MONDAY,  AUGUST 17,  2009

NO COMPROMISE - AT 7:24 P.M. ET:  Nancy Pelosi seems endlessly determined to be part of the problem, not the solution.  While saner voices are hinting that the public option in health-care "reform" is on its way to the morgue, Nancy shouts, "I feel a pulse, a pulse!"  From the Washington Examiner:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she will forge ahead with a health insurance bill that includes a robust government-run insurance plan, despite signals from Senate negotiators that they may exclude a government plan from legislation it is drafting.

"There is strong support in the House for a public option," Pelosi said on Monday, referring back to a statement President Barack Obama made in March in which he declared a public option will "give consumers more choices" and "keep the private sector honest."

Pelosi pointed out that a public option is the main component of all three versions of health reform legislation that are circulating in the House as well as the committee-passed Democratic version in the Senate.

But neither the House nor the Senate has been able to come up with enough support to pass the public option plan, and attention is now turning to a Senate bipartisan plan that would eschew a public option in favor of an insurance co-operative. Even the White House has signaled it will consider a co-op instead of a public plan.

COMMENT:  The public option is a favorite of the Democratic Party's left wing, whose members believe that European health plans are as good as European museums.  ("I loved the Prado during my junior year in Spain, dearie.")  Problem is, objects that hang in museums don't need heart surgery.

As the story says, the public option doesn't have majority support in Congress. So what is the fight about?  It's to show the folks back in the gated communes that their representatives in Washington have also read Marx.  Very important to show that.  Can't live without it.

August 17, 2009   Permalink 

ILLINOIS TIGHT - AT 4:21 P.M. ET:  This will be a very tough race - for the Senate seat formerly held by Barack Obama - but winnable.  From The Politico:

Illinois Republican congressman Mark Kirk holds a narrow lead over Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in an early poll of the state’s Senate race by Rasmussen Reports.

The poll shows Kirk leading Giannoulias by 3 points, 41 to 38 percent, in a head-to-head matchup. Both candidates, however, hold high approval ratings — and the numbers undoubtedly will change once the campaigns start gearing up for the race in full force.

COMMENT:  I'd hoped that Kirk would be further ahead, but any lead is acceptable in that heavily Democratic state, still dominated by a Chicago machine that counts the departed among its most reliable voters. 

But polls now are meaningless.  The entire political landscape can be different in November, 2010, 15 months from now, when the election will be held.

August 17, 2009   Permalink

CONSERVATISM GROWING - AT 3:48 P.M. ET:  Conservatism is making progress in the United States, according to a new Gallup survey:

(CNSNews.com) - Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.

At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.

In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either “conservative” (31%) or “very conservative” (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004.

Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are “liberal” and 5% who say they are “very liberal.”

Thirty-five percent of Americans say they are moderate.

But...

“In fact, while all 50 states are, to some degree, more conservative than liberal (with the conservative advantage ranging from 1 to 34 points), Gallup's 2009 party ID results indicate that Democrats have significant party ID advantages in 30 states and Republicans in only 4,” said an analysis of the survey results published by Gallup.

COMMENT:  Go figure.  It's pretty clear that while conservatism is quite respectable in America, the Republican Party is less so.  It's also clear that elections are won in the great middle, the area between the 40-yard-lines.

The White House and the House of Representatives are run by liberals, and the Senate is close.  We have to figure out how that happened, and make sure it doesn't happen again.

August 17, 2009   Permalink

THEY NEVER LEARN - AT 9:41 A.M. ET:   Netroots Nation held a convention over the weekend.  Anyone notice?  NN is, bottom line, the fringe left wing of the Obama movement.  One of the guests was Jerry Nadler, who represents the congressional district in New York that contains Ground Zero.  You'd never know it.  Nadler is a True Believer, and he's still out for blood.  Unfortunately, it's not Al Qaeda's.  The Politico reports:

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is warning President Barack Obama not to pressure Attorney General Eric Holder against appointing a special prosecutor to investigate potential crimes related to the Bush Administration's interrogation practices.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh Saturday, Nadler said the White House has no business sending subtle or not-so-subtle signals to Holder to shelve the idea of naming a special counsel.

"That is properly a decision of the Justice Department to be made on independent grounds, regardless of the political convenience or inconvenience to the administration," Nadler said. "So I have nothing to say to the president on this, except let Mr. Holder alone. As far as I know, they are," he said, adding another "as far as I know" as the liberal crowd broke out in applause.

Nadler set up those comments by invoking alleged Bush Administration politicization of the Justice Department.

COMMENT:  That's all Obama needs right now - a highly partisan probe into the Bush era.  It will divide the country even more than it's already split, right in the middle of a midterm election year.  Great planning.  Brought to you by the same wonderful folks who gave you Obamacare.

And yet, the True Believers will not relent.  Their main purpose in life is to torment George W. Bush, who's looking better and better every day. 

Capable presidents know how to deal with the fringes in their political movements and parties.  FDR was a master at it, as was Ronald Reagan.  We look forward to seeing if Obama has perfected that art, or even addressed it. 

August 17, 2009   Permalink 

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  From Victor Davis Hanson, presenting a bill of particulars on why the Obama presidency is in such trouble.  Consider:

...there is a growing fear that Obamism is becoming cult-like and Orwellian. Almost on script, Hollywood ceased all its Rendition/Redacted–style films. Iraq — once the new Vietnam — is out of the news. Afghanistan is “problematic,” not a “blunder.” Tribunals, renditions, the Patriot Act, and Predators are no longer proof of a Seven Days in May coup, but legitimate tools to keep us safe. Words change meanings as acts of terror become “man-caused disasters.” Hunting down jihadists is really an “overseas contingency operation.” Media sycophants do not merely parrot Obama, but now proclaim him a “god.” New York Times columnists who once assured us that Bush’s dastardly behavior was proof of American pathology now sound like Pravda apologists in explaining the “real” Obama is not what he is beginning to seem like.

And...

Americans no longer believe this is our moment when the seas stop rising and the planet ceases warming. Instead, there is a growing hopelessness that despite all the new proposed income taxes, payroll taxes, and surtaxes, the deficit will skyrocket, not shrink. There is foreboding that while apologies abroad are nice in the short term, they will soon earn a reckoning.

COMMENT:  The rest of the article is equally fine.  Hanson nails it, especially about the reckoning in foreign policy that is sure to come.  That is the other shoe that will drop, with a thud, and we are not ready for it.

August 17, 2009   Permalink

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - AT 7:53 A.M. ET:  When Barack Obama took office, we were presented with a picture of an almost saintly leader presiding over the Church of the Mesmerized Democrats.  Dissent would not be heard because all was so wonderful and wise.  Everyone was in place and in line.  Bishop Rahm Emanuel would observe each day for any sign of heresy.

Well, things apparently didn't work out, and not too many people are coming in to be ordained.  Indeed, more and more Democrats are declaring their independence, as they see the president's poll numbers drop.  The Politico reports the independent streak of a key player in health care:

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) dismisses the Sept. 15 deadline given by President Barack Obama for Senate negotiators to produce a health reform bill.

“We are going to be ready when we’re ready,” he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Conrad, one of the key Senate negotiators on the health reform bill, said lawmakers hope to be done by mid-September. But if they don't have all the answers they need from the Congressional Budget Office, “we will not be bound by any deadlines,” Conrad said, stressing that the most important goal is to get reform right.

Conrad also shot down the public option, saying that "there are not the votes in the United States Senate” for it.

“There never have been," he said. "So to continue to chase that rabbit is just a wasted effort.”

COMMENT:  Poll numbers are to politics what Nielsen ratings are to television.  If your numbers are weak, your friends run away and you don't get the choice parking slots. 

Obama is now struggling.  He will always have the loyalty of most of the Democrats in Congress because most are liberals.  But there is an important group of moderates, and they are nervous.  They are the most vulnerable at the polls.  There is an election next year.  They can do the math.  Unless the president can reverse his decline in the polls he will face a divided party, with some members joining Republicans in restoring the old moderate Democrat - Republican coalition that was powerful for decades.

August 17, 2009    Permalink

THE RIGHT COURSE - AT 7:36 A.M. ET:  We have real doubts here about a federal role in education, which by tradition has been a local and state function.  Indeed, it seems to us that the best school systems in the country were built on local values and with local parental involvement, not by federal guidelines or grants.

But the reality is that the feds are involved, and will likely stay involved.  If that's the case, we'll at least want them to act intelligently, and it appears that there are some good things being done right now.  We give credit where it's due.  We hope the Obama White House doesn't fold under pressure from the teachers' unions.  The New York Times has the story:

Holding out billions of dollars as a potential windfall, the Obama administration is persuading state after state to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers.

That aggressive use of economic stimulus money by Education Secretary Arne Duncan is provoking heated debates over the uses of standardized testing and the proper federal role in education, issues that flared frequently during President George W. Bush’s enforcement of his signature education law, called No Child Left Behind.

A recent case is California, where legislative leaders are vowing to do anything necessary, including rewriting a law that prohibits the use of student scores in teacher evaluations, to ensure that the state is eligible for a chunk of the $4.3 billion the federal Education Department will soon award to a dozen or so states. The law had strong backing from the state teachers union.

COMMENT:  Look, this isn't ideal, and there are different ways of looking at education issues.  But at least the federal government is demanding some standards.  True, Washington should listen to concerns by the states, and keep itself out whenever possible.  But if we're going to spend on education, we should demand results, not just more buildings and buses. 

There is also an important media role here.  The media often shortchanges education stories, especially at the high-school level, by rarely reporting what is actually being taught, especially in politically charged subjects like history and, yes, even English.  That must change.

What must also change is the avoidance of certain truths.  Good schools are built by good families and engaged parents.  The culture at home determines the culture that students bring to the classroom.  We know that, but it often seems to be a secret.

August 17, 2009   Permalink 

NOT THIS YEAR - AT 7:06 A.M. ET:  We enter the last two weeks of August, usually the laziest two weeks of the year.  It is the time, by tradition, that the nation's psychiatrists go on vacation, meaning some of the people we cover here at Urgent Agenda may seem especially jittery and paranoid during the next two weeks, unless they've arranged their prescriptions in advance.  In Hollywood, many stars won't know what to think, or whether to think, or will hire a personal thinker to think for them.

And yet, this year it's different.  Ordinarily, there'd be virtually no political activity in the last two weeks of August.  Newspapers would look for crime waves - two parking tickets are a crime wave in August - and TV news shows would feature the latest styles in back-to-school lunch boxes.  But look what's happening.  The political wars are ongoing, and intense.  Thousands of Americans are turning up at town meetings to protest health-care reform that ain't.  Talk radio has never been more active.

If this is August, imagine November. 

Some analysts say that Americans are just concerned about health care.  Others say that the anger, and activity, that we're seeing is a culmination of a great deal of pent-up frustration.  I think the second argument is correct.  Americans have watched a new president spend trillions of dollars, make promises that can't be kept, sponsor a cap 'n trade bill in the House that would lead to economic convulsion, go abroad and apologize for our country, and act more an emperor than a president.  They have seen attempts to change America in ways that most Americans never voted for.  They have seen a media that's forgotten the fact that 46% of voters went for John McCain, and that a good chunk of Obama voters believed they were selecting a moderate. 

A thousand-page health-care "reform" bill was the last straw.  It was really the last straw when Americans learned that a provision for end-of-life counseling was in the section of the bill on saving money. 

So there'll be no vacation from politics in the next two weeks, and we can expect major combat in the fall.  Maybe the psychiatrists should cut short their holidays this year.  They're needed back in the office.

August 17, 2009   Permalink

SUNDAY,  AUGUST 16,  2009

NOT GOOD TIMING FOR OUR LIBS - AT 11:22 P.M. ET: 

SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.

"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize," Doig said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"We know that there must be change," she said. "We're all running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands."

COMMENT:  This is important because the Canadian plan is being looked at as a possible model to (scream loudly) Save Our Medical System, which apparently is coming apart, performing surgery without anesthesia, and allowing poodles to deliver babies. 

But the Canadian plan, like many single-payer plans, is running into trouble.  And the major flaw in all single-payer plans is that there's no alternative, at least not one that covers the entire population.

August 16, 2009   Permalink

THIS CLARIFIES EVERYTHING - AT 10:53 P.M. ET:  In case you've wanted to know where President Obama really has been, we finally have the answer, and are rushing it to you:

CARACAS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is "lost in the Andromeda" galaxy on Latin American policy, his chief critic in the region, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said on Sunday, while demanding the closure of U.S. military bases.

And because of cutbacks at NASA, we just can't reach him.

Last week Obama said critics of U.S. involvement in Latin America who are now asking Washington to do more to restore the ousted president of Honduras "can't have it both ways."

"We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that "the empire" get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin America," Chavez said in a rambling weekly television and radio show.

COMMENT:  I was wondering what the American left will say now.  On the one hand, Danny Glover and a bunch of nitrogen-filled Hollywood types have been running down to Caracas to kiss Chavez's ring.  On the other hand, Chavez is now attacking The One, the Most High, The Health Giver. 

I suspect that every therapy center in Los Angeles will be jammed for days with patients trying to "work this out."  There will unquestionably be seminars on college campuses.  The New York Times editorial page will come to some kind of conclusion, probably calling for Chavez and Obama to meet at a White House picnic table.  Hey, Professor Gates came away happy, didn't he?

And yet, it's good to know that the president has been located in the Andromeda galaxy.  Now you know where to write.

August 16, 2009   Permalink

WILL COMMON SENSE PREVAIL? - AT 3:17 P.M. ET:  Looks like some Dems are starting to get the message.  From Fox:

Momentum behind a new government-run health care plan appeared to slow considerably Sunday, as a lead Democratic negotiator called the option a "wasted effort" and President Obama's health secretary suggested the White House is ready to accept a health care reform package without it.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., one of six negotiators trying to hammer out a bipartisan compromise measure on the Senate Finance Committee, told "FOX News Sunday" that the so-called public option simply does not have the votes to pass.

"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been," he said. "So to continue to chase that rabbit I think is just a wasted effort."

Conrad and other negotiators on the finance committee are instead pushing a system of nonprofit insurance cooperatives, as an alternative to the public plan.

COMMENT:  At least they're thinking, and starting to listen to the "mobs" out there. 

Look, there are things wrong with the system, including vast administrative costs.  They can be fixed, or at least eased, by a series of fixes.  You don't have to "overhaul" everything.  If you have a flat tire, you don't replace the engine. 

But now the Republicans should fight for malpractice reform to be included.  That is absolutely vital to any true reform measure.  If Democrats fight malpractice reform, they will be exposed before the public as cynics and hypocrites.  Let the exposure begin.

August 16, 2009   Permalink

TONE DEAF, REQUIRES TREATMENT - AT 10:53 A.M. ET:  It appears that some members of the Obama administration have difficulty learning.  There are remedies, and skilled professionals ready to help.  Consider:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she hopes the final reform package will include measures to encourage end-of-life counseling – despite the controversy such a proposal has caused in recent weeks.

“I am hoping at the end of the day it will be in the package,” Sebelius said on ABC’s This Week. She said end-of-life decisions were among the most important that a family needed to make.

COMMENT:  Yes, Ms. Sebelius, we know, we know.  The problem is, read the bill.  The end-of-life counseling provision, as Sarah Palin astutely pointed out, is in the section of the House bill devoted to saving money.  Got that?

Do you understand, Secretary Sebelius, the implications of that for older people? Have you thought about it?

At any rate, a Senate panel is apparently deleting the provision.  Sure, good counseling is useful and can be enlightening...when properly and respectfully presented.  Don't just dump it on us and say, "It's good for you.  I said so."

August 16, 2009   Permalink

 
NORTH KOREA THREATENS - AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  I guess the effects of Bill Clinton's visit have worn off:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea followed recent conciliatory gestures toward the U.S. and South Korea with a return to threats Sunday, warning them of "merciless retaliation" over sanctions imposed on its government, and nuclear attacks in response to any atomic provocation.

Seoul and Washington will kick off annual computer-simulated war games Monday, which North Korea sees as preparation for an invasion. The U.S. and South Korea say the maneuvers are purely defensive.

"Should the U.S. imperialists and (South Korean government) threaten the (North) with nukes, it will retaliate against them with nukes," North Korea's military said in a statement reported Sunday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

COMMENT:  We are getting nowhere with North Korea, and the story just below shows just how concerned our allies are.  Once again the Obama policy of "engagement" seems aimless, with no achievable objectives.  The scheduled US/Washington war games are routine.  What we're hearing from North Korea is its true voice. 

The president is already in trouble on domestic policy.  His foreign policy seems headed for oblivion very quickly.  Where will he be on January 20th, his first anniversary in office?  We don't make predictions here, but Mr. Obama's first year is shaping up to be as unsuccessful as Jack Kennedy's.  Kennedy turned his presidency around in his second year, but he didn't have the burden of left-wing ideology that Obama carries.

August 16, 2009   Permalink

OUR EMBARRASSMENT  - AT 9:47 A.M. ET:   Reader James Birdsall alerts us to this piece from Japan's Asahi Shimbun.  It's clear that Japan is worried about North Korea, so worried that it may change its constitution to deal with the threat:

An advisory panel to Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday called for a change to the interpretation of the Constitution that would allow Japanese forces to shoot down missiles fired by North Korea at the United States.

The controversial proposal to grant Japan the right to exercise collective self-defense was one of several changes needed to protect the country in a rapidly shifting national security environment, the panel of nine experts said.

In a report presented to the prime minister, the panel also suggested easing the country's tough restriction on weapons exports.

And...

The report also touched on the possible need to strike enemy military bases, and called for discussions with the United States about how to divide up roles when jointly undertaking such a mission. The report proposed that Japan consider the appropriate military equipment, operational methods and cost-benefit analysis needed for such an attack.

But then there's this, which should embarrass us, but not surprise us, in light of the Obama administration's foreign policy:

The relative decline in the power of the United States meant that Japan needed a more flexible approach to its national security strategy, the panel said.

COMMENT:  Did you ever think you'd read those words? 

Japan gets it.  It sees what the age of Obama is really about, and it doesn't like what it sees.  I suspect the same thinking is going on in other countries - friend...and foe.

August 16, 2009   Permalink

STUNNING - AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen is today reporting the worst combination of numbers for President Obama since inauguration.   Only 47% approve of the president's job performance, while 52% disapprove, a gap of five points.

At the same time, Ras's presidential approval index, measuring the gap between those who strongly approve and those who strongly disapprove stands at minus nine.  Only 32% strongly approve, whereas 41% strongly disapprove. 

What is so striking here is that the president's numbers continue to deteriorate just as he's mounting a personal campaign for the Democratic health plan.  Usually a president who goes on the offensive can pick up some points simply because of the publicity he attracts.

Is it possible that the objections to President Obama, previously based on disagreement with his policies, are turning personal?  If so, he's in serious trouble, and I believe, very cautiously, that personal dislike is indeed growing.  The fact is that the very characteristics that won the election for Mr. Obama - his charm and his speaking ability - can turn against him if these things are seen as part of a pattern of deceit and dishonesty.  The likable man is suddenly seen as a fake.  The eloquent man is suddenly seen as slick, a shady salesman. 

We stress that polls are snapshots in time.  Only trends count.  We'll be watching the trends as people return from summer distractions and focus even more on the political combat.

August 16, 2009   Permalink