President Obama made 15 "recess appointments" today, breaking a logjam of appointments that has been part of the Republican Party's "Just Say No" policy of governance. These 15 appointments have been - on average - held up for 214 days each by GOP lawmakers.
Seven of the roles these individuals are filling are in key economic areas - something that the GOP has reasonably assumed could be left waiting, since it has had no real importance to the country over the past year. Two of the roles filled today are in the Department of Homeland Security, something else the GOP has determined to be of little to no importance to the United States.
Tonight, the President and the Congress will pass comprehensive health care reform. There are absolutely no voices left to refute this fact.
At this moment - 9:39 pm ET - on FOX News Hannity is spending time to forecast the defeat of certain Democratic Congressfolks in November: a Far Right concession speech if ever there was one. On MSNBC Ed Schultz is saying that Barack Obama may just be a genius: a stronger nod from the Far Left than is usually found from that source. CNN is running its viewers through the benefits of the now-finished reform bill as they will - not "may" - unfold over coming years.
Words Fail me. This is someone who's internalised all those great speeches and great thoughts, and then says the right thing at exactly the right moment...learned not by teleprompter, but by heart
But he didn't do it alone: great footage here of Nancy Pelosi pissing off Teabaggers, marching arm in arm, Selma like, with John Lewis, and wielding a mighty scary weapon - the gavel
A transcript of the whole amazing extempore speech after the flip
As the second year of his first term cranks up, President Obama is perhaps showing some of the maturity that comes with having been around the block already. Perhaps he is following a plan he has intended all along. In either case, he is showing a set of canines that Congress had forgotten about.
The New York Times is reporting that he is planning a raft of executive action in the face of congressional gridlock, something that will either light a fire under legislators on both sides of the aisle, leave them standing looking fooolish - or both.
With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.
Overnight there is news that the Obama administration is considering cutting around 2% of the budget in 2011 - this after a large stimulus package. But to go from the blogs I swing by, you'd think that the President had just invaded a small country, and started torturing the inhabitants.
The Great Blogfather on MYDD posts up these two images (the second stolen from FDL apparently.)
David Plouffe is back to run the 2010 mid term elections for the Democrats, and he gives a stirring message to Democrats in today's Washington Post. Hat tip to Dansac at Dailykos for this, one of the few mature and sane bloggers there who hasn't written a GBCW in the last few weeks.
Among the other sterling bits of advice and comfort he has for the coming year is this:
No bed-wetting. This will be a tough election for our party and for many Republican incumbents as well. Instead of fearing what may happen, let's prove that we have more than just the brains to govern -- that we have the guts to govern. Let's fight like hell, not because we want to preserve our status, but because we sincerely believe too many everyday Americans will continue to lose if Republicans and special interests win.
I've noticed after last night's results that many of you are feeling despairing about your country, and even contemplating giving up political blogging because of the distress of it. I've one word of advice...
Hold on. Buckle up, and keep going. It was always going to be a bumpy ride.
Some of the Obama's more incoherent detractors have labeled his health care plan as "socialized medicine." It is assumed, naturally, that socialism is Bad (with a big B).
While socialism may be less effective in many industries and fields (just look at the Soviet Union's fate, after all), the insurance industry as a whole is rather different. Think for a moment - how is capitalism supposed to work? The company that makes the most profit wins. Companies make profit by selling goods and services to consumers; the better the product, the more consumers buy it, the more money said company makes, and the more effort said company puts into making an even better product. Society as a whole benefits from this invisible hand.
With insurance, on the other hand, companies don't make profit by selling consumers the best product. Instead, they make money by denying insurance claims from consumers. The incentive is perverted; the insurance company that does the best denies the most claims. And because one has to begin with a lot of preexisting money to start an insurance company, it is very difficult for competition to emerge. Meanwhile, the customer is trying to make insurance companies pay for something (a medical crisis, for instance) he or she could not afford on his or her own. It is as if both sides are continually trying to rob the other.
Obviously, this is Bad (with a big B) for society.
Obama is a Corporatist Sell Out! seems to have become one of the battle cries on the liberal blogosphere at the moment, and partly inspired by Al Giordano's excellent article We Have Met the Corporation and It is Us (hat tip to Happy in VT for the link) this seems worthy of a wider moose moot. I was hoping to write something more linked and substantial and elegantly argued, but given the holiday season, thought it best to get this modified comment out there, sooner rather than later.
You may disagree but, from this transatlantic perch, it seems that there is some justice on focusing on the role of commercial and corporate interest in the US legislative life. As the Health Reform process has made quite clear, the US system of campaign finance, legislative checks and balances, is quite prone to effective lobbyists, paid handsomely by their corporate clients, surely because they get results.
But to go from this recognition of corporate influence, to a conspiratorial Chomskyite hegemony and argue that 'everything is about corporate power' seems to be - as Al Giordano says - to both state the obvious and miss the point.
Not a great week for this vagabond Brit to return to the progressive online community. After three months living out of suitcases, I return to find that everything has fallen apart since I've been away.
Jeesh. I'll be careful next time I move. There's lots to be said about all these things, and having experienced this meme in the British media, I'm sure you're all getting in the neck too. The line goes like this (I've seen it in the Guardian Blog today)...
