Visual source: Newseum
Adam C. Smith:
The GOP’s ultimate goal, of course, is to make Barack Obama a one-term president, but as 2011 draws to a close there are signs the volatile primary has done more to damage the party for the general election than help it. The year has been defined largely by the lack of enthusiasm most Republicans have for frontrunner Mitt Romney and serious shortcomings in other leading candidates to replace the president. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich have all surged to the top only to be dragged down by doubts about their fitness for the nomination. “At least we’ll know who we’re electing. It’s good to get everything on the table. I truly believe the man that will be left standing at the end will be the best,’’ said Rose Rauschkolb, a Republican activist and retired real estate broker in Miramar.
Ron Klain:
The president and vice president took Geithner’s advice and put the payroll tax cut into the package enacted in December 2010. And, just as Geithner predicted, in December 2011, when that one-year measure was set to expire, House Republicans found it was untenable to refuse to extend it.
The result: more help for more working families (and our economy) -- and a political fiasco for House Republicans when they tried to get in the way.
Consequently, jubilant congressional Democrats and progressive activists owe a tip of the hat to Geithner, for whom they have little love. Perhaps the Treasury secretary’s central role in this victory -- and in outfoxing Tea Party Republicans - - will cause his critics to reconsider their view of him, or at least give him a fresh look.
John K Inglehart:
During his CMS tenure, [Donald] Berwick largely refrained from responding to Republican attacks on him and the ACA, but on December 7 he let loose while addressing the IHI's annual forum. He harshly criticized accusations that end-of-life provisions in early drafts of the reform law were “death panels,” calling it “beyond cruelty to have subjected our elders . . . to groundless fear in the pure service of political agendas.” He also rejected opinions that he advocated rationing beneficial care, saying, “It boggles my mind that the same people who cry `foul' about rationing an instant later argue to reduce health care benefits for the needy, to defund crucial programs of care and prevention, and to shift thousands of dollars of annual costs to people — the elders, the poor, the disabled — who are least able to bear them.”
Should the Senate approve [Marilyn] Tavenner's nomination, she would be the agency's first confirmed administrator since Mark McClellan left the post in October 2006. The Senate's failure to confirm a permanent administrator of a federal agency with annual expenditures ($800 billion in 2010) exceeding those of all but about a dozen countries is yet another manifestation of our dysfunctional political system.
Suzy Khimm:
So far, American banks have largely managed to avoid catching the contagion of the Eurozone debt crisis. That’s partly because there’s little direct exposure to the banks in the most distressed countries. But there are other big reasons behind the U.S. banks’ relative health, as the Economist points out. First, in the wake of our own 2009 meltdown, U.S. banks have raised their capital holdings significantly.
Secondly, Ben Bernanke’s multiple attempts to inject liquidity into the U.S. economy has not only helped protect U.S .banks here, but also the U.S .subsidiaries of European banks...
Mark Blumenthal:
The biggest uncertainty about polling in Iowa this election cycle will be whether the passion of Paul's younger and independent supporters that has been captured in the poll will translate into turnout on caucus night.
Meanwhile, the PPP poll shows no uptick in support for any of the candidates running at the back of the pack, although Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum are all within range of a third place finish. Santorum has the highest personal rating (56 percent favorable, 29 percent unfavorable) and is the most frequent second choice for president (at 14 percent). As such, the PPP analysis concludes that Santorum is the one candidate with "potential to grow his support in the final week."
See
CNN: Finally, Rick Santorum starts moving up in Iowa from yesterday. But note that the CNN poll
only looks at Republicans, not indies:
What’s wrong with using a list of Republican voters for a Republican caucus poll? The answer is that it’s extremely easy for independent and Democratic voters to register or re-register as Republicans at the caucus site. Historically, a fair number of independent voters do this.
Also note that the Des Moines Register (Ann Selzer) poll is out Sunday.
EJ Dionne:
Still, what’s most astounding is that a Republican contest characterized all year by melodrama and comedy now seems headed toward the most conventional and predictable conclusion possible. It’s hard to believe that things will really end this way. The biggest upset would be no upset at all.
TPM:
“He’s (Boehner) got a big problem when he comes back,” one anonymous congressman claimed. “He may have a hard time keeping his Speakership after this.”
“We were hung out to dry by our leadership,” said another unnamed member.
The list goes on. But the holidays calmed the backlash, and with a week’s hindsight a consensus of sorts has emerged among party strategists, aides (current and former) and congressional scholars. Not all agree on the question of how well or poorly Boehner handled the situation. But though Boehner’s 2012 won’t be easy, those House conservatives who were seeing blood last week are likely to be disappointed again.
“I don’t think his leadership is going to be taken away from him over the course of the next year,” said Norm Ornstein — a Congress expert at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “But I’m expecting a pretty difficult year ahead for him next year.”