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01 Mar 2011 13:50

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Politics: Republican response to Obama’s individual mandate deal tepid

  • It always seems these symbolic offerings, ostensibly designed to appease Republicans, end up with a catch. Here, it’s that to apply for a waiver, states must first set up systems that mimic the very federal law they are running away from. Gee, thanks.
  • Brendan Buck, spokesman for Speaker John Boehner • Commenting on President Obama’s proposal to allow states to opt-out of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, provided that the state demonstrates they have an alternate plan that will maintain similar coverage rates without raising the deficit. His chagrin is curious, because what he’s really complaining about seems to be the very nature of political compromise (and it’s a bit snarky for a spokesman). Considering the individual mandate was a keystone of the original legislation, this proposal seems at bare minimum like a compromise in which both sides get what they claim they want. The argument against the “federal system,” too, is generally that it’s federal, which many Republicans call unconstitutional. So why the hand-wringing over a state-run alternative? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 23:23

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Politics: Mike Huckabee throws cold water on conservatives’ dreams

  • The people that are sitting around saying, ‘[Obama]’s definitely going to be a one-term president. It’s going to be easy to take him out,’ they’re obviously political illiterates – political idiots, let me be blunt.
  • Mike Huckabee • On President Obama’s re-election prospects.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 23:53

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Politics: Obama vulnerable against imaginary candidate

  • good newsConservatives rejoice: The latest Public Policy Poll shows Obama running dead even against a generic Republican candidate in 2012.
  • bad newsRepublicans have to nominate an actual human being, not just a theoretical blank slate, and Obama leads against every one of them by several points. source
  • » Some more odd bits from the poll: PPP took the interesting step of asking respondents to rate the Brothers Bush, Jeb and George W. both, against Obama in a hypothetical 2012 race. The results? Jeb would get trounced by fourteen points (paging Rich Lowry!), while the Constitutionally-ineligible former President would only lose by four, meaning he’s actually a more formidable candidate than Mitt Romney. In addition, the GOP could defeat Obama by two points if they nominated a “moderate Republican candidate,” so all they’ve got to do now is set their time machine to 1952 and they’ll have a slew of strong contenders to choose from.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 21:59

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Politics: No, we can’t eliminate the deficit by cutting foreign aid

  • If you want to cut the budget, you have to cut useful and necessary things…[Obama is] explaining to the public that the free-ride view of budget cutting — we can cut our way out of the deficit by eliminating waste and spending that only benefits foreigners — is wrong.
  • Jon Chait • Interpreting the message behind Obama’s budget. There’s a widespread perception, often repeated by politicians, that if we’d just cut earmarks, foreign aid, and general wasteful spending, we’d eliminate the deficit. But that just ain’t the case. The real culprits are Social Security, defense, and Medicare — programs we actually like. So if we’re serious about taking a bite out of the deficit, we’re gonna have to make some tough decisions. That, Chait says, is the point behind Obama’s proposal. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 1 Comment • Permalink

02 Feb 2011 14:16

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Politics: Why Barack Obama may not be so happy just now

  • By disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes, WikiLeaks is a natural contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Norwegian MP Snorre Valen • As all members of national parliaments can make nominations for the Peace Prize winner, Valen bestowed this honor upon the WikiLeaks organization. The Nobel committee has declined to offer further comment. The news is likely to the intense chagrin of former winner Barack Obama. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Jan 2011 14:24

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Politics: ElBaradei critical of U.S. calls for Mubarak to start democratic reforms

  • The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years would be the one to implement democracy. This is a farce.
  • Mohamed ElBaradei • The would-be transitional leader of Egypt’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak came out forcefully against U.S. tact on the matter, speaking on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” President Obama and his government have absorbed much criticism over their failure to lend practical and philosophical support to Egypt’s opposition movement, and ElBaradei has given a prominent Egyptian face to these complaints. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 23:15

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Culture: Fox, unsurprisingly, nixes “Jesus Hates Obama” Superbowl ad

  • Here’s the surprising thing: The ad itself is pretty innocuous. It depicts an Obama bobblehead being pushed into a fishbowl by a Jesus bobblehead, apparently by way of telekinesis (it’s a bit unclear). All in good fun, right? And all that’s being advertised is a comedy website that peddles anti-Obama mugs, T-shirts, and (presumably) bobbleheads. So why the controversy? Well, the website is called “Jesus Hates Obama.” So, yeah. Probably not gonna fly during the biggest television event of the year. (We should note that, according to the site’s front page, they don’t actually believe that Jesus hates Obama; it’s just a provocative title to catch people’s eyes). source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Jan 2011 22:52

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Politics: Why have Obama’s approval ratings skyrocketed?

  • 8% jump in Obama’s approval ratings since December
  • The question is, why? It feels like only yesterday that oil was spewing wildly throughout the Gulf Coast, Democrats were getting shellacked in the midterms, and prognosticators were foretelling of a one-term Obama presidency (well, okay, that’s still happening). But the President’s favorability ratings have been surging recently, up to the highest levels since July of ’09. We have three theories as to why.
  • the lame duck sessionIt was controversial to some, but for many Americans, the lame duck session was the first time they got to see members of Congress acting in a truly bipartisan manner. The President took an active role in this, hammering out compromises with GOP leadership. The result was one of the most productive lame duck sessions in our nation’s history. Also, nobody’s taxes went up.
  • A Divided GovernmentIn other words, the Republicans taking back the House. When one party controls the White House, the Senate, and the House, it’s easy to uniformly hate that party for the country’s problems. But with things a little more evenly divided, the President is getting some slack. It’s not necessarily a well-founded reason for liking the President more, but it’s likely a factor.
  • The Tuscon ShootingOkay, okay. We didn’t want to say it, but it’s true: After national tragedies, especially those with a human face, people tend to coalesce around the President. It happened with Bush after 9/11, and it’s happening now. Combine this with a wildly popular speech a few days after the shooting, and you have the recipe for surging approval ratings. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jan 2011 22:44

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Politics: Obama’s response to Giffords shooting more popular than others’

  • 78% approve of President Obama’s response to the Gabby Giffords shooting
  • 53% approve of how the news media responded to the attack
  • 30% approve of Sarah Palin’s response to the incident source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2011 14:44

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Politics: Obama’s approval ratings back in the green

  • 47.9% President Obama’s approval rating, according to Talking Points Memo’s average – .6 percent above his disapproval rating
  • eight months since the last time his positives outweighed his negatives – and two months after a shellacking during the midterms source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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