Monday's gold, silver and bronze medal entries.
Kaiser Health News:
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate's top Republican, "promised Sunday morning that he and his members will attend President Obama's health care summit on Thursday 'ready to participate’ but said the Democrats are being 'arrogant' by refusing to scrap their legislation and start over," The Washington Post reports. The Kentucky senator, who was speaking on 'Fox News Sunday,' said "his party will continue to oppose Democrats if they try to use the parliamentary tactic called ‘reconciliation’ to pass parts of their health care agenda ... White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in response that ‘the upcoming meeting is an opportunity to get beyond oft repeated and completely false talking points like these. ... The President is coming to the meeting with an open mind and he hopes the Republicans do as well'" (Murray and Shear, 2/21).
How dare Obama not do exactly what the minority demands! How arrogant!
NY Times Op-Ed:
In a bid to reopen the debate over health care reform, President Obama has arranged a televised bipartisan meeting this Thursday. Republican leaders in Congress have been invited to bring their best ideas for slowing the growth of health care expenditures and expanding the number of insured Americans. The Op-Ed editors asked five conservative thinkers to outline what they believe those ideas should be...
Note especially Mark McClellan's contribution. That one, at least, is sincere.
EJ Dionne:
The issue is whether the summit proves to be the turning point in a political year that is moving decisively in the Republicans' direction. If the summit fails to shake things up and does not lead to the passage of a comprehensive health-care bill, Democrats and Obama are in for a miserable time for the rest of his term.
Republicans know this and are doing all they can to undermine, discount, discredit and back away from the encounter.
John Harwood:
Even without substantial Republican help, Democratic majorities remain strong enough to force movement on Mr. Obama’s key priorities if the party remains united. Continued economic improvement over the next few months, including a decline in the unemployment rate, could ease the panic now consuming the Democratic majority. Some White House strategists privately welcome gloomy flashbacks to Congressional Democratic defeats in 1994, since that might prod nervous members to move ahead on comprehensive health reform as their best political defense.
Good read, with other interesting observations about how playing to the middle might actually work — if Republicans did it.
WaPo (On Faith):
While some lawmakers and ideologues blithely challenge the world's leading scientists, along with a growing number of military leaders concerned about this issue as a global security risk, they also part company with the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI. The Green Pope, as some have called Benedict, has frequently addressed climate change and care for the environment as profound moral issues. The pope has touted solar energy, the benefits of local agriculture, sustainable development and the perils of hyper-consumerism. He has spoken boldly about the shameful reality of "environmental refugees" and recognizes the link between war and ecological exploitation. The Vatican has even taken steps to become the world's first "carbon-neutral state."
Hotline On Call covers CPAC's winners and losers. They call the tea parties a winner and the GOP a loser.
Paul Krugman on the deficit: and budget issue:
O.K., the beast is starving. Now what? That’s the question confronting Republicans. But they’re refusing to answer, or even to engage in any serious discussion about what to do.
Sounds like health care, don't it?