Campaigns are poetry; governing is prose. Translating a lofty campaign promise into legislation is slow, unglamorous work. Obama isn't floating along on lofty rhetoric these days; he's grounded in the details of running the federal government.
I stayed up really late Tuesday night reading and watching analysis of Tuesday’s off-year elections. I’ve been in so many spin zones I feel as if I’ve spent 10 ride tickets on a Tilt-a-Whirl. The bad news for Democrats in the exit polls was, as James Carville would put it, “the economy, stupid.”
You know about the disappearing “public option” in health care reform bills being promoted by Democrats? The conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., now says that no bill can pass if it contains a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurance companies. Well, they forgot to get the news out to the new “main man” on health care in the middle of Iowa.
A few politicians have been mentioned as possible contenders for the U.S. Senate seat of the late Edward Kennedy, but none has obtained nomination papers, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
As the debate over President Barack Obama’s universal health care initiative has escalated in recent weeks, some people say they have more questions than answers about how the plan would work and what could be done to reform the system.
In "As You Like It" William Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." Amazingly, the bard's telling verse still seems relevant today. He could have written it after the most recent incarnation of reality television - President Barack Obama's national health care town hall meeting.
It's business as usual amongst the dough-driven denizens of Washington, D.C., where anything and anybody are up for sale.
They should disable the democratic process in Minnesota. We can forgive you if you accidentally elect a pro wrestler as your governor. But when you send a guy who played Stuart Smalley on "Saturday Night Live" to the Senate, you become a problem for all of us.
What makes Gov. Mark Sanford’s sin even worse is the way he left his co-workers and his constituents out to dry. Not only did he act shamefully toward his wife, but the arrogance he displayed by keeping his trip to Argentina secret is unforgivable. The only action he could take to perhaps salvage some of his reputation is to resign his office.
A four-month investigation by the Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office has found insufficient evidence to charge U.S. Sen. Roland Burris with perjury. Burris, D-Ill., was under investigation for possible perjury for his January testimony before the Illinois House impeachment committee.
Read the letter from Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt to House Speaker Michael Madigan
In 2007, Americans bought 16 million cars. In 2008, we bought 13 million. And in 2009, we’re on track to buy just 9 million. Unless we turn the trend around fast, all the auto company bailouts and forced mergers in the world won’t save our economy. So you’d think that Democrats would be desperate to stimulate auto sales, because as the economy goes, so go the 2010 congressional elections.
The resignation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter brings an end to the tenure of the biggest surprise and disappointment current conservatives have had to endure.
In choosing a man to manage the bailout of the banks who’s so cozy with its players, the president bought into the old fantasy that what’s best for Wall Street is best for America.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter is a man of principle who, no longer able to abide the rightward drift of the Republican Party, made the difficult decision to abandon it in favor of the Democratic Party, with which he is more ideologically aligned. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter is a political mercenary who, faced with a tough re-election primary next year, abandoned his political home of almost 30 years, not to mention the many voters and contributors who supported him.
Three months into his job as transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, a Republican, says he feels like he’s “a full partner” in the Obama administration. The former Congressman from Peoria is at the forefront of the administration's battle to turn around the American economy.
A proposal to amend Brazil's Constitution so expatriates could elect their own representatives to their national congress is making headway in Brazil to the delight of a local Brazilian group.
The more we prove that democracy works, the less we’re willing to use it responsibly.
Shakespeare was talking about life in general, but his words pegged yesterday's T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) Party rallies held across America: It was an event promoted by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Some will remember when Americans were threatened by acid rain in the late 1980s. Everyone wondered how the nation was going to stop acidic pollution caused by sulfur dioxide released from coal-fired power plants.
We need real hearings, conducted by experienced and fiercely independent counsel, asking the tough questions about the economy.
