Friday opinion.
Charles Postel:
Tea party protesters repeat the conservative catchwords of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, who built their careers fighting the "creeping socialism" of civil rights legislation, Social Security and Medicare.
Tea partiers also have echoes of a well-known grass-roots movement of the 1950s and ’60s — the John Birch Society. The JBS organized in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and among business groups for anti-Communist and conservative causes.
In tone and substance, tea partiers even sound like the JBS did. When they claim that a moderate American president is a "Communist," it recalls the old JBS attacks on "Communist" President Dwight Eisenhower.
Jonathan Zimmerman:
In the 1930s, Bel Kaufman applied to teach in the New York City public schools. She took a written examination and then an oral one, which required her to recite a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. A few days later, Kaufman received a curt letter in the mail: "Failed for poor background in English."
In short, she had the wrong accent. Emigrating from Russia at the age of 12, Kaufman graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College. But she retained the "rolling Russian R" of her childhood, Kaufman recalled, so she was blocked from teaching. So were thousands of other talented and knowledgable immigrants, most of them — like Kaufman — Jews from Eastern Europe.
And if you think this kind of bigotry is a thing of the past, think again. Today, in 2010, an American state is poised to transfer or fire teachers with accented English. Can you guess which one?
It’s Arizona. Again.
David Brooks likes the arrangement in Great Britain, but injures himself stretching for an analogy that fits the US.
Of course, it all could fail. The parties could reject the implant. In U.S. terms, it’s like a marriage between Marco Rubio (The Tory base) and the accumulated wisdom of the Ivy League (the Liberal Democrats). But Cameron and Clegg are nothing if not flexible. The entire political class understands what needs to be done. The financial markets will insist on some serious budgetary restraint.
Harry Reid:
We have a serious challenge in this nation, and I hear about it from Nevadans all the time: Our immigration system is broken. Democrats, Republicans and Independents all agree, and history has shown that neither a piecemeal nor a border-only approach will work to fix this problem. Furthermore, the immigration law recently enacted in Arizona is clear evidence this problem will become worse the longer we wait to comprehensively address this on a national level.
Kavita Patel:
Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (last year's stimulus package) as well as the recently signed health reform law have intensified resources directed to primary care including:
- Increased payment for services in Medicaid to match Medicare rates (at least for 2013-14)
- Expansion of the National Health Service Corps, which encourages training and practice in underserved settings
- Loan repayment programs in primary care
- Grants and incentives for the development of primary care based medical homes
Yet another poll (Associated Press-GfK):
While some conservative pundits, such as Rush Limbaugh, have called this "Obama's Katrina," that's not how the public feels, the poll found. BP PLC, which owned the well that has gushed more than 4 million gallons since an Apr. 20 oil rig explosion, is getting more of the public's ire.
More people surveyed said they approved of Obama's handling of the ongoing oil spill than disapproved, but not by large margins or with unusually strong feelings. It contrasts with the public's reaction to President George W. Bush's response to another Gulf disaster, 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
The poll found that 42 percent approve of Obama's actions, 33 percent disapprove and 21 percent say they have neutral feelings about his response.
The reaction is strongly along partisan lines. Democrats lean toward favoring Obama's actions, 58 percent to 19 percent, with 17 percent expressing neither approval nor disapproval. By 47 percent to 27 percent, Republicans disapprove of Obama's reaction, with 23 percent saying neither. Independents are about evenly split between approval and disapproval.
And from NBC/WSJ poll:
Obama vs. the Dem party: Here’s another striking finding from our NBC/WSJ poll: Obama and congressional Democrats have two completely different brands right now. For instance, by a 51%-36% margin, the public thinks that Obama is more concerned about the interests of average Americans than of large corporations when it comes to dealing with financial markets. But congressional Dems’ score here is essentially reversed -- 53% think they’re more concerned about protecting the interests of large corporations, while just 35% believe they’re looking out for average Americans. (Congressional Republicans’ score is even worse: 71% for corporations, 20% for average Americans.) Here’s something else: Obama is more helpful in rallying the GOP base (64% of Republican voters say they’re voting GOP to OPPOSE Obama and Dem candidates) than he is his own base (49% of Dem voters say they’re voting to SUPPORT Obama and Dem candidates). Translation: Obama’s presence on the campaign trail might solidify the GOP base without guaranteeing the same lift to Democrats.