UP-FRONT "HEALTH CARE-SEEMS-TO-BE-HAPPENING" NUGGETS!!
Four encouraging items on health care reform all came out yesterday. This starts to look like "momentum." I wonder if Obama has been kicking some lawmaker ass since coming back from overseas!
1. Reid Says Healthcare Reform Possible Week of July 27 from The Hill
2. Max Baucus: Bipartisan Health Care Deal Close from Politico
3. Pelosi says Health Bill to Move to the Floor in Two Weeks from NBC News
4. AMA Backs House Health-Care Bill from MSNBC
A related item:
The Fabled Obama Machine Tests Itself - and Fellow Dems - on Health Care from Politics Daily
"For a while, the fabled grassroots troops that powered Obama to the White House appeared to be AWOL. It seemed that the "movement" and its massive 13 million name e-mail list had been lost in transition. Well, they're back, and the next three crucial weeks should give us some indication of whether Team Obama has successfully transformed an election campaign operation into an issue advocacy shop."
This is important. We'll see how it fares.
Obama's Consensus Diplomacy Put to the Test (Editorial) from the Moscow Times [in English]
"Following U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Russia, most political commentators focused on two themes: the fact that nuclear arms reductions have returned to the agenda and the problem of democracy in Russia. In both areas, Obama performed a political balancing act that was nothing short of miraculous."
Very interesting look at Obama as a clear post-Cold War leader.
Morning Again (John Barry) from Newsweek
"Obama—easily the most eloquent President since Reagan—wields words as his predecessor did. Obama's speech on race in America in the middle of last year's election campaign changed how the issue can be discussed. Similarly, on the question of health care, it's clear that Obama set out to change the terms of the debate with his rhetoric. The operative presumption is now that there will be health-care reform. That's Obama's doing."
Despite Barry's overdone love affair with Reagan, I agree with his larger points on what Obama is bringing to the international table. I would say that Obama does it even better than Reagan ever did.
Illegal, and Pointless from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"Two things seem disturbingly clear. First, President Bush and his top aides panicked after the Sept. 11 attacks. And second, Mr. Cheney and his ideologues, who had long chafed at any legal constraints on executive power, preyed on that panic to advance their agenda."
No Size Fits All (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"Most people in government, think tanks and the news media didn’t go to community college, and they don’t send their children to them. It’s a blind spot in their consciousness. As a result, four-year colleges receive three times as much federal money per student as community colleges. ... Which is why what President Obama announced this week is so important. He announced a $12 billion plan to produce 5 million more community college grads by 2020."
The Dick Cheney Diversion (Terence Samuel) from American Prospect
"Cheney's reemergence in the media spotlight can only make Obama look good."
Former GOP Congressmen Accuse Republicans of Putting Party Above the Constitution from the Huffington Post
"Two former Republican members of Congress have accused their GOP colleagues of putting party politics over the Constitution during the Bush years, arguing that they failed dramatically to check the White House's use of executive powers."
VIDEO HUMOR NUGGET!!
Cute/Ridiculous Animal Thing of the Day: Live Squirrel Cam from Huffington Post
Hilarious video and pictures from the Bad Manors Squirrel Diner in California!
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