Present: Hoping for Hope

When Michelle Obama's portrait was unveiled at the National Gallery last month (along with President Obama's), she suggested that girls of color "will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the walls of this great American institution. ... And I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives because I was one of those girls."

Another one of those girls was 2 year old Parker Curry.  When a passing photographer snapped a picture of her transfixed before the portrait (her mother kept asking her to turn around for her own photo but she was rapt) and posted it, it went viral and First Lady Michelle saw it.  That led to a visit to the girl in her Washington home, and a dance.

The portrait itself, by the way, led to this interesting essay/analysis in the New Yorker, which I'm glad I found the opportunity to point out.

Then on Friday several online outlets ran stories of a rumor that both Obamas are talking with Netflik about producing programs for that TV streaming network.  Apparently the New York Times started it all, quoting a source saying that the content might focus on "inspirational stories."  The New York coverage ends with the exhortation "Cross your fingers for Hope TV, everyone." Amen.

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And there was even a little hope in the news this past week.  The Parkland students got something like a win when the Florida legislature passed and its NRA-beholden governor signed a law that...well, doesn't do a lot, but does something in the gun control area.  Even if the bad stuff outweighs the good in practice, it is significant for doing anything at all.  It's the first defeat of the aggressive absolutism of the NRA, which of course is suing to stop it.

Meanwhile, first evidence shows that the new tax cut law is (1)causing chaos because it's so badly written and (2) having precisely the effect that Democratic opponents said it would: instead of  corporations using the money for raises and more hiring they are buying back their own stock to further enrich themselves.  So no surprise that February numbers show wages going down.

But polling evidence suggests that Republicans are not getting any political benefit from the tiny short-term bump in paychecks the law mandated.  After a brief bump in the polls, the law is now less popular than before it was passed--and it was not very popular then.