http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:43:02 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:41:58 -0600 WASHINGTON "” The United States government is financing its more than trillion-dollar-a-year borrowing with i.o.u.'s on terms that seem too good to be true. "What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter. The United States is not only not saving nuts, it's eating the ones left over from the last winter." WILLIAM H. GROSS Articles in this series will examine the consequences of, and attempts to deal with, growing public and private debts.But that happy situation, aided by ultralow interest rates, may...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/us_faces_balloon_in_debt_payments_225093.html 225093 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:21:59 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/dems039_spending_spree_winning_issue_for_gop_225106.html 225106 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:42:54 -0600 In the sixty-four years since V-J Day, the United States has fought five wars big enough to be styled "major." Two of these, Vietnam (1962-75, by the most common reckoning) and Iraq (2003-11, with any luck), were conceived in sin. Their beginnings were fatally compromised by deceptions that congealed into lies, abetted by profound geostrategic misjudgments. In Vietnam, illusions piled on illusions. The Tonkin Gulf incident was not even an incident, since an incident, to be an incident, has to occur. The fear that Communism would spread throughout Asia and beyond if it was...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/afghanistan_the_fifth_war_225105.html 225105 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:31:02 -0600 Thanksgiving Gridlock: The Daily Beast Ranks America's Worst (and Best) AirportsHot Topics: Galleries, Sarah Palin, Big Fat Story, Giving Beast, Hungry Beast, Art BeastEnter your email address:Enter the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas:Message:The Asia trip was not worth Obama's time. Leslie H. Gelb on why the president should shake up his foreign policy team—and make sure the deals are done before he leaves home.President Obama’s nine-day trip to Asia is worth a look back to fix two potent problems, past and future. First, the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/amateur_hour_at_the_white_house_225108.html 225108 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:24:41 -0600 A funny thing happened on the way to a new New Deal. A year ago, the only thing we had to fear was fear itself; today, the reigning doctrine in Washington appears to be “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Paul Krugman What happened? To be sure, “centrists” in the Senate have hobbled efforts to rescue the economy. But the evidence suggests that in addition to facing political opposition, President Obama and his inner circle have been intimidated by scare stories from Wall Street.Consider the contrast between what Mr. Obama’s advisers were saying on...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/intimidated_by_wall_street_225092.html 225092 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:35:29 -0600 (ii) If you submit material to this site or to BLP or its representative, unless BLP indicates otherwise, you grant Bloomberg a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, copy, and display such content throughout the world in any form, media, or technology now known or hereafter developed. You also permit any other user to access, store, or reproduce such material for that user's personal use. You grant Bloomberg the right to use the name that you submit...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/geithner_is_stalking_horse_for_rage_at_wall_street_225109.html 225109 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:14:53 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/23/the_democrats_health_care_delusion_99269.html 225096 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:05:40 -0600 The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents -- posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center -- that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.The correspondence between dozens of climate-change researchers, including many in the U.S., illustrates bitter feelings among those who believe human activities cause global warming toward rivals who argue that the link between humans and climate change remains uncertain.Some emails also refer to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/emails_illustrate_bitter_feud_over_global_warming_225103.html 225103 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:03:07 -0600 Grab an Italian masterpiece for lessAriel LeveWhere am I? Exactly a fortnight from today, the United Nations climate change conference opens in Copenhagen. Its purpose is (or was) clear: to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Under Kyoto, all those developed nations that ratified the treaty (all, in practice, except the US) agreed to cut their carbon emissions to 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. The successor treaty, to be agreed at Copenhagen, was intended to secure a cut in global emissions, from the developed and developing world alike (and China has...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/copenhagen_will_failand_that_is_good_225102.html 225102 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:39:02 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/how_iran039s_opposition_complicates_nuke_talks_225097.html 225097 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:46:04 -0600 For those of us who have tracked Islamic militancy in Europe, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's actions are not extraordinary. Since Muslim militants first tried to blow a French high-speed train off its rails in 1995, European intelligence and internal-security services have increasingly monitored European Muslim radicals. Whether it's anti-Muslim bigotry, the large numbers of immigrant and native-born Muslims in Europe, an appreciation of how hard it is to become European, or just an understanding of how dangerous Islamic radicalism is, most Europeans are far less circumspect and...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/major_hasan_and_holy_war_225094.html 225094 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:34:43 -0600 WASHINGTON -- One of our long-running political stories is the economic assault on the young by the old. We have become a society that invests in its past and disfavors the future. This makes no sense for the nation, but as politics, it makes complete sense. The elderly and near elderly are better organized, focus obsessively on their government benefits, and seem deserving. Grandmas and Grandpas command sympathy.Everyone knows that the resulting "entitlements" dominate government spending and squeeze education, research, defense and almost everything else. In fiscal 2008 -- the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/23/the_assault_on_the_young_contd_99244.html 225088 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:42:03 -0600 As the precious metal continues to soar, naysayers abound. But a few things need to happen before the yellow fever cools off.There has been an endless amount of chatter about the price of gold being too high (it's not) and perhaps representing a bubble. It also seems that fair amounts of ink and windage have been wasted on worries about the gold trade being "too crowded." Why is gold so valuable?That day, gold closed at $1,014 an ounce. Here we are, about two months later, and gold is more than 10% higher.In a bull market, worrying about an idea being too crowded with...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/how_much_longer_can_gold_move_up_225100.html 225100 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:53:44 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/dems_media_use_palin_to_distract_from_issues_225095.html 225095 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:35:33 -0600 Is Congress, behind on Barack Obama's deadlines on health care and cap-and-trade legislation, and flummoxed by the failure of the stimulus package to hold unemployment below 10.2 percent, prepared to address the immigration issue next year?Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says it better be. The current situation, she told the Center for American Progress on Nov. 13, "is simply unacceptable." We need a "three-legged stool," with provisions to strengthen enforcement, legalize some illegal immigrants and improve "legal flows for families and...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/23/immigration_looms_as_the_next_test_for_congress__99257.html 225087 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:58:48 -0600 It is hard for international observers of the United States to grasp the political paralysis that grips the country, and that seriously threatens America's ability to solve its domestic problems and contribute to international problem-solving. America's governance crisis is the worst in modern history. Moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead.The difficulties that Barack Obama is having in passing his basic programme, whether in healthcare, climate change, or financial reform, are hard to understand at first glance. After all, he is personally popular, and his Democratic...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/america039s_broken_politics_225101.html 225101 AM Update Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:40:17 -0600 A dictatorship that fosters the production and distribution of cocaine is not apt to enjoy a positive international image. But when that same government cloaks itself in the language of social justice, with a special emphasis on the enfranchisement of indigenous people, it wins world-wide acclaim. This is Bolivia, which in two weeks will hold elections for president and both houses of congress. The government of President Evo Morales will spin the event as a great moment in South American democracy. In fact, it will mark the official end of what's left of Bolivian liberty after four...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/23/end_of_bolivian_democracy_225098.html 225098 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:10:31 -0600 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eked out 60 votes on a procedural motion to start the health care debate Saturday night "“ so there's no guarantee he can pass a bill on the merits.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/how_health_care_reform_could_fall_apart_225057.html 225057 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:23:15 -0600 Accessibility links Digital Publisher of the Year | Sunday 22 November 2009 | Comment feed Advertisement Website of the Telegraph Media Group with breaking news, sport, business, latest UK and world news. Content from the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and video from Telegraph TV. Enhanced by...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_politics_of_hypocrisy_amp_cynicism_225078.html 225078 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:16:19 -0600 AT last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree on: You don’t actually have to read Sarah Palin’s book to have an opinion about it. Last Sunday Liz Cheney praised “Going Rogue” as “well-written” on Fox News even though, by her own account, she had sampled only “parts” of it. On Tuesday, Ana Marie Cox, a correspondent for Air America, belittled the book in The Washington Post while confessing that she couldn’t claim to have “completely” read it.Frank Rich...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_pit_bull_in_the_china_shop_225077.html 225077 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:25:50 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/22/in_new_york_flanked_by_lawyers_99247.html 225079 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:29 -0600 + Show all sectionsInvalid Email/Password combination.Passwords are case sensitive.Please check your CAPS lock key.Forgot your password?Don't have an account? Register now.Enter your email address above and click submit to have your account informatione-mailed to you.Don't have an account? Register now.Please check your email for a message from the Globe and Mail online with the subjectline "Globe and Mail Member Information Request".To protect your privacy, we only send this information to the email address on filefor this accountWe've sent an email to  containinga...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/obama_inspires_palin_connects_225050.html 225050 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:42 -0600 For inspiration, Obama looks to Reagan.Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.Separate multiple addresses with commasA democratic president, you'd think, would stick to Franklin D. Roosevelt or Jack Kennedy as role models. Not Barack Obama. As he faces tough times""economically and politically""I am told that he and his advisers are turning to an unusual source for inspiration: Ronald Reagan. Looking back, it shouldn't be a total surprise. On the campaign trail in 2008, Obama said nice things about the Gipper. Reagan,...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/for_inspiration_obama_looks_to_reagan_225061.html 225061 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:57 -0600 WASHINGTON -- Few things are as dangerous in the Middle East as well-intentioned outsiders. They invariably bring unintended consequences upon those they would guide to a better life. Ask Job. Or consider the case of Mahmoud Abbas, whose hurt and fury over foreign meddling has triggered his threat to quit as Palestinian leader.No one could accuse President Barack Obama or Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa of harboring ill will toward the president of the Palestinian Authority. But their separate worthy initiatives have resulted in pushing Abbas into a no-exit hell while lowering the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/22/awash_in_unintended_consequences_99248.html 225052 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:32:11 -0600 Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the county medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon.After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in the city of Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Receive news alertsUnlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/22/armed_pols_a_chicago_tradition_99251.html 225080 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:19:29 -0600 Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, the bank to bash on a resurgent Wall Street, is receiving a lot of advice lately, and it's not just about money. Does the firm have an obligation to make philanthropic efforts?FACE IN THE CROWD A mock wanted poster of Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, sits during a union rally outside the firm's offices in Washington. Sitting before an audience of 300 at the Metropolitan Club of New York on Tuesday, he spoke with barely disguised disdain in his voice about the work of the image...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/wall_street039s_spin_game_225059.html 225059 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:49:18 -0600 Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of "the American...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/039reeducating039_future_teachers_225063.html 225063 PM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:35:18 -0600 U.S. Senate and Capitol Dome (Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images)November 22, 2009Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles TimesTerms of Service | Privacy Policy | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2009]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/senate_vote_clears_way_for_formal_hc_debate_225056.html 225056 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:44:40 -0600 Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase.On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state.And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/sweeteners_for_the_south_225055.html 225055 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:08:18 -0600 The Senate moved forward on the $848 billion health-care bill this weekend. It wasn't thanks to its chief cheerleader, Barack Obama, but in spite of him.What a mess he's made of the politics here.He's alienated both influential abortion-rights diva Kate Michelman on the left, and wacky Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on the right. "We don't know how far the government will go in this bureaucracy!" Bachmann said last week about a quasi-government panel's new mammogram recommendations.In the middle are American women thoroughly confused...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/obama039s_developed_tin_ear_on_hc_reform_225068.html 225068 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:30:58 -0600 WASHINGTONMaureen Dowd It’s easy to dismiss Sarah Palin. She’s back on the trail, with the tumbling hair and tumbling thoughts. The queen of the scenic strip mall known as Wasilla now reigns over thrilled subjects thronging to a politically strategic swath of American strip malls. The conservative celebrity clearly hasn’t boned up on anything, except her own endless odyssey of self-discovery. And she still has that Yoda-like syntax. “And I think more of a concern has been not within the campaign the mistakes that were made, not being able to react to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/visceral_has_its_value_225054.html 225054 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:08:51 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_left_uses_palin_as_a_weapon_of_mass_distraction_225053.html 225053 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:22:29 -0600 Earlier this month, almost a year from the day when Barack Obama rode the wave of history into Grant Park, he had one of those weeks that makes his presidency seem, at times, so confounding. First Obama endured an electoral embarrassment, watching his party lose off-year gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, in part because many of the voters he had so successfully engaged in his presidential campaign, particularly younger voters, stayed home and made popcorn for “Dancing With the Stars” instead. The president had been exposed, the pundits solemnly declared,...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/leveraging_the_obama_brand_225064.html 225064 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:27:42 -0600 Grab an Italian masterpiece for lessMartin IvensWhere am I?Gazing serenely from the Great Wall of China last week, President Barack Obama appeared to be making the most of one of the supreme perks of White House occupancy — a private guided tour of Asia’s most spectacular tourist destination.White House aides exulted that perfectly choreographed pictures of this moment would make front pages around the world. Yet an experience Obama declared to be “magical” turned sour as he returned home to a spreading domestic revolt that is fanning Democratic...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_dream_is_fading_for_obama039s_allies_225045.html 225045 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:31:08 -0600 WSJ.com is available in the following editions and languages: Thank you for registering.We sent an email to: Please click on the link inside the email to complete your registrationPlease register to gain free access to WSJ tools.An account already exists for the email address entered.Forgot your username or password?This service is temporary unavailable due to system maintenance. Please try again later.The username entered is already associated withanother account. Please enter a different usernameThe email address you have entered is already in use.Please re-enter the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/a_decision_that_baffles_911_victims039_families_225067.html 225067 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:53:11 -0600 Weather Forecast ``We [should] wrap him in bacon and deep fry him at a state fair while Lee Greenwood stabs him in the face.'' -- Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed And seriously now, who doesn't agree? You'd have to be defective in your humanity not to. Mohammed plotted the greatest act of mass murder in American history. Who among us wouldn't like a piece of this guy? Indeed, if critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try him and his terrorist confederates in a New York City...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/we_can_still_afford_to_act_like_america_225042.html 225042 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:54:45 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/22/obamas_vendetta_against_bush_99262.html 225071 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:34:09 -0600 Are the Mammogram Guidelines the New Death Panels?Hot Topics: Galleries, Sarah Palin, Big Fat Story, Giving Beast, Hungry Beast, Art BeastEnter your email address:Enter the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas:Message: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo The president’s visit to China was seen as failure, but what if that was just the new standard? Martin Jacques on why the U.S. must get used to decline—and learn humility. Obama’s visit to China last week was starkly different from previous such...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/why_america_must_learn_to_bow_225046.html 225046 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:47:12 -0600 Comments: 3By MAUREEN CALLAHAN Last Updated: 4:48 AM, November 22, 2009 Posted: 1:02 AM, November 22, 2009]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/why_we_should_leave_afghanistan_225069.html 225069 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:51:21 -0600 As President Obama nears a decision on Afghanistan, he faces a partisan divide in public opinion that is pulling him in opposite directions. His recent statements about the decision suggest that he is trying to accommodate the views with a war strategy that can be successful and contained.This is the dilemma Obama faced when, as a candidate, he cast his lot with Afghanistan while opposing the war in Iraq. The issue that was avoidable then, but is no longer, is how to put down al-Qaeda and the Taliban without being drawn into an endless conflict in a nation that has swallowed up outside forces...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/divide_widens_as_obama_mulls_afghan_policy_225070.html 225070 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:56:52 -0600 Canada.com NetworkNational PostVictoria Times ColonistThe Province (Vancouver)Vancouver SunEdmonton JournalCalgary HeraldRegina Leader-PostSaskatoon StarPhoenixWindsor StarOttawa CitizenThe Gazette (Montreal)DOSECanwest Community PublishingNanaimo Daily NewsGlobal TVGlobal NationalGlobal BCGlobal CalgaryGlobal EdmontonGlobal LethbridgeGlobal SaskatoonGlobal ReginaGlobal WinnipegGlobal OntarioGlobal QuebecGlobal MaritimesFood NetworkHGTVShowcaseSlice]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/goldman039s_phony_contrition_won039t_work_225060.html 225060 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:25:03 -0600 WASHINGTON -- What city contributed most to the making of the modern world? The Paris of the Enlightenment and then of Napoleon, pioneer of mass armies and nationalist statism? London, seat of parliamentary democracy and center of finance? Or perhaps Titusville, Pa.Oil seeping from the ground there was collected for medicinal purposes -- until Edwin Drake drilled and 150 years ago -- Aug. 27, 1859 -- found the basis of our world, 69 feet below the surface of Pennsylvania, which oil historian Daniel Yergin calls "the Saudi Arabia of 19th-century oil." Receive news alertsFor many...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/22/oils_expanding_frontiers_99250.html 225065 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:27:00 -0600 Here's a story of two presidents, Barack Obama of the United States and Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives. Both are young and charismatic. Both were elected last fall to replace discredited incumbents (Nasheed's predecessor ruled the island nation for three decades and kept him in a political prison for years). Both have troublesome legislatures (the opposition party controls the chamber in the Maldives). But on the biggest question the planet faces -- if we'll take action in time to slow down global warming -- they couldn't be more different. One, Nasheed, is leading the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/time_for_obama_to_act_on_climate_change_225066.html 225066 AM Update Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:10:36 -0600 Increase Font SizePrinter-FriendlyEmail a FriendRespond to this articleRemember that old Mac Davis song, "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble"? I was ten at the time of its release in 1980. I didn't understand it. But I hadn't yet planted my flag on the summit of major accomplishment. Now I have, and it's like Mac is singing to me. Hell, after my week of virtuous and simple living, it's like Mac is singing about me. My carbon footprint was erased as though a breaker had scoured it from a sandy beach thanks to No Impact Week, as in the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_adventures_of_low_impact_man_225051.html 225051 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:48:07 -0600 WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Saturday to begin full debate on major health care legislation, propelling President Obama’s top domestic initiative over a crucial, preliminary hurdle in a formidable display of muscle-flexing by the Democratic majority. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, right, and Senator Chris Dodd after the 60-39 passage of the cloture vote on health insurance reform legislation. A blog from The New York Times that tracks the health care debate as it unfolds. Share your thoughts about the health care debate. Top Discussions: The Public Option |...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/21/senate_votes_to_open_health_care_debate_225040.html 225040 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:49:42 -0600 It's simply not true that America is ambivalent about everything when it comes to the Obama health plan.The day after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gave its qualified blessing to the version of health reform produced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Quinnipiac University poll of a national cross section of voters reported its latest results.This poll may not be as famous as some others, but I know the care and professionalism of the people who run it, and one question was particularly interesting to me.It read: "President Obama has pledged that health insurance reform...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/21/a_budget-buster_in_the_making_225010.html 225010 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:45:49 -0600 President Barack Obama took office promising to lead from the center and solve big problems. He has exerted enormous political energy attempting to reform the nation's health-care system. But the biggest economic problem facing the nation is not health care. It's the deficit. Recently, the White House signaled that it will get serious about reducing the deficit next year"”after it locks into place massive new health-care entitlements. This is a recipe for disaster, as it will create a new appetite for increased spending and yet another powerful interest group to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/21/the_coming_deficit_disaster_224996.html 224996 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:28:32 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/21/why_not_tax_wall_street_225033.html 225033 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:59:01 -0600 Increase Font SizePrinter-FriendlyEmail a FriendRespond to this article Back in February, President Obama met with a group of CEOs in the White House, seeking their support for his economic stimulus package. One of his chief targets was Jim Owens, the head of Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. The day after the session in Washington, the president flew to Peoria to speak at the Caterpillar factory and took Owens and newly elected Republican representative Aaron Schock, the youngest member of Congress at 28, with him.Aboard Air Force One, Obama chatted amiably with Owens and Schock. Owens...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/21/obamanomics_101_no_need_for_capitalism_225014.html 225014 AM Update Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:38:37 -0600 CEDAR CREEK, Texas -- As Barack Obama began crafting his administration last year, the term "competence over ideology" was often used to describe the incoming president's approach. Fast forward past another election: as the top Democrat's job approval rating dipped below 50 percent and his signature first-year initiatives face increasing doubts, a bullish group of Republican governors emphasized results over rhetoric as they predicted continued success in 2010.In Washington, Republicans have been branded as the party of no for achieving near-constant unanimity on major...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/21/gop_governors_emphasize_results_over_rhetoric__99260.html 225035 AM Update http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/holder039s_top_aides_have_conflicts_on_detainee_cases_225044.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/holder039s_top_aides_have_conflicts_on_detainee_cases_225044.html Editorials Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:13:44 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/goldman039s_non-apology_225058.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/goldman039s_non-apology_225058.html Editorials Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:39:18 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_nea_reveals_its_true_agenda_power_225043.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/the_nea_reveals_its_true_agenda_power_225043.html Editorials Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:10:37 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/cubans_still_in_agony_225048.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/22/cubans_still_in_agony_225048.html Editorials Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:40:10 -0600