Friday single source Punditry-for-all! Now with wisdom exchanges and informational co-ops!
Paul Krugman:
You see, it has been clear for months that whatever health-care bill finally emerges will fall far short of reformers’ hopes. Yet even a bad bill could be much better than nothing. The question is where to draw the line. How bad does a bill have to be to make it too bad to vote for?
Great question. What's the answer?
WSJ Health Blog:
After Brianna Rice, a 17-year-old in the Chicago area, was diagnosed in February with a digestive disorder called celiac disease, her insurer went through the teen’s health history and canceled her coverage that started in November.
The reason? There were reports of dizziness, elevated cholesterol, fatigue and cough in her file, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Why Paul Krugman's question matters.
David Brooks:
The backlash against President Obama is the latest iteration of a populist tendency against money being siphoned off by condescending elites and going to those who do not work.
So get a job, David.
Eugene Robinson:
What I wrote last year about candidate Barack Obama -- that to win he had to be seen as "the least-aggrieved black man in America" -- may be even more relevant now. To lead this diverse and fractious nation effectively, the president has to negotiate racial issues with delicacy, caution and tact. He has to give even his most vocal critics the benefit of the doubt.
But I don't. So I can say in plain language that Jimmy Carter was right in essence, but wrong in degree. It seems clear to me that some -- but not "an overwhelming portion," as Carter claimed -- of the "intensely demonstrated animosity" toward Obama is indeed "based on the fact that he is a black man."
Jim Sleeper:
Note to Liberals: It's Not About Race
Racism is only one of many factors driving the backlash against the president in town hall meetings and in demonstrations on Capitol Hill. Obama has been right to discount it, because a white president would feel some scorching heat, too. Just hours before Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) interrupted Obama's address to a joint session of Congress with his brazen "You lie!" shout, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court welcomed arguments against restricting business-corporate funding of "Hillary: The Movie" -- a relic of rage on the presidential primary campaign trail that presaged what Hillary Rodham Clinton would be enduring now were she, not Obama, in the White House.
Charles Krauthammer:
You lie? No. Barack Obama doesn't lie.
He communicates. Joe Wilson hates that, so let me defend Wilson. And while I defend Wilson, let me bring up everything I hated about Clinton, because he communicated, too. And that mofo won a second term.