SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:57 P.M. ET:

WISCONSIN – At this hour we cannot say with certainty whether Democrats will succeed in recalling enough Republican state senators in today's election to take control of the Wisconsin senate.   Six seats are up for recall.  Dems must take three to have a chance at Senate control.  So far, three seats have gone Republican, one has gone Democratic, for a total of four seats settled.  Of the remainder, the Dem candidate is leading in one, and the last one is neck-and-neck.  It looks like this will go down to the wire, decided by one seat.

RICK –  Governor Rick Perry of Texas, having already announced speeches in South Carolina and New Hampshire on Saturday, has now announced that he will visit Iowa on Sunday, a day after the Ames (Iowa) straw poll.  Clearly, Perry, who will announce his presidential intentions Saturday, is trying to steal the thunder from whomever wins the straw poll, in which he is not running.  It's a great, if antagonistic, political strategy.  By this time next week the focus will be on Perry, as we see whether he can gain traction outside Texas, or if he's just a local guy with ambitions.

SKILLS – Wall Street recovered somewhat today, after yesterday's debacle, but in between President Obama went to another fundraiser and announced, “This is not rocket science in terms of how we can create more jobs in this country."  Well, given what Obama has done to NASA, he's not very good at rocket science either.  Cutbacks in NASA will make us dependent on Russian rockets for a long time, and have cost thousands of the most highly skilled jobs in the country, many of them in Rick Perry's Texas.

FINALLY – In what must be seen as another funeral oration for Barack Obama's foreign policy, the United States is now calling for President Assad of Syria to step down.  The demand, similar to the demand made of Gadaffi of Libya, will be accompanied by sanctions, but not by force.  That, of course, is the problem.  Assad watches as Gadaffi survives and remains, and he watches the United States weakening.  Does he have a great incentive to step down?  That may depend on the Arab countries and their attitude toward him.  It may also depend on European countries, some of whom have energy deals with Syria.  Let's see if, after two and a half years of Obama, we have any clout left.

August 9, 2011