My initial reaction to Sabotage: How the Republican Party Crippled America’s Economic Recovery was an incredulous, “Jeez, will anyone really get snookered into blaming the Republicans for that at this point in affairs?” And then yesterday happened, and we all realized we’d probably have to vote for Obama again, because the conservatives will always be better at the whole “nihilism” thing than liberals. This book is a useful source of the talking points Democratic Party operatives will repeat so relentlessly between now and November they might actually succeed in dissuading any self-respecting leftist who can still afford cable from voting at all.

Since the Conservative Party won the most MPs in the British elections last week, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has sought an alliance with the Tories in high-level talks. But Liberal Dem MPs have not fully endorsed the measure, seeking assurances that their key issues – many of which are at odds with the Conservatives – would get addressed in any power-sharing arrangement. Seeking the advantage, Labour has initiated talks with the Liberal Dems aimed at their own minority government coalition. And Labour leader Gordon Brown has added a new wrinkle to those negotiations by announcing that he will step down as Prime Minister.

What is truly puzzling is how Timothy Geithner feels emboldened to reject policy that would have to be set by the legislative branch and not him.