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TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY 9,  2010

BLUNT ADVICE FOR OBAMA – AT 10:07 P.M. ET:  The president, sinking in war, sinking in peace, sinking in the hearts of his countrymen, is in serious trouble, and getting conflicting advice from every quarter. 

Some of the soundest advice we've seen comes from the man who became the nation's first elected African-American governor, Doug Wilder of Virginia.  He offers common sense to Obama in this piece in The Politico:

He must overhaul his own team, replacing the admittedly brilliant advisers who helped elect him with others more capable of helping him govern. Getting elected and getting things done for the people are two different jobs.

I am an admirer of Tim Kaine, whom I backed in his current position as one of my successors as Virginia governor and even recommended for the vice presidency. But a spate of recent losses in races that Democrats should have won underscores what has been obvious to me for a long time: The chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him.

The changes must go much deeper. Obama’s West Wing is filled with people who are in their jobs because of their Chicago connections or because they signed on with Obama early during his presidential campaign.

One problem is that they do not have sufficient experience at governing at the executive branch level. The deeper problem is that they are not listening to the people.

That is an excellent summary of how Obama must institute, within his administration, change we can believe in. 

Wilder points out that Democrats have been losing everywhere in the last year.

It's not rocket science where the American public wants the president to concentrate his energies...

...Voters were practically screaming one word with four simple letters: Jobs.

People will rightly hold Obama accountable. Obama must in turn hold the people on his own team accountable.

Finally...

Unless changes are made at the top, by the top, when the time comes for voters to show how they really feel about Obama, his policies and the messages he sends directly or through the people around him, the president will discover that Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts were not just temporary aberrations but, rather, timely expressions of voters who always show that they are ahead of the politicians.

The president should keep uppermost in his mind the Biblical admonition as to what happens to those trees that do not bear "good fruit": The ax is already at the tree.

COMMENT:  That says it rather bluntly.  But it is sound advice.  The administration needs a housecleaning.  The president has thrown many others under the bus.  There's still room.  If not, a second bus can be ordered from General Motors, which Obama owns anyway. 

If the president suffers one more major setback, especially in national security, he may become a figurehead, just muddling through until the 2012 election, assuming he wants to run at all. 

February 9, 2010

WE GET TOUGH, WELL, WITHIN WEEKS – AT 7:55 P.M. ET:  President Obama brought out the national-security team he trusts most, himself, to announce that we're really firming up on Iran.  From The Times of London:

President Obama accused Iran yesterday of trying to build a bomb after Tehran’s nuclear scientists began enriching uranium closer to weapons grade in defiance of the United Nations.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that its inspectors had been called to the Natanz plant to witness the beginning of work to upgrade Iran’s 3.5 per cent enriched uranium to 20 per cent.

“Despite the posturing that the nuclear power is only for civilian use ... they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponisation, and that is not acceptable to the international community,” Mr Obama declared. He threatened to hit Tehran with fresh UN-backed sanctions, possibly within weeks.

He threatened what?  Sanctions have to be a joint effort.

The United States said that it was aiming for a new sanctions resolution at the UN Security Council before France relinquishes the rotating chair at the end of the month.

Russia, a longtime ally that has traditionally opposed tougher measures on Iran, voiced its strongest condemnations yet, raising hopes that Moscow will back sanctions. Russia’s vote could win over China, the last to hold out amongst the council’s five permanent members.

COMMENT:  A little realism, please.  Russia did voice strong condemnation, but did not pledge itself to specific new sanctions.  And the idea that Russia could bring in China is quite a stretch.  They're not mother and child.

And how does the president define sanctions?  It's possible he could bring Russia and China aboard, but only if he accepts weak, ineffectual sanctions, the Neville Chamberlain gift-wrapped brand, available at all better discount stores.  The ultimate objective is to force Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program.  Waving  piece of paper with weak sanctions won't do it.

A show of force in the waters off Iran might flash the necessary resolve.

February 9, 2010 

A WEIRD WORLD VIEW – AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  The president was on TV again today – he's trying to clock more air time than Jay Leno – and explained that Americans rejected his health-care plan because they didn't like the "process."

This is an argument so typical of a certain class of self-proclaimed "intellectuals."  They are obsessed with "process."  They are also, if you'll notice carefully, obsessed with style and money.  Substance?  Well, maybe there's some interest.

The president believes the public rejected the process because he doesn't believe they can understand the substance.  I mean, who are those unclean peasants out there?  What do they know of health care? Have they taken the Medical School Admissions Test?  Since it's obvious they can't understand the substance of health reform, we deduce, as Sherlock Holmes might have, that it's the process that upsets them.

This is a major, perhaps the major problem of this administration.  It is run by people who honestly believe that they're better than the rest of us.  If we object to something, it couldn't possibly be because we honestly dissent.  We're not good enough to dissent.  The problem must lie somewhere else.

There was a bit of this in the Kennedy administration.  And another Obama weakness – weakness itself, was typical of the Carter administration.  Imagine, the worst of Kennedy and Carter, combined in one down-home Chicago package.

Why are we so blessed?

February 9, 2010

EVERYBODY'S DOIN' IT, DOIN' IT, DOIN' IT – AT 6:29 P.M. ET:  The big rage this week is writing speech notes on your left hand.  Sarah Palin did it for her speech to the Tea Partiers.  Then, when she got some kidding,  she flipped her left hand at a later appearance, revealing a "Hi, mom."  White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs showed a written-on left hand at his news conference today, needling Palin.

Now we have this:

No, it isn't Sarah, or even an American.  It's the hand of a pro-government demonstrator in Tehran, expressing a view of France.  We're not always the target.

February 9, 2010

ANOTHER DEM IN TROUBLE – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:   This is New York, and we do scandals big time.  None of this little stuff like stealing the public treasury.  Our previous governor, Eliot Spitzer, had to resign when he got caught, literally, with his pants down, with a lady of the evening. 

Now his replacement, David Paterson, whose approval rating is lower than the margin of error, is the subject of the biggest political rumor mill I've seen in New York politics in years:

ALBANY -- An embattled Gov. Paterson yesterday strongly denied rampant rumors of extramarital affairs and drug use as he blasted the media for printing "callous and sleazy" allegations.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Paterson lashed out at the press for "stretching the bounds of journalism" in an effort to confirm reports and gossip about his personal escapades.

The rumors have fueled rampant speculation that the governor is about to resign.

"For the last couple of weeks, I have been the subject of what, even by Albany standards, has been a spate of outrageous rumors about me," Paterson said.

The problem is, when he came into office he admitted to extramarital recreation, so his denials now seem weak. 

"There is an accountability that should exist in the media. How do I get my reputation back?" the governor continued.

"Because I don't believe I have done anything to deserve this kind of bashing."

The Democratic Party wants Paterson, who is up for election to a full term this year, to step aside in favor of a more powerful candidate.  Paterson doesn't want to bail out. 

Were the rumors started by political opponents? 

There is substantial buzz that The New York Times has a devastating story on Paterson in the works, but The Times has not confirmed it.

The governorship of New York has always been a prize, and occupants are often viewed as possible presidents.  The state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, wants the job.  There are even rumors that Hillary Clinton has her eye on the governor's mansion.

Stay tuned.  This may get juicy.

February 9, 2010   Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:11 A.M. ET:  From superb Middle East analyst Amir Taheri, in The Times of London, on the rising tensions in Iran, coinciding this week with the anniversary of the revolution that brought the mullahs to power:

For years, two clocks have been simultaneously ticking in Iran: one counts the regime’s days, the other marks progress towards a Khomeinist bomb. Thanks to the pro-democracy movement, the first clock may now be running faster.

What happens on the streets of Tehran this week may stop that clock, at least for now, or make it tick faster. That would help the 5+1 decide whether to increase pressure on Tehran or accept its coming nuclear arsenal as a fait accompli.

And...

The regime has already executed two pro-democracy activists and sentenced nine others to death. These actions, designed to terrorise the people, appear to have had no effect as all opposition groups are vowing to continue the struggle for an Iranian republic.

For the first time in 30 years, a substantial segment of Iranian society, perhaps even a majority, is prepared for a democratic experience. Today the mood in Iran is very much like the one that made possible the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, and the creation of the first democratic parliament in the Muslim world. Rather than chasing the illusion of stopping the nuclear clock in Iran, the outside world should take greater notice of the clock of regime change.

COMMENT:  Thursday, February 11th, is the day.  Huge demonstrations are expected.  The mullahs have promised some kind of "shock" to the world.  We are waiting for Thursday.

February 9, 2010    Permalink

WHAT?  CAN IT BE?  MARK THIS DATE IN HISTORY – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  The New York Times has discovered that there's a global-warming scandal.  A bit late, but at least they've come to the altar in a not-bad story with enough PC to assure modern-dance majors in their readership that The Times hasn't abandoned them:

Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist’s version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations’ climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with former Vice President Al Gore.

Well, we'll give the lead a pass, although I don't think that's the scientist's version of sainthood.  That's the political scientist's version.

But Dr. Pachauri and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are now under intense scrutiny, facing accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest from climate skeptics, right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists. Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, called for Dr. Pachauri’s resignation last week.

I love it.  "Right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists."  The Times finally noticed that there are some real scientists asking questions.  But we'll give the paper another pass.

With a global climate treaty under negotiation and legislation pending in the United States, the climate panel has found itself in the political cross hairs, its judgments provoking passions normally reserved for issues like abortion and guns.

Okay, I know you're laughing.  Look, this is the way The Times has to write it.  But at least they wrote it.  Be thankful for small blessings.  Considering the paper's readership problems, increasingly small blessings.

The general consensus among mainstream scientists is that the errors are in any case minor and do not undermine the report’s conclusions.

Still, the escalating controversy has led even many of them to conclude that the Nobel-winning panel needs improved scientific standards as well as a policy about what kinds of other work its officers may pursue.

This is garbage.  There is no such thing as a scientific "consensus."  Science doesn't work by consensus.  It's not a show of hands.  It works by proof and observation.  Many of the "mainstream" scientists have their careers invested in global warming, and won't let go.  At least there's some understanding that standards must be elevated.

Dr. Pachauri acknowledged his role as an adviser and consultant to businesses, but he said that it was his responsibility as the panel’s chairman to disseminate its findings to industry.

Nonetheless, Christopher Monckton, a leading climate skeptic, called the panel corrupt, adding: “The chair is an Indian railroad engineer with very substantial direct and indirect financial vested interests in the matters covered in the climate panel’s report. What on earth is he doing there?”

And...

In one case, the report included a sentence that said the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. The sentence was based on a decade-old interview with a glaciologist in a popular magazine; the scientist now says he was misquoted. The panel recently expressed “regret” for the error.

The panel was also criticized for citing a study about financial losses after extreme weather events that found an increase in such losses of 2 percent a year from 1970 to 2005. That study had not been peer reviewed at the time, although it was later on.

COMMENT:  This article is a foot in the door.  We are behind the British press in exposing the corruption in the global-warming "community."  There's more to come.  This is, so to speak, the tip of the iceberg, which may be melting or not.

February 9, 2010    Permalink

OBAMA HITS NEW LOW IN POLL – AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  From National Journal's Hotline: 

Independent voters see Pres. Obama in a negative light by a nearly 2-1 margin, according to a new Marist College survey, while almost half of voters say he has failed to meet their expectations.

The poll, conducted Feb. 1-3, showed just 44% of registered voters approving of Obama's job as president. 47% disapprove. But among indie voters, Obama's approval rating sits at a terrible 29%, while his disapproval rating is at 57%.

Obama's 44% job approval rating is the lowest he has scored in any non-internet poll since moving into the WH, according to a review of data compiled by Pollster.com.

And while GOPers strive to avoid attacking Obama personally, for fear of offending voters who see him in a favorable light personally, even that aura of invincibility is wearing off. Independent voters view Obama negatively, too, by a 39% favorable to 52% unfavorable margin. All registered voters still see Obama favorably by a 50%-44% margin, but that's down 5 points in just 2 months.

Voters are disappointed in what they got with Obama's first year. The poll shows 47% believe Obama has failed to meet their expectations -- including a quarter of Dems, 65% of GOPers and 53% of indie voters -- while just 42% say he has met their expectations. 38% say Obama's policies are moving the country in the wrong direction, while 37% say they're making the country better.

COMMENT:  Appalling, utterly appalling, I write with undisguised delight.  And the poll was taken among registered voters.  Polls among likely voters generally show an even worse result for the godlike president. 

There seems no real evidence that the administration has learned serious lessons from its political fall.  And now it must confront the growing crisis with Iran.  As we've asked before, will Obama be Kennedy or Carter, the Kennedy who learned from his first year, or the Carter who thought he was perfection itself? 

Midterm election in nine months.

February 9, 2010   Permalink

MAYBE SOME SIGN OF SPINE ON TERRORISM? – AT 7:44 A.M. ET:  Byron York, in the Washington Examiner, reports that some Republicans believe they're making progress in turning the Obamans into adults in the fight against terrorism:

On Capitol Hill, there's a war being fought over the War on Terror, and so far, Republicans are winning. Or at least they're winning the Battle of Miranda.

GOP lawmakers believe they are having some success in the effort to stiffen the spine of the Obama administration as it makes policy for dealing with captured terrorist suspects in the future. Even as the administration defends its decision to grant accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, the president himself is hinting that things might be done differently in the future.

"Should the practice of reading suspected terrorist their Miranda rights be reviewed?" CBS's Katie Couric asked President Obama during Sunday's Super Bowl interview.

"Absolutely," Obama answered. "Everything should be reviewed."

"It's important for us to recognize," Obama explained, "that when we're dealing with al Qaeda operatives, that they may have national security intelligence that we need, and it's important to make sure that the processes and procedures we approach with respect to these folks are not identical to the ones we would use if we were apprehending the local drug dealer."

Translation: Maybe we'll do it differently next time.

COMMENT:  We'll have to see.  There certainly will be a next time. 

Douglas MacArthur, lamenting America's military status toward the end of his life, lamented, "All the wrong men got promoted."  In Obama's world, all the wrong people got appointed, including Eric Holder and the Ivy League orchestra and chorus he brought to the Justice Department. 

If Obama is serious, and I have my doubts, he'll have to sit down with Holder and show the attorney general a chart of the government.  The president is at the top.  It's time Obama acted the part.

By the way, Katie Couric did a surprisingly good job in that interview.  Maybe she's starting to see that doing a fashion spread for a slick Manhattan magazine isn't the way to go.

February 9,  2010   Permalink

MONDAY,  FEBRUARY 8,  2010

IRAN – GOING CRITICAL – AT 7:04 P.M. ET:  We've had a lot of distractions in recent days, including the president's political decline, the election of Scott Brown, and even the Super Bowl, but, in the meantime, the Iranian situation is becoming a full-blown crisis.  From AFP:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.

His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful.

This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.

COMMENT:  Secretary of Defense Gates, who is sane, is expressing increasing concern over the rapidly expanding Iranian nuclear program.  So are French and other European officials.

From the White House, silence.  Not even an expression of interest.

It would be appropriate for the president of the United States to warn Iran against using violence to repress freedom demonstrators this Thursday, the 11th, the key day in the "anniversary" celebrations.  I don't think it will happen.  I don't think Obama particularly cares. 

As to the punch we'll get, we'll have to see.  It may be a new plane or missile.

Iran is the single greatest foreign-policy challenge of this administration.  So far, Obama can claim no success.

February 8, 2010    Permalink

DISGRACE IN BRITAIN – AT 6:42 P.M. ET:  It's hard to believe that this is the Britain that fought alone, with Winston Churchill at its head.  From London's Daily Mail:

A Christian teacher yesterday claimed he was forced out of his job after complaining that Muslim pupils as young as eight hailed the September 11 hijackers as heroes.

Nicholas Kafouris, 52, is suing his former school for racial discrimination.

He told a tribunal that he had to leave his £30,000-a-year post because he would not tolerate the 'racist' and 'anti-Semitic' behaviour of Year 4 pupils.

The predominantly Muslim youngsters openly praised Islamic extremists in class and described the September 11 terrorists as 'heroes and martyrs'.

One pupil said: 'Don't touch me, you're a Christian' when he brushed against him.

Others said: 'We want to be Islamic bombers when we grow up', and 'The Christians and Jews are our enemies - you too because you're a Christian'.

Mr Kafouris, a Greek Cypriot, taught for 12 years at Bigland Green Primary School in Tower Hamlets, East London.

COMMENT:  I'm sorry to say it, but I'm afraid we're seeing some of this in American schools.  It begins in the left-wing colleges, then drifts down to the high schools, orchestrated by teachers who are graduates of those same left-wing colleges.  Although conservatives complain, they do little to stop it.  Conservatives are much too polite.

February 8, 2010   Permalink

STOCKS SLUMP – SIGN OF THE TIMES? – AT 6:35 P.M. ET:  One of the supposed bright spots in the economy in the age of Obama has been a healthy stock market.  Now even that seems to be in doubt:

The Dow Jones industrial average, one of the most watched metrics of the financial world, dipped below the 10,000 threshold on Monday, delivering a psychological setback as investors sought to overcome fears of a faltering global recovery.

At the close of trading on Monday, the Dow settled at 9,908.39, its lowest close in three months.

Lingering fears over a debt crisis in Europe helped trigger the Dow’s fall. As several countries across the Atlantic grapple with swelling deficits, investors spent Monday trying to gauge how seriously American banks would suffer if European governments could not pay back their debt.

Analysts said the Dow’s drop below 10,000 probably did not mean much for the future of the stock market, but they noted it had a deeper psychological effect for Wall Street.

COMMENT:  We should remember that there was a stock market rally between 1933 and 1937, but it had no effect on the real economy.  There is, though, as the story points out, a psychological effect.  It impacts not only Wall Street, but Main Street, because so many Americans have some connection to the stock market, often through retirement funds.

If the market starts to slump again, it can have a nasty effect on everything else, including employment.  We'll watch this.

February 8, 2010   Permalink

CLINTON ON TERROR – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  There is considerable speculation that Hillary Clinton may leave the administration to take a different route to a possible presidential run in 2016, or even 2012, if Obama goes completely off the rails. 

She is talking tough on terror, which she should be.  Associating with this administration's softness may get her votes in the Iowa caucuses, but not beyond.  From The Washington Times:

Obama administration figures took to Sunday's political talk shows to rebut charges of White House weakness on Islamist terrorism, with the nation's top diplomat saying such networks pose the greatest threat to national security.

While one of the White House's top national security advisers criticized lawmakers for politicizing national security threats, including the Christmas Day attack over Detroit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said even a nuclear-armed North Korea or Iran isn't as great a threat to the U.S. as al Qaeda and allied jihad groups.

"The biggest nightmare that any of us have is that one of these terrorist member organizations within this syndicate of terror will get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction," she said in a Sunday appearance on CNN. "So that's really the most threatening prospect we see."

COMMENT:  In that she's correct.  A nuclear weapon in the hands of a terror group is the most severe threat because no jihadist group would acquire a nuclear weapon for any purpose other than using it.  And we might not be able to trace the source.

With all the talk of ICBM's, the most probable means of delivery of a nuclear device to an American city is a small truck, if the weapon can be smuggled to this continent.  Another means would be to mount it on a crude missile fired from a rogue freighter 50 miles off our shore. 

It's more than unlikely that a terror group could develop a nuke on its own.  It would have to acquire one from a friendly regime, or subversive elements within some other regime.  The most likely suspects are Pakistan and Iran., which is why it's imperative that the Iranian nuclear program be stopped. 

I suspect we may see Ms. Clinton making her own foreign-policy statements independent of the White House, as long as she doesn't stray too far.  She knows a sinking ship when she sees it, and she'll secure her own lifeboat.

February 8, 2010   Permalink 

OUR POLITICAL HERITAGE – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Another Democrat heads for the hills:

CHICAGO (AP) - The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past.
Scott Lee Cohen announced his decision Sunday night at a Chicago bar.

The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.

The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.

COMMENT:  It's those steroids again.  So unfair.  Now everything the man has done, all the abuse complaints against him, will have an asterisk next to them because of steroids.

You know who caused his problems?  Bush.

No replacement has been named.  A number of inmates have applied.

February 8,  2010   Permalink

HUH? – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  This, apparently, is the gang that can neither shoot nor talk straight, or even think straight.  From The Hill:

President Barack Obama on Sunday said that he has not yet ruled out the possibility of holding a trial for Guantanamo Bay terror suspects, but appeared bearish on the possibility of actually holding them.

In an exclusive interview with CBS News that aired before the Super Bowl, the president said that his administration must take into account the growing opposition to the trials among lawmakers and public officials in New York as well as the public.

"I have not ruled it out but I think it's important to take into account the practical, important issues at hand," Obama said of the trials.

COMMENT:  What, precisely, is the purpose of a statement like that?  The arrogance just overwhelms.  Why not just "rule it out," Mr. President?  Kill it.  It's a failed plan.  Nobody wants it except the prissy types from your Ivy League Justice Department, and the left wing of your party.  The mayor of New York City has spoken.  So has the governor.  So have the two senators. 

There's a time for even this president to understand that he answers to the people.  Apparently, that e-mail hasn't arrived.  Shall we all send?

February 8, 2010   Permalink

JOBS PROGRAM – AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  Who says the government doesn't know how to defeat unemployment?  From The Washington Times:

While Washington legislators debate what role the government should play in job creation this year, the government itself is poised to go on a major hiring spree this spring.

That is because of the granddaddy of all government programs — the census, a house-by-house head count of the population conducted every 10 years since 1790. The Census Bureau is starting to hire 1.4 million people to man offices and go door to door collecting information about everything from household income to health status.

The beginning of the Census Bureau's massive but temporary hiring binge was evident in the Labor Department's report released Friday that showed federal employment expanded by 33,000 in January, including the addition of 9,000 census workers. But economists say that trickle of jobs will turn into a gusher in the months ahead.

COMMENT:  Now, here is the question:  When this happens, will it be reported honestly, as a temporary government program?  Or, will the spin machine claim that the economy is growing, and unemployment is being defeated?  Would you trust MSNBC on this?

We'll monitor and tell you.

February 8, 2010   Permalink

BULLETIN – BREATHLESS REPORT – AT 8:18 A.M. ET:  A major breakthrough in government.  Read all about it, from The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse.

Or, as the philosopher Irving Berlin once wrote, "There's no business like show business."

Mr. Obama made the announcement in an interview on CBS during the Super Bowl pre-game show, capitalizing on a vast television audience.

This is about life and death matters.  What more important time to announce it than during the Super Bowl pre-game show.  That's what the pre-game is for.

He set out a plan that would put Republicans on the spot to offer their own ideas on health care and show whether both sides are willing to work together.

Oh come on.  They've been offering ideas for months, and have been ignored.   The Times is in high bias this morning.

Mr. Obama challenged Republicans to attend the meeting with their plans for lowering the cost of health insurance and expanding coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Republican leaders said they welcomed the opportunity and called on Democrats to start the debate from scratch, which the president said he would not do.

That is hilarious.  Freely translated, all the ridiculous notions that Dems have come up with this last year will still be there.  Just what the public is demanding.

COMMENT:  Look, this is the definition of a publicity stunt.  And half a day?  That's what health care gets?  Let the record show that the president probably devoted more time to the Super Bowl.

Joke.

February 8,  2010   Permalink