Patience: Just What the Doctor Ordered (For Deficit Reduction)
Obamacare’s Critics Refuse to Give Up
They lost at the Supreme Court. And they lost at the ballot box. But opponents of Obamacare aren’t giving up yet. Since they don’t have the votes to repeal the law, they’re trying the next best thing: Crippling it. READ MORE >>
Let the Tax Cuts Expire—Yes, All of Them
It’s been clear for a while that President Obama has all the leverage in the tax debate. Now it’s clear the Republicans know it. READ MORE >>
Obama’s Message, Still Loud and Clear: Taxes for the Wealthy
Will President Obama and congressional Republicans make a deal on taxes before January 1, when the Bush tax cuts are set to expire? Will they let a set of automatic spending cuts take effect? Will they find a new way to boost job growth this coming year—or, at least, renew temporary boosters like extended unemployment insurance? I have no idea. Nobody in Washington does. READ MORE >>
Stuff White People Like
Frustrated conservatives have a theory for why their ideas didn’t win more support on Election Day: They can’t compete with the offer of “free stuff.” As this argument goes, President Obama and the Democrats won by promising their constituencies government goodies, but without asking those constituencies to pay for them. Women got free birth control. Latinos got more open immigration policy. The poor got food stamps. Tons of people got subsidized health insurance. And so on. READ MORE >>
Obama Shows His Upper Hand on 'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations
President Obama sent Republicans a message on Friday: I won. Get over it. READ MORE >>
How the Election Reset the “Fiscal Cliff” Debate
Most of the political world spent Wednesday nursing hangovers from a long night of watching election returns and a long year of following the campaign. But in Washington, House Speaker John Boehner was pushing ahead with business. In a speech congratulating President Obama on his reelection, Boehner issued the standard call for bipartisanship and cooperation. But he also dropped a hint about his position on the next big item on the political agenda. READ MORE >>
Yes, Obama Won a Mandate
Four more years. Four more years. Four more years … of what? That’s pretty much the way the political conversation went Tuesday night, at least based on what I saw on television. Just minutes after the networks declared President Obama the winner, and while Karl Rove was still ranting to Fox colleagues about Mitt Romney's Ohio numbers, pundits were already starting a debate over whether the election gave Obama a mandate—and, if so, what that mandate entailed. READ MORE >>
Impressions from a Morning in Ohio
TOLEDO, Ohio—Two polling places and about two dozen voters. That’s not even close to a scientific sample, even if the sample is from Ohio. If you're reading in order to divine how the rest of the nation will vote, please stop. You won't find it here. READ MORE >>
