Dave Weigel:
Here’s a somewhat surprising result from the new Fox News poll. Asked which president is "more responsible for the current state of the economy," only 18 percent say President Obama. Fifty-eight percent say former President George W. Bush. Nine percent blame both of them. Republicans are the only subgroup of voters who blame Obama, and only by a six-point margin of 35 percent to 29 percent.
Bob Herbert:
"I was lucky enough," she said, "to connect up with a family that let me live with them for free in exchange for watching their baby a few times a week." But there was still no money coming in. So in addition to the 40-hour-a-week internship and the baby-sitting chores, Ms. Mertens is doing part-time seasonal work at a Whole Foods store.
Welcome to the new world of employment in America as we approach the second decade of the 21st century.
Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel (EPA lawyers):
Supporters of the climate bill passed by the House and the similar bill under consideration in the Senate -- including President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders -- say that the cap-and-trade approach would guarantee greenhouse-gas reductions. But this claim ignores the flaws inherent in both bills that would undermine even their weak emissions-reduction targets and would lock in climate degradation.
At least they accept climate degradation.
Ezra Klein on driving the ill into an indiscriminate public option, making it more expensive:
This also illuminates one of the more problematic inconsistencies in the health-care debate. Insurers have been blamed for, among other things, doing too much to discriminate against bad health-care risks and refusing to pay for care far too often. They've been blamed, in other words, for saying "no." But they've also been blamed for doing too little to control costs.
But that is how they control costs.
Hence, the single payer argument in a nutshell. But we won't be going there because it's too radical for Congress.
Rich Lowry:
The Republican party has no national leaders. Its standing with voters is at an all-time low. It battens itself on an ideological purity that turns off the center and can't appeal to an increasingly suburban and diverse electorate. If it is not fated to go the way of the Federalists or the Whigs, it is certainly a spent force.
This is the rote obituary for the GOP that the Left can't resist.
Nicely summarized, and all true. What VA shows is that you can't beat something with nothing. If the Dem candidate runs away from Obama's agenda on health reform and other issues, you have nothing to win with.
TJ Greaney:
Don’t throw a victory party yet. That was the message from former Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle this morning in a speech to health care professionals, students and legislators in Columbia.
... On the so-called "public option," or a safety-net insurance option operated by the federal government, Daschle said something will likely appear in the final legislation, but he doubts it will be a robust, no-strings-attached public option.
"Most likely, it would be one that involves a great deal of flexibility among states whether it’s opt-in or opt-out," he said.
"If I had to guess today, I think the best thing we’re going to get is a trigger," Daschle said.
Harold Meyerson on Ted Kennedy.
National Journal blogger poll: after the economy and jobs, the left thinks health reform is the number two issue, and the right thinks it's deficits.
"Republicans will try to make it about 'big government,' but that's a loser of an issue since it is now associated with the ignorant, violent members of the Tea Party movement." Lee Papa, The Rude Pundit