Garance Franke-Ruta believes there are "Clinton Rules." Citing our own M.J. Rosenberg as evidence, she argues that Hillary Clinton is subject to different standards of fact in political journalism: an absence of them. Our own Greg Sargent makes a similar point about the NYTs piece in yesterday's paper. Matt Yglesias acknowledges Franke-Ruta's general point but hopes that "Clinton's good fortune in her enemies [doesn't] distract people from basic realities." In other words, as Scott Lemieux argues, unfair criticisms should be done away with mostly so that fair ones can be heard.

Kevin Drum, however, leans toward agreeing with M.J. on the substance of the first point: that Obama is better on the issue of Syria and Iran.

And M.J. defends himself this morning saying:

Read the statements. They are on my previous post. Clinton basically posits negotiations with Iran as a last resort before going to war. Obama says negotiate, period. And he includes Syria.

We'll see whether on the individual point-- the Dems on Syria/Iran-- or the broader point-- "Clinton rules"-- there is any progress today.

[CNN Host Glenn] Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that."

So sensitive Glenn! You're not a racist. Just like Stephen Colbert, you don't see race. And even though you don't see it, you and everyone else seems to be talking about it.

The subject of whether or not Barack Obama is really black enough came up on Meet the Press on Sunday, causing Gwen Ifil (who is, gasp, black) to go out of her way to express confusion over the whole topic: "I don’t know quite what, what—where it’s coming from."

Glenn Greenwald has a good guess. He argues that from Joe Biden to media pundits like Roger Simon and Glenn Beck, comments on Obama's race will really say more about the person making them than Obama himself.

Pam Spaulding (of Pam's House Blend and Pandagon) has her own thought on the subject, emphasizing the same point Obama makes, he's black partially because that's how he's treated, and says of the discussion: "I welcome it, I only hope that it might lead to more productive conversations about why people think about him the way they do." No disagreement here, the challenge is just making sure the conversations are productive...