her emails and may not be able to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the flawed Obamacare rollout, CMS has warned Congress. Marilyn Tavenner, who was appointed by President Obama to take over CMS within the Department of Health and human Services in 2013 — prior to the Obamacare rollout — deleted some of her emails and did not save hard copies as the Federal Records Act requires her to do, MSNBC reported Thursday.”

How convenient.

IT’S MORE LIKE RELIGIOUSLY-MOTIVATED PERSECUTION, REALLY: Prosecution of Shaneen Allen moves forward. I love the quote about how the good news is that this will terrorize legal gun owners in Pennsylvania. That’s what this is all about. As I said, religious persecution.

I favor a federal law setting a (low) maximum fine on the carrying of guns by legal gun owners — and perhaps allowing for damages against law enforcement who harass them.

Meanwhile, there’s this about Prosecutor Jim McClain and Judge Michael Donio: Judge Who Let Ray Rice Off For Domestic Abuse Pushes Prosecution Of Philly Single Mom. “The same judge and prosecutor who let professional football star Ray Rice avoid a trial after beating his wife unconscious are pushing forward with the prosecution of Shaneen Allen, a single mother who carried a gun into New Jersey without realizing her Pennsylvania permit didn’t apply there.”

They should be ashamed, and so should New Jersey.

I’M SKEPTICAL AS TO HOW MUCH ACTUAL “REFORM” WILL TAKE PLACE HERE: Obama signs VA reform bill into law.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Who Are These ISIS Guys and Why is Obama Willing to Bomb Them? “So the Iranians are now fighting ISIS, but they’re overcommitted in Syria and all over Iraq. Ergo, when you ponder President Obama’s decision to (maybe) intervene against ISIS in Iraq, keep in mind that such a move would please Tehran. At least for the moment.”

IN THE TENNESSEE 3D CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, Chuck Fleischman defeats Weston Wamp. Still too close to call in TN04.

REMINDER: Hillary Clinton Pushed Obama to Keep Troops in Iraq.

AP DECLARES LAMAR ALEXANDER WINNER OVER PRIMARY CHALLENGER JOE CARR. It was closer than predicted, though.

Also, nationally-famous state senator Stacy Campfield was unseated by Dr. Richard Briggs, probably with some Democratic crossover votes. And by “probably,” I mean — based on my local Democratic Facebook friends — “certainly.”

OF ROLL CALL’S 10 MOST VULNERABLE SENATORS, 9 ARE DEMOCRATS, AND ONE IS ALREADY GONE.

THE GREAT KETCHUP DEBATE: To Fridge Or Not To Fridge. I think it tastes better cold, personally. But perhaps I should revisit my 2004 ketchup-blogging. Ah, those were innocent days.