Michael Gerson warns President Obama against using reconciliation to pass health care reform: Fourth, a reconciliation strategy would both insult House and Senate Republicans and motivate them for future fights. The minority would not only be defeated on health reform but its rights would be permanently diminished — a development that would certainly be turned [...]

Reihan Salam is unhappy with the president’s definition of bipartisanship (via Andrew Sullivan): So when the president claims that the Senate health-care bill he still hopes to salvage includes many Republican ideas, he’s stretching. Republicans wanted interstate competition for insurance policies, allowing New Yorkers to buy South Dakota policies that have fewer expensive mandates. The bill [...]

In the wake of last week’s elections and the flurry of “conventional wisdom” (read: warmed-over bullshit) declaring that the Democrats are “in trouble,” the White House is worried about its political prospects and has taken to debating whether or not it will pursue deficit reduction as a political strategy: On the political side, Obama can [...]

Goodness, gracious me! Glenn Kessler and Howard Schneider just posted a doozy on the WaPo site, which will put the cat among the pigeons! And why am I not surprised to find the fingerprints of our dear old friend and pardoned Iran-Contra criminal, Eliot Abrams, on this one.