Friday quartet
On various fronts:
Friday quartet
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
On various fronts:It's hard to overstate the importance of the impending House floor vote on health care reform, now scheduled for Saturday night. The moment of truth is finally at hand. For the ruling Democrats, this is akin to a standing at home plate in the late innings of a crucial World Series game; either they put the barrel of the bat on the ball, or they might as well hit the showers. If they somehow suffer more than 40 rank-and-file defections and the reform bill goes down (seemingly unlikely), the whole timetable for bringing a final measure to President Obama by the close of '09 will be upended. And then we're into an election year; fence-sitting politicians are congenitally averse to taking any legislative risks in an election year. So it's probably now or never for the Democratic leaders to figure out how to tweak the reform package in ways that will make it liberal enough for their liberal lawmakers and conservative enough for their Blue Dog and moderate lawmakers. Such is the prime challenge of a big-tent party. No doubt the Republicans would prefer to be running things, rather than naysaying from the sidelines; on other hand, because they are more ideologically homogeneous, they don't have the headaches that come with trying to herd various breeds of cats.
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Speaking of the House Republicans, they unveiled their own health care reform proposal the other day. Finally. It's a meaningless gesture, given the fact that they held power for eight years while one of their own party brethren sat in the White House, yet never showed the slightest interest in the issue. And sure enough, the new GOP proposal is a veritable blueprint for the status quo. The Congressional Budget Office has already checked it out: "By 2019, (we) estimate, the number of non-elderly people without health insurance would be reduced by about 3 million relative to current law, leaving about 52 million non-elderly residents uninsured." The GOP proposal wouldn't even prohibit the insurance companies from denying coverage to Americans with pre-existing health conditions. No wonder Americans continue to trust the Democrats far more than the Republicans on health care, even with all the public skepticism about the Obama agenda. Nor did the House Republicans help themselves yesterday, when they pandered to a crowd (bused to the Capitol by a corporate front group) that was heavily populated by the usual suspects yelling about Obama's Nazi/communist/Kenyan heritage. It was pathetic to watch Republican leader John Boehner bond with the loons by declaring that health care reform is "the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in the 19 years I've been in Washington." Well, gee. Until Boehner enlightened me, I had assumed that, in all those years, the crashing of a planeful of innocent Americans into the Pentagon had been the greatest assault on freedom. I stand corrected.
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Speaking of the people who are really running the GOP these days, consider Club for Growth, the well-heeled organization of economic conservatives that has made it a mission to purge the party of all ideological diversity. Fresh from its debacle this past week in upstate New York - where the group drove a moderate Republican out of an easily winnable congressional race by pumping a million bucks into the candidacy of a conservative who wound up losing - Club for Growth is now doubling down by targeting Charlie Crist, the electable Republican senatorial candidate in Florida. Crist is the (relatively) moderate Florida governor who made the inexcusable mistake of welcoming federal stimulus money (as well as Obama personally) last winter; today, fearful of the right's wrath, he's trying to play down that behavior - and Club for Growth is running Florida TV ads to ensure that '10 Republican primary voters won't forget. Club's efforts will boost Crist's conservative challenger, ex-Florida House speaker Marco Rubio, and further ratchet up internal GOP tensions between the grassroots right and the more pragmatic party establishment. The same thing seems likely to happen next year in contested Republican primaries, for both House and Senate seats, in California, Illinois, North Carolina, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Is this healthy for the party? Nor according to the reliably Republican Wall Street Journal editorial page: "A majority political party requires a far more diverse coalition than the audience of your average right-wing blogger or talk show host....If conservatives now revolt against every GOP candidate who disagrees with them (on key issues), nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will keep their majorities for a very long time." Tell that to Rush and Sarah and Glenn and Club.
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Regarding Tuesday's Virginia gubernatorial contest, it's too simplistic to say that Virginians, having supported Obama a year ago, have now repudiated Obama by picking a Republican governor. Such was the flawed theme of many news reports. Based on my look at the exit polls, it is far more accurate to say that a different Virginia electorate - far more conservative than the state's '08 electorate - showed up on Tuesday. When asked who they supported in the '08 presidential election, 51 percent of this week's Virginia voters named John McCain, and only 43 percent named Obama. That's a virtual reversal of the '08 statewide electorate's verdict: 53 percent Obama, 46 percent McCain. A comparison of the two electorates makes it clear that conservatives were motivated to show up and vote, while the '08 Obama voters simply stayed home. Some were probably ill-inspired by the uninspiring Democrat for governor, Creigh Deeds. But my educated guess is that far more were simply dispirited by the general state of things, particularly the economy. And economic anxiety played a big role in Jon Corzine's New Jersey gubernatorial defeat as well; according to the Jersey exit polls, 56 percent of the voters were "very worried" about how the economy will perform in the year ahead, and those worriers broke for Republican Chris Christie, 61-34. As I said here a few weeks ago, incumbent parties tend to get blamed in bad economic times, and today's new jobless figures - topping 10 percent nationwide - won't help the Democrats either. Obama economic adviser Christina Romer admitted this morning: "Having the unemployment rate reach double-digits is a stark reminder of how much work remains to be done before American families see the job gains and reduced unemployment that they need and deserve." If the Democrats want to minimize their losses in the '10 congressional elections, they need to post perceivable job gains by next spring. They have a very narrow time window.
SteveMG: You got me. Feel better about yourself? I have one response - 10.2%. Way to go Obama. Defend that.— CD75- jan, the one article had this in it? Not that I really am up to date on the story, but how is this any different from the 'birthers' of today? ***The White House dismissed Burkett's charge Wednesday. It is an "outrageously false statement," said White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who handled the records in the late 1990s as an aide to Gov. Bush. Administration officials dismiss Burkett as a disgruntled former Guardsman who had a falling-out with his superiors.***— NEPhilly
- Um, Chris Landee, you are dumb or just stupid?. You think Peggy Noonan is the bottom of the barrel? Get real. You may remember that King Richard the Polman has praised Peggy Noonan and has quoted her many times. See Dick's blogs on May 4, 2009, October 17, 2008 and January 13, 2008.— CD75
- Still Independent- Do you live in New Jersey? Our main issue is that our property taxes are the highest in the state. Those taxes are paid to the local municipality. The causes include having too many municipalities. In fact NJ has more municipalities than any state in the union. Money from the state for new schools is given to poor districsts with declining enrollment and not to schools in the suburbs that are growing. To make matters worse the state disctates that the news schools can be built no bigger than our 3 year population projection which only exacerbates the cost. Buying up land is ridiculous considering our budget shortfalls. We are the poster child of government inefficiency and the end game of the budget woes caused by too much government. We even vote for such elective offices as the board of chosen free-holders. For the life of me I have no idea what these clowns do but their campaign signs were all over Gloucester county. I call them free loaders cause that's about what I think they do.
- smike, I couldn't agree more. The President also ran a center-right campaign in a center-right country to win. Now as he governs as a far-left liberal the 'bad economy chickens are coming home to roost', so to speak:) You can't propose to tax and spend your way to prosperity as we all know or should know that small business' drive economic expansion through job growth not short term, deficit govt. spending, imho.— NEPhilly
- swedesboromike : so to summarize your position, voters in VA and NJ are irrational idiots. Either that, or you've set up a paradox. If voters blame Obama for the economy, and voted against the Democrat because he shares the same party, then they don't think that their governor can affect the economy (it's a national issue). In which case, there was no point in voting for the Republican, since he can't change anything - it was merely a punishment vote (voters are idiots). Or, the governor can affect the economy - in which case it can't be blamed on Obama (the paradox). As always, you can't have it both ways. either the conservatives won because people were just angry at Obama - which is no vindication for running "real conservatives (whcih Christie isn't anyway) - or it had nothing to do with Obama. Both can't be true.— still_independent
- I do happen to read Peggy Noonan, and I disagree with her on most issues. She was a speechwriter for the president responsible for beginning the downfall of this country. NE, the Republican bill doesn't cost anything because it doesn't do anything. Read their proposals. They don't solve the problem, and, if it were passed, would force the conservatives into the same corner that they were in on health care in the past election. I'm all for for the wingnut bloggers hijacking the Republican Party. Better for liberals.— HandNik
- Again with the "far-left" nonsence. Obama is closer to the far-right than the far-left. Last I checked we are still committed to pointless disastrous wars and he himself has done nothing to push for true Universal Healthcare or even a real public option without out- clauses. George Bush believes in "End-Times" nonsense and ran a foreign policy with that on his mind. You Republicans have no idea what it's like to have your country run by someone so completely opposite from you. Obama is a career politician, a consensus maker. I realize you want to stoke your base with "lefty" hysteria, but I promise the real "far-left" is very disappointed in Obama's record to date. Last I checked, the far right Americans were frothing with devotion to that less than adequate GWB. So please, get over yourselves before you lose all credibility. Wait, too late.— pagoda
- swedesboromike : yes, I proudly live in Jersey. Yes, our property taxes our ridiculous. yes, we have waaaaay to many municiplaities and school districts. NONE of this is the state's doing. Reread your post and you'll see part of the problem. "The state doesn't give us enough to pay for our schools" IS the problem. If we want to go with a primarily state-funded model, then fine. Give up the control that accompanies the purse strings. We all think the state should pay for our local schools, but that we should be the ones in charge. Everyone in this state wants the best of both worlds. ... I agree about the freeholders. my town council (all dems) are useless. On election day, it's bad enough I have to choose amongst candidates I know nothing about - I am electing them to offices that i have no clue what they are.— still_independent
- Still Independent- I would argue the two are interlinked. Obama made that case while campaigning for Corzine. you can't have it both ways either. If Corzine and Deeds had won, what your banter be? It certainly would include such things like it was another affirmation of the Obama coalition and further proof that Republicans are out of touch.
Comment removed.- Still Independent- So if the state would curtail the expenses, like spending taxpayer money on buying up land they would have more money to give to the local municipalities for schools. You and I are in a circular argument.
- pagoda, the far right was extremely disappointed with GWB over many issues, such as No Child Left Behind, Medicare Prescription Drugs, Illegal Immigration Reform just to name a few. The only issue on which the far right supported Bush was the since renamed war on terror. As for Obama, the far left is disappointed in him on mostly cultural issues, like gay marriage, the repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell, etc. However, he is not governing from anywhere near the middle or right. In fact, in the latest Gallup poll dated November 4th, "PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of Americans now see President Barack Obama as governing from the left. Specifically, 54% say his policies as president have been mostly liberal while 34% call them mostly moderate. This contrasts with public expectations right after Obama's election a year ago, when as many expected him to be moderate as to be liberal." Obama is the most liberal president in over 40 years, bar none.— tom - wilmington, de
- hand, it lowers the cost of healthcare premiums on the middle class. It doesn't raise taxes by $600 Bil in a bad economy. It doesn't cut Medicare by $400 Bil in 'waste and fraud' then spend that amount on another govt. run healthcare program. Wasn't that the point of reform as 'sold' during the election? By the way, are you calling me a 'wingnut blogger'? :) pags, sorry the President isn't 'left' enough for you, but he is far-left to most of the country between the coasts, imho.— NEPhilly
- Speaking of falsity, someone in the Obama admin must work for Fox News. From the Sacramento Bee "Up to one-fourth of the 110,000 jobs reported as saved by federal stimulus money in California probably never were in danger, a Bee review has found...In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees. That total represents more than half of CSU's statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers were not going to be laid off without the stimulus dollars." Just goes to show how counting "saved jobs" is just so much nonsense.— tom - wilmington, de
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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