Bette Midler - (You Gotta Have) Friends
There was a homily that was often repeated as I grew up and bickered with my siblings: The patriarch worried that his fighting family members would destroy the family after his death and sought to make them understand that only together would they prove unbreakable. So he took some thin sticks and handed them to each family member and asked them to break the stick in half. Each easily snapped their stick in two. Then he asked them to pool one of their fragments with the others, asking them in turn to try to break the bundle of sticks. Of course, none of them could, demonstrating that while singly they were weak, united they were strong.
I think the lesson applies to the liberal community. I've seen depressingly large schisms among progressives, sadly unnecessary schisms. Ultimately, the goal is the same: to move the country in a progressive direction. It's just that we disagree on the means to the end. But if we could just remember that our strength comes with our unity, rathering than splintering into a million individual sticks wondering why we feel so impotent.
ABC's "This Week" - President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Bill Daley; Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a GOP presidential candidate.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, Jamie Tarabay and Clarence Page. Topics: Is the Tea Party's Flirtation with Default a Big Favor to Barack Obama? Is Michele Bachmann Too Far Right Even for the GOP? Meter Questions: Is It A Smarter Strategy For GOP House Members To Settle Soon On A Debt Compromise? YES: 11 NO: 1; Has President Obama Beat the Democrats' Dovish Image? YES: 11 No: 1
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Geithner; Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
CNN's "State of the Union" - Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a GOP presidential candidate; NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; NASA scientist James Garvin.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - South Sudan, Africa's future, Libya and DSK
"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
