"Anyone who denies there is a crisis in medical malpractice is probably a trial lawyer."
(Barack Obama 1996 Illinois State Senate race).

"I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards." (President Obama, AMA convention June 2009).

The first two statements are right on Mr. President, reconsidering the third may well save healthcare reform.

It won't be easy. We Democrats...]]> Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi step into a political quagmire during her press conference on the Bush Administration's torture tactics? Yes. Will President Obama's agenda lose momentum now that this "who said what and when" drama will suck oxygen out of the presidents tailwind? Almost certainly. Will there now be some type of independent commission established to investigate the treatment of war prisoners during the Bush/Cheney reign? Count on it. Who will suffer the greatest political damage from all this? Without question the Republican Party.

Watching Republicans rush to the microphones after the Pelosi press conference last Thursday to salivate over the speaker's performance,...]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600 The press continually refers to Steele as a "moderate", but he is not a moderate -- he only plays one on television. Under that friendly persona of reasonableness lies the soul of a doctrinaire conservative. From an ardent supply-sider to a committed pro-life advocate (he came within a year of being ordained a Catholic priest), Steele is firmly on the Right.

In the pro-choice state of Maryland, Steele rarely raised the abortion issue in his races for Lieutenant Governor and the U.S. Senate. But his party is looking to him to rekindle the passions of the pro-life movement on a national stage. And Steele is aware of the 2008 falloff of voter turnout in precincts where the pro-life...]]> Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Foreign policy: "You were wrong on the surge." -- That was it. Not one single idea of her own (which is understandable, since she has none). What would you do different in bad economic times like this? "Cut more taxes in Walissa." The great foreign policy team around McCain-Palin includes Rudy Giuliani, who has about as much foreign policy experience as Madonna, and who history will record mishandled 9/11 in tragic ways.

Palin's next foreign policy guru? Mitt Romney. -- The same stiff-haired flip-flopper whose entire foreign policy experience was pedaling his bike trying to convert Mormons in France. Or Henry Kissinger, who ran illegal wars in Laos and Cambodia to...]]> Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The trip was by every measure a success. He made no blunders. Obama received some support for his Iraqi troop withdrawal plan from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, and after McCain had maligned Obama's proposal for direct talks with Iran the Bush Administration announced the opening of dialogue with Tehran. Obama's trip appeared to bolster his international image.

But the McCain campaign seized on Obama's stop in Germany where 200,000 Germans gave him a raucous welcome by running ads comparing the reception to the equivalent of a Britney Spears/Paris Hilton celebrity tour. In the process the McCain campaign diminished what had been a successful trip, applauded by the main stream media,...]]> Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The large turnouts at McCain/Palin events this week are a result of an energized Right (which will vote Republican anyway) and say as much about the lack of enthusiasm on the Right for McCain before he picked Palin as it does about any shift in the electorate. As for post convention polls; they are the least predictive of the eventual outcome as any polls in a presidential election. Of course there was a "bounce" after 3 days of what amounted to an infomercial for McCain and a negative ad campaign against Obama. It will not last.

Despite the best efforts of the McCain campaign to control press access to Palin, they can hold back the press tide only so long. It is simply too...]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 What the Republicans and many in the political chattering class are calling flip flopping by Obama is nothing more than political pragmatics, and Obama is very good at it. In fact, given the array of problems facing the next president, learning to adjust as events warrant will be an essential tool. Obama is only concerned with mastering whatever process is needed to get from here to there, nothing more, nothing less.

Obama is not trying to lead America to an era of post partisanship. The whole fixation with post partisanship was ridiculous to begin with. Democracy can not survive without partisanship. What Obama is about is seeking an era where 20th century political polarization...]]> Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 So I was a little surprised last week when my son asked me, "What's wrong with Senator Obama?" I asked why. "Because he sounds different", he says. Thinking the kid was referring to Obama's recent moves to the center on some issues I tell him every candidate for president repositions for the general election. My son gives me one of those teenage 'what planet are you on' looks and says, "never mind."

It took awhile but I realized my point about Obama's repositioning on Iraq, FISA, etc meant nothing to my kid. All he knew was that the "Obama of Summer" was somehow different than the Yes We Can "Obama of Winter" - and it bothered him. To my kid it wasn't a question of issues, but a...]]> Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500