From Vanity Fair, the Obamas may have the smartest, most finely calibrated press operation in White House history — just don’t ask them to admit it. Say what you will about Rush and Newt, but they've successfully tilted media coverage to the right. From The Guardian, Mary Midgley on Hobbes's Leviathan and strange selves, freedom and desolation, selfishness, total freedom, and individualism (and a response to readers), war, and can we ride the Leviathan? Beneath the Idol, the Bureaucrat: A recently published volume of Guy Debord's early letters provides insights into a singular personality, and the fractious relationships that spawned the Situationist International. Becoming Barbarians: Hungry, rootless, and revolutionary, the Right has adopted the habits of the horde. Dahlia Lithwick on how Guantanamo is the least of America's prison problems. Thank Bernanke: More than Obama, more than Geithner, more than anyone, it is the once-maligned Federal Reserve chairman who has saved us from the second Great Depression. A look at why women really are more socially aggressive than men (with apologies to Jezebel.com) Politics outside politics: A look at how women redefine democracy. Can the Colombian pop sensation Shakira make early-childhood education the No. 1 priority in Latin America?