Morning Must Reads

–One of the few areas of comity and cooperation between the parties during the Obama administration has been education policy. The Washington Post reports this morning that Democrats and Republicans in the House are taking a bipartisan stab at rewriting No Child Left Behind.

–It looks like the White House may have a deal on forming a risk assessment council as part of financial reform, an effort to shift some regulatory power away from the Fed.

–It is very unclear whether or not they have a health reform deal going into next week’s summit. Both the White House and the leadership in Congress have managed to play their cards very close to the vest since the Scott Brown recalibration.

–The “Cadillac” excise tax continues to be a sticking point in the House, and it’s not just about the unions.

–The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicks off today with thousands of activists gathering in Washington for the event. Today’s speakers include a number of politicians looking to build notoriety and momentum, including Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio. On the rhetorical menu: plenty of red meat.

–The U.S. scores more high-level Taliban arrests.

–As I previously suggested, rising premiums are quickly becoming a cornerstone of the administration’s case for health reform. Secretary Sebelius calls the rate hikes “a wake-up call” in a Thursday op-ed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

–Previewing Obama’s trip to Colorado and Nevada to help out the beleaguered re-election efforts of Michael Bennet and Harry Reid, the Denver Post writes that the great western realignment for Democrats was short lived.

–And Organizing for America turns that jobs graphic into a video:

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

allthingsinaname

“The bill that passed the Senate would raise $150 billion over 10 years by taxing plans worth more than $23,000 for families and $8,500 for individuals. Any value that exceeds those thresholds would be taxed at 40 percent. Proponents say the tax would slow the growth in health-care costs, as employers and employees shift to less generous plans to avoid the tax. The savings from switching to lower-cost plans, proponents say, would go into higher wages. ”
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Yes and we wouldn’t use it, because of the higher detuctables, untill it things became so bad that they will not have the money it takes to cover it, so they will go to the county hospital and, it will cost us 3 times as much.
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This is just so much BS
allthingsinaname

“The U.S. scores more high-level Taliban arrests.”
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Dick, you reading this?
nflfoghorn

Can you imagine if these guys were captured under B[l]ush? The Repubs would have backaches from patting themselves!
http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

“The U.S. scores more high-level Taliban arrests. ”

Wonderful news, the administration is doing well on all fronts in fighting terror. At least for a young President, his wins in this area have been significant.

Now, I hope they will stop showing us all those doctored Bin Laden videos. Bin Laden the ageless. Ha

LM

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/stalking-criminality-the-law-and-women/
stuartzechman

To the people who see “high cost” as meaning “lots of spending” instead of “high cost” meaning “expensive prices,” patients getting less health care is always the answer to our problems.
stuartzechman

Adam Sorensen:
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Thanks for this post; the topics are relatively important and timely, and the copy isn’t insultingly tabloid.
afguy

Bin Laden the ageless.
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And timely… he ALWAYS hits his cues when we need him to.
pintortwo

Cheney, no doubt, is very happy with Obama’s progress and that he’s committed to “finish the job” Cheney started. He won’t say that publicly because the “Cheney v. Obama” storyline gives the Pentagon cover to carry-on (if Cheney endorsed Obama as CiC the public might conclude that we still follow the neoconservative plan, and ask if the Taliban are really a threat to us here in the States).
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I’m happy that the military is having success because I realize that we’re going to continue on this path regardless of my/other’s protests. But I believe that the Taliban are not a threat to National Security and that the military bases we build are primarily intended to support the oil industry (neocon 101: cheap oil = perpetual US superpowerness).
cfukara

===topical – unimportant news

” ..Dubai’s police chief said on Thursday he believed Israel .. involved in killing a Hamas (citizen) in the emirate, .” – Reuters, Dubai, Feb 18, 2010

State sponsor of terrorism? If Libya had been, or was suspected of being, complicit in similar acts of terrorism the leading headlines in the world’s major media would be, would have to be, different today.

Now, if Hamas did likewise to its adversary then hell will break loose: The USA, UK, Israel and the rest of the community of civilized (read, duplicitous) nations will be falling all over each other trying to outdo the others at righteous (Obamasque) condemnation.

Mhh.
Really. Where is waldo, I mean, Joe Klein?
In one of his last communiques, he seemed to sternly cautioned us against saying anything he may construe as anti-Israel. I won der. …
We heed – apparently.