February 27, 2010 – 3:10 pm
Anytime Dick Cheney speaks out against the Obama Administration, invariably, someone comes along to tut-tut, and to contrast the former Vice President’s outspoken behavior unfavorably with the silence maintained by George W. Bush. Just as invariably, we are told that the former President’s silence must mean that he disapproves of the comments made by the former Vice President.
February 27, 2010 – 11:30 am
Barack Obama has been scolding Republicans for partisanship. He wants “seriousness and common purpose.” That sounds like it means: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and get something done for the good of this country, which needs to get something done.”
But Republicans, listening to Obama’s call for “seriousness and common purpose,” can easily be forgiven for hearing this message instead: “Let’s you roll over while I roll up my sleeves. You vote for my approach to health care and keep your objections and your counterproposals to yourselves. After all, I won.”
And can you blame Republicans for feeling that way? Democrats would play this exactly the same if they were in the minority. And Obama at Blair House was flanked by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, who are no one’s idea of public-spirited people willing to sacrifice the political interest of their own partisans.
This reminds me of something President Lyndon Johnson did back in the Sixties. Everyone remembers that he famously chose not to run for re-election in March 1968. Most people assume he did this in response to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War.
But Johnson himself gave a different reason. He had several legislative priorities he…
February 26, 2010 – 5:10 pm
I am glad to see that the effort to get Governor Daniels to run is getting more attention:
After months of Shermanesque denials, Indiana GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels’ admission that he’s now willing to consider a White House run has roused his long-standing, if unofficial, fan club.
Republican admirers from Washington, Indiana and elsewhere, hoping to encourage their favorite Hoosier, are out in force to make the case that a balding, blunt, unprepossessing, listed-at-5-foot-7 policy wonk would be a strong contender to take on President Barack Obama. Their shorthand is that he’s the un-Obama. If the country has soured on a charismatic orator who brought glamour but little executive experience to the presidency, the thinking goes, then Daniels could provide the antidote.
“Do we want a president that’s pretty, or do we want one who can get the job done?” is how Anne Hathaway, a former Republican National Committee chief of staff who is now back in her native Indiana, puts it.
February 25, 2010 – 11:10 pm
After the President’s sparring session with House Republicans during their retreat, I stated that the rhetorical confrontation I really wanted to see was a debate between Barack Obama, and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Here is why:
February 25, 2010 – 1:51 pm
The President of the United States makes like a Senator and filibusters, claiming that he can act like a Senator because he is the President . . . or something. At last count, Democrats have twice the amount of speaking time than do Republicans. To the extent that Republicans do talk, they are automatically told that they are not being serious, and that they are just using “props.” Never mind that the entire summit is a prop, because Democrats just want to go ahead with their own plan after the summit comes to an end, making the entire event a Potemkin exercise.
Yeah, this was a great idea. Wonder why people didn’t agree to do it earlier.
February 25, 2010 – 7:30 am
Perhaps because of what Glenn Beck’s been saying about Toyota, I’ve been asked many times over the past few weeks whether it’s possible that Obama, Rahm Emanuel and/or Waxman have launched this vendetta against them, as a conscious strategy to benefit GM and/or the UAW. After all, the government owns most of GM now.
I’ve had a serious mental block against even considering that idea. After all, to say that the government owns a majority of GM is theoretically the same as saying that We The Taxpayers own a majority of GM.
But what if it’s true? Hearing some of what Waxman has been saying really has me wondering.
February 25, 2010 – 1:24 am
Explained and detailed by Comrade Domenech. For all those who discuss the supposed fact that the White House finally put out a health care “bill” . . . well . . . betcha didn’t know this:
February 24, 2010 – 10:34 pm
My respect for Mitch Daniels is only increased by Jill Lawrence’s profile of the Indiana Governor:
If Mitch Daniels ends up with a national career, it will be because he’s the anti-Palin: All substance and, aside from his motorcycle habit, no flash.
The Indiana governor is on many Republican short lists for 2012, but he hasn’t gotten there in quite the same way as other governors and ex-governors. He hasn’t quit, published a book or signed a media contract, like former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Nor has he shifted on the political spectrum from mild-mannered moderate to sharp-edged conservative, as have former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, the better to rally activists such as those at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
February 24, 2010 – 4:58 pm
A lot of people seem to think that prospects have improved for the White House’s vision of health care reform. Those people must not be reading the same things I am reading.
For one thing, Talking Points Memo–not exactly a right-wing rag–is telling us that according to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, health care reform will not happen unless the House passes the Senate’s health care bill first. That led to the following exchange between Brian Beutler, the author of the Talking Points Memo piece, and Conrad:
I pointed out that House leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has repeatedly insisted they won’t take a flier on a reconciliation package–that they will only pass the Senate bill after the smaller side-car reconciliation bill has been all wrapped up.
“Fine, then it’s dead,” Conrad said.
Conrad added that he wouldn’t personally make any promises or symbolic gestures to House members to assure them that the Senate can or will take any action in a reconciliation bill to address House concerns.
“I don’t sign any blank check,” Conrad said.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Democrats, health care, Health Care Policy, Health Care Reform, Jay Cost, New York, Obama Administration, Politics, Reconciliation, Republicans, taxes
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February 24, 2010 – 4:18 pm
But now, many of the Senators–and former Senators–featured in this video, think that “majoritarian absolute power” would be nothing short of wonderful:
You just have to love Joe Biden’s quote: “I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don’t make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.” Enjoy the irony.
February 24, 2010 – 3:44 pm
Well, that would be the question, now wouldn’t it?
Critics left and right are accusing Rahm Emanuel of disloyalty-by-proxy after a Dana Milbank column in Sunday’s Washington Post defended the White House chief of staff – while trashing reputed Emanuel rivals Valerie Jarrett and Robert Gibbs.
There’s not a shred of proof that Emanuel fed Milbank the Rahm-friendly intel included in the piece – or that he was the source of a tart comparison of President Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter. And in fact, Milbank said Monday in a live chat on the Post website that he didn’t speak to Emanuel for the piece.
“I didn’t talk to Rahm for this column, or for anything else recently. His people were also disinclined to help me with this column, out of fear of just the reaction that would occur: people would suggest he spoon fed it to me,” Milbank said.
February 23, 2010 – 11:32 pm
I have made no secret in the past about my admiration for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. He is very smart, a sharp political fighter, an authentic small-government Republican, knows where the bodies are buried in Washington, as a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Governor Daniels has done a sterling job in Indiana, and has all of the qualifications that one could ask for in an excellent President.
