Understanding reform doesn’t come from handicapping it
Here’s something you won’t learn from reading headlines or obsessively watching text crawl across the bottom of the TV screen: Health care reform isn’t a horse race.
It doesn’t turn on what the latest key member of Congress said this morning…
Weatherman-in-chief
With Republican gains in Tuesday’s off-year elections, President Barack Obama doesn’t need a weatherman to tell him which way the winds are blowing. Luckily the president is now his own weatherman.
Just type www.obama-weather.com into your browser and up pops an avatar…
Afghanistan: Middle ground or ‘Pollyannaish misadventure?’
President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet today with the Joint Chiefs of Staff amid reports that he is close to a decision on new U.S. strategies in Afghanistan.
Not surprisingly for a president who has made conciliation the watchword of…
Borrowing tactics from both sides on health reform
Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, was in a fine fury Tuesday morning. Speaking on the Senate floor, he blasted Democratic lawmakers for a plan to permanently adjust the Medicare formula used to set payment…
It’s not about race
A report out today suggests that the intense anger about President Barack Obama from conservative Republicans is not race-based, it’s ideological. The report was based on focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps (run by James Carville and Stan Greenberg) and analyzed by…
Premiums headed up, with or without health reform
Robin Beaton's insurance company cancelled her breast cancer surgery because she didn't disclose she'd been treated for acne.
Health insurance companies launched an 11th-hour assault Monday on a compromise health care reform bill in the Senate. In a new report and a…
Betting on the come: Mr. Obama’s Nobel Prize
Stud poker players are familiar with the tactic known as “betting on the come” — holding three or four cards with good potential, but only if cards to come turn the hand into a winner.
Betting on the come is…
Humbled
Barack Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Washington Post has a good story about it here.
The Washington Post reported that the Nobel committee bestowed the honor on Obama for changing the climate of international politics. From the story:
The committee — made up…
Hoops Summit: Shimkus invited to play ball at White House
Republican Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville has accepted an invitation to play basketball with President Obama at the White House tonight, Shimkus’ office reports:
SHIMKUS INVITED TO WHITE…
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Seeking an Olympian achievement on climate change
Afghanistan: It’s not just about “more troops.”
Americans are being ill-served by the nature of the debate over President Barack Obama’s pending decision about the future of America’s efforts in Afghanistan.
No matter what you may have heard on talk radio or cable news, or read on…
McChrystal clear: Even with more troops, victory not certain
To read Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s assessment of the war in Afghanistan is to reach some disturbing conclusions about a conflict in which the United States has been engaged for eight years:
- It’s not really a “war” after all, but…
Senate reform bill won’t cure what ails U.S. health care
America needs a strong shot of health care reform, but Sen. Max Baucus’ two-aspirin-and-call-me-the-morning measure won’t get the job done.
Mr. Baucus, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, dithered for months trying to craft a compromise with…
Malpractice suits aren’t driving the high cost of health care
Shimkus’ shameful walkout
According to the Chicago Tribune’s “The Swamp” blog, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, walked out on the president’s speech Wednesday night.
An aide to Shimkus told the Tribune that the congressman was frustrated that nothing new was offered. From the Swamp…
Obama’s challenge to Congress: Stand and deliver.
The case was argued, heartstrings were tugged and the gauntlet was hurled in President Barack Obama’s remarkable 50-minute address to the nation and a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.
The president’s speech may not convince a narrowly divided Congress to…
Health reform means economic security for Americans.
President Barack Obama will try to retake the initiative on health care reform this evening with a nationally televised address to Congress. Conventional wisdom holds that it will be among the most important speeches of his political career.
That’s entirely backward.
Whatever…
Flunking civics
On Tuesday morning, President Barack Obama plans to give a nationally televised speech directed to school children. He wants to talk about the importance of working hard and staying in school. It’s a kind of presidential pep talk for kids.
Bitter partisans have…
Something is rotten
In his blog, The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic had a short post today that is a sort of call to action for the progressives who are sitting out the debate right now. (Health care? Cap and trade? Employee Free…















