Politics
-
Healthcare Boondoggle (Updated)
Somebody explain to me why this bill as it stands is worth passing. I haven't read a thing yet that's convinced me. Sure there are a few improvements here and there, but are they worth the price? I recognize that the game isn't over, and substantive improvements can be added–and it starts with dumping the
-
Healthcare Bill, Yes or No?
Obama can say that you're getting a lot, but also saying that it "covers everyone," as if there's a big new benefit is a big stretch. Nothing will have changed on that count except changing the law to force people to buy private insurance if they don't get it from their employer. I guess you
-
Game Changer?
Except when Republicans are in power, nothing gets done, and what gets done by them is regressive and destructive of the public interest. We've become virtually ungovernable when Democrats are in power. If there's any hope for the Obama administration, it seems to me, it lies in the expectation of something unexpected–an unplanned-for game changer.
-
Quote of the Day: Ezra Klein
But though Obama's program is quite liberal, he doesn't seem to care much how it's achieved. A public option would be nice, but if it's not there, then that's fine, too. Full auction of permits is a good idea, but if most get given away to corporations, then that's how it goes. Infrastructure spending is
-
On Political Disappointment (Updated)
A point of clarification about my recent posts regarding my disappointment with Barack Obama. I think that a lot of it is not so much disappointment with him as a politician, but that for awhile his candidacy gave me some hope that we might reverse the damage done to us over the last thirty years.
-
Shaping Reality or Accepting It
But, of course, the Obama campaign, like all presidential campaigns, was built on a series of fictions. . . . All presidents have to adjust to these realities when they move to the White House. The only surprise with President Obama is how enthusiastically he has made the transition. He’s political, like any president, but
-
The Real Conservatives
The left, to be quite blunt about it, has something to conserve. It is the right that has inherited the ambitious modernist urge to destroy and innovate in the name of a universal project. Social democrats, characteristically modest in style and ambition, need to speak more assertively of past gains. The rise of the social
-
Beck Thinks We’re Weimar (Updated)
I told you over a year ago, please read about the Weimar Republic. Read about the end of the Republic of Germany, Weimar, before it fell into the hands of the Nazis. We are facing the same kind of financial questions that they faced! It was unsustainable! And for the first time in American history
-
Frank Rich on Palin
The crowds lining up in the cold for her book tour are likely to be the most motivated to line up at the polls in G.O.P. primaries. They don’t speak the same language as Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner or, for that matter, McCain. They are more likely to heed Palin
-
Disease in Remission
For the life of me I don't know why anybody serious is obsessing so much about Sarah Palin this week. This piece by Sullivan is simply silly. As if the future of the nation hinges on exposing what everybody with half a brain already knows.Honestly, who cares and why feed this media frenzy with a