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Obese Legislation
The American Scene —
On health care, neither President Obama nor Ezra Klein understand why they cannot convince many Americans that the health care reforms they favor are certain to bring about a better system.
One reason is the approach chosen by Pres. Obama and the Democratic Congress: rather than selling voters on individual reforms that would easily pass on their own — end recision this week, do something else popular next week — the political class has decided that the best approach is “comprehensive” health care legislation that tries to reform the ...
Sales pitch
Political Animal —
SALES PITCH.... President Obama told Time 's Karen Tumulty that, when it comes to health care, the need to reform the system " is so clear to me ," but he's finding it "difficult ... to describe in clear, simple terms how important it is" to get this done. Reading the transcript of the president's comments, I get the sense he's a little surprised by the polls. It seems so simple -- the system is broken, and everyone knows it. Tens of millions have no coverage, and millions more are underinsured or on the verge of losing their insurance. We pay too much, and get too little. ...
Thursday's Mini-Report
Political Animal —
... today that he believes the president is a natural-born citizen of the United States. * If more reporters covered the health care debate as well as Time 's Karen Tumulty does , the country would be a lot better off. * Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) recently unveiled their alternative health care plan. It probably won't surprise you to learn ...
Obama's Health Care Learning Curve
Swampland —
... . It was a credible one, though it differed from Clinton and Edward on a key element: It did not require individuals who are not covered by their employers to go out and buy coverage on their own. As a result, his rivals criticized it as not achieving true universal coverage. But that, as we have since learned, was really only the beginning of Obama's evolution on the issue. He now embraces that "individual mandate." I asked him about his change of heart last week. Here's what he had to say: I feel pretty good that I've been pretty consistent on this. The individual mandate ...
