Sign up to get our new weekly column as a newsletter. We're looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. (CNN) "There are men of character in the U.S. Congress, both House and Senate. There are women of character, too. But the evidence for 'character' needs to be something other than the iteration of the word itself," writes Marjorie Garber in her book "Character: The History of a Cultural Obsession." That is a useful frame for trying to make sense of the dramas that proliferated on Capitol Hill this week as Congress took up multiple nominations to President Joe Biden's Cabinet and held its first hearing on the January 6 insurrection. As Garber notes, the translation of individual traits into a "national character" most often occurs at "times of stress, as a marker not so much of social progress as of social and cultural anxiety." We saw this. Conviction and commitment (and the lack of same), and in darker terms, … [Read more...] about Biden’s tricky tango with Congress
