American politics seems unusually bogged down at present. Blame Barack Obama more than the system
THIS week Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana who nearly became Barack Obama’s vice-president, said he was retiring from the Senate, blaming the inability of Congress to get things done. Cynics think Mr Bayh was also worried about being beaten in [...]
Someone will have to step in and lead if Obama can’t
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Whether we realize it or not, Washington has come to a standstill and at a very dangerous time. Democrats, who have control on paper, have neither enough votes in Congress nor enough support among the American people to move a serious agenda. [...]
By Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON — What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama’s approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent — and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president’s second year.
A year ago, he was leader [...]
By MARK B. CONSTANTIAN
Last August the cover of Time pictured President Obama in white coat and stethoscope. The story opened: “The U.S. spends more to get less [health care] than just about every other industrialized country.” This trope has dominated media coverage of health-care reform. Yet a majority of Americans opposes Congress’s health-care bills. [...]
By David S. Broder
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The health-care reform bill coming out of the Senate presents a real dilemma for spectators: How do you applaud while holding your nose?
There is so much that is wrong with it — and the way it was made — and, at the same time, so much that [...]
By
DAVID ROGERS
Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted Wednesday that job creation and deficit reduction will be the central Democratic themes for the coming year – and that public support for health care reform will rebound once a bill has been sent to President Barack Obama.
On the divisive issue of Afghanistan, the California Democrat ducked the question of [...]
Peter Suderman
Remember last week’s health care deal? The one that was going to save health care reform? Well, it increasingly looks like (as predicted) it wasn’t much of one — and mostly because of Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman, who’d previously taken a squishy position on the deal’s Medicare buy-in plan, has said that he [...]
By Ruben Navarrette
SAN DIEGO — Move over, Clint Eastwood. The Senate has its own Dirty Harry. When it comes to ham-handedly exploiting the sensitive and divisive issue of race to score cheap political points, Majority Leader Harry Reid can get down in the mud and wrestle with the worst of them.
The Nevada Democrat has the [...]
By Cal Thomas
Assuming a rock-solid 40 Republicans stand against the health care reform bill now being debated in the Senate, it will take just one Democrat or independent to derail this monstrosity, which along with its House companion, may be the most disastrous piece of legislation ever to be this close to enactment by Congress.
So [...]
The health-care bills in Congress are irredeemable, writes columnist Charles Krauthammer. They should be tossed out. Then do health care the right way — one reform at a time, each simple and simplifying, aimed at reducing complexity, arbitrariness and inefficiency.
By Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON — The United States has the best health care in the world — [...]
