Marcelas Owens of Seattle, left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., right, and others, look on as President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Having Marcelas there is such an "in-your-face" move by Obama.
What's in the Health Bill for You Right Away? (Nancy Pelosi) from The Gavel: The Speaker's Blog
"Under the legislative package the House passed on Sunday (the Senate-passed health bill as amended by the reconciliation bill) many key provisions take effect this year - here are some of them:"
How Obama Revived his Health-Care Bill from the Washington Post
An interesting long-form analysis of how Obama and the Dems got to "Aye."
""Pelosi lectured the others about the political realities of the House: Her Democratic troops did not trust the Senate, and she would face a mutiny if she asked them to do what Reid was suggesting. They talked over each other, round and round, repeating the arguments Obama had heard for weeks. "Let me finish," he broke in. This was not how the president had envisioned things. He was just one day away from celebrating his first year in office. By now, he was to have signed into law a landmark bill guaranteeing health care to every American, the broadest piece of social policy legislation since President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Instead, he was confronting the very real prospect of failure on an equally grand scale."
White House Talking Points on New Health Law (Greg Sargent) from The Plum Line via the Washington Post
Another list of the key provisions that take effect immediately and in the near term.
Healthcare's Fight was Obama's Proving Ground (Editorial) from the Los Angeles Times
"What became clear in the healthcare debate is that Obama is a president with a combative stubbornness, one that was not often visible in his cool, above-the-fray public demeanor. And he has demonstrated that a president who picks a goal, adopts a battle plan and sticks with it, come what may, is not easy to knock out."
Don’t Short Obama (Daniel Gross) from Newsweek
"Don't short Obama. In fact, that's been the lesson of Obama's entire career so far. Think of Obama as a stock. When he came onto the national scene, he was small and undercapitalized. Some investors (i.e., donors and organizers) went long, but plenty of the heaviest hitters bet against him. During the campaign, the prospects of his success were continually downplayed by the Clintons, the national media, and the Republicans. Those shorting the Obama candidacy got crushed. And since January 2009, so, too, have those who have shorted the Obama presidency—especially the performance of the markets and economy under Obama."
Hail the Conquering Professor (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
It has been AGES since Dowd wrote anything worthy of nugget status. I find her smarmy, gossipy, pseudo-analysis very dissonant in the face of the serious challenges the country faces right now. Even with those characteristics, this one is interesting.
"One minute they were legislative losers, squabbling and scrambling for the off-ramps. The next they were history-makers, sharing chest bumps and goose bumps at the White House. How had the lofty president and the wily speaker suddenly steered them off Jimmy Carter Highway and onto F.D.R. Drive?"
Gallup: Americans Now View Health Plan Favorably (Greg Sargent) from the Plum Line via the Washington post
"Gallup sends over some polling results, to go live on their site at 3 PM, that suggest opinion is already turning in the wake of passage of Obama’s health bill."
HERE's some analysis of this poll from Ezra Klein at the Washington Post
Obama’s Bounce Changes the World (Editorial) from the Financial Times [of London]
"President Barack Obama has leapt out of his political sick-bed, ripped out his feeding tubes and is ready to dance a jig around the Oval office. The Congressional approval of healthcare reform has reinvigorated the Obama presidency in a way that has implications not just for Americans, but for the world."
Now, Political Fodder for the Courts (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic
"The chances of success in the Supreme Court are low, but the point of the lawsuits isn't legal -- it's political. It advances the politics of conservative jurisprudence, and the political ambitions of conservatives, and it keeps the legislation itself in a state of suspended political animation. "
How Health Care Helps Obama's Foreign Policy (Heather Horn) from the Atlantic
"Is it possible that the Democratic victory could also have foreign policy implications? That's what some commentators are suggesting as they muse on Obama's revamped image around the world. We know Europe's a fan of health care reform, but could the bill's passage actually help Obama in, say, the Middle East? Here's the debate:"
Health Win May Boost Obama Stature from Politico
"When Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu faced off with President Barack Obama over housing in Jerusalem earlier this month, he was facing a distracted American leader whose presidency hung in the balance. When he goes to the White House on Tuesday night, he’ll find Obama at the moment of his administration’s greatest success, a shift that may affect Obama’s negotiating power in ways both subtle and dramatic. "
An Absence of Class (Bob Herbert) from the New York Times
"This is the party of trickle down and weapons of mass destruction, the party of birthers and death-panel lunatics. This is the party that genuflects at the altar of right-wing talk radio, with its insane, nauseating, nonstop commitment to hatred and bigotry."
Three Points for Conservatism (E.J.Dionne) from the Washington Post
"In its current incarnation, conservatism has taken on an angry crankiness. It is caught up in a pseudo-populism that true conservatism should mistrust -- what on Earth would Bill Buckley have made of "death panels"? The creed is caught up in a suspicion of all reform that conservatives of the Edmund Burke stripe have always warned against. Authentic conservatism is better than this."
Republicans Feeling Blue as Scott Brown Win Backfires from the Boston Herald
"Republican folk hero Sen. Scott Brown is being taunted by triumphant Democrats - and slammed by irked conservatives - after the historic health-care bill he was elected to kill was signed into law by President Obama yesterday. “If he were a milk carton, he would be expired,” said Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman John Walsh"
Boy -- I've seen actual cartons of milk that lasted longer! No surprise though -- that grow Republicans in MA like they do virtually anywhere else.
America's Most Shameless Politician (Matthew Yglesias) from the Daily Beast
MAN! How could you narrow it down to just one!?
"Mitt Romney was for health care before he was against it. And in 2012, he’s headed for a double-talking disaster that would make John Kerry cringe."
British Envoy: Iran is Getting Weaker from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Iran is "still some way from being able to produce a weapon" and that there "is still time for diplomacy and political pressure to work." He also said Tehran craves international respectability and that sanctions have been working. "The current strategy is having some impact," he argued. "Not everything is going Iran's way and in some respects Iran's strategic hand is weaker than a year ago.""
New Abuse Charges Against Catholic Clergy in Germany from Reuters
"The Regensburg diocese in Pope Benedict's native Bavaria confirmed new allegations of child sexual abuse against four priests and two nuns on Monday, in the latest cases damaging the Catholic Church's image in Germany."
As I've mentioned to some of you, I view this brewing scandal with the Pope and his former archdiocese in Germany as the Catholic equivalent of Watergate -- and we are segueing from the "burglars" phase into the "cover-up" phase. It's clear the Vatican is clueless concerning how bad this is going to get.
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