Michael, I’m reading Swampland while I’m on vacation (doesn’t everyone?), and your post reminded me of a story that I did on Romney and the Massachusetts health care plan back in November, 2007.
Indeed, he and Kennedy had been close allies in bringing universal coverage to the state. Here’s how it came about:
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
–John Broder and Clifford Krauss, among others, scratch their heads over offshore drilling.
–Tom Schaller says everybody’s a bit right.
–China signals willingness to play ball on Iran sanctions.
–Sino-American relations warm.
–The RNC gets a potential rival.
–The …
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson had pledged to resign her Senate seat in her bid for Rick Perry’s governor’s mansion. She lost the GOP gubernatorial primary last month to Perry and today announced that, in fact, she will not resign — as first reported by Reid Wilson over at Hotline. She intends to serve out her term which expires in …
Democratic gurus James Carville and Stanley Greenberg were the guests at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, where they discussed the results of a Democracy Corps poll on the deficit. The results from the survey aren’t likely to inspire jaw drops: 93% of the 1,000-plus voters polled say they view the deficit as a major …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Dexter Filkins and Mark Landler describe a growing deficit of trust between the White House and Hamid Karzai.
–Obama prods him in an interview with Matt Lauer on “Today.”
–AHIP caved fairly quickly to the administration’s needling over pre-existing conditions for minors. The …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Obama worked in an address to the troops and a sit-down with President Karzai in just six hours on the ground in Afghanistan. The brief weekend trip was his first to the nation as commander in chief. Michael tagged along to tell the tale.
–Reuters describes how the entire thing was …
In this week’s cover story, we noted that one of the biggest challenges for the Obama Administration in implementing the new health care law is:
… filling key posts in the Executive Branch that remain empty more than 14 months after Obama was inaugurated. After all, there will be thousands and thousands of new regulations to
…
President Barack Obama today announced his intention to make 15 recess appointments, signaling his frustration with the Senate’s foot dragging. The White House pointedly noted that these nominees have been waiting an average of 214 days for confirmation. Overall, the White house said, Obama has 217 nominees before the Senate who’ve …
The other day, Deirdre Van Dyk and I asked Swampland commenters to tell us what they wanted to know about the new health care law.
We got plenty of good ones, and tried to come up with some answers. Here’s our podcast.
The Senate scattered to the four winds this afternoon, leaving unfinished work on a $9.2 billion bill to extend for one-month unemployment benefits. This will not make for a restful two-week recess for exhausted lawmakers as some of the benefits begin to run out April 5 – the day after Easter. Barring any kidnapped girls or celebrity …
You’re hearing it over and over again: If this new health insurance system is so great, why aren’t members of Congress enrolling themselves, their staffs and their families in it? Jonathan Cohn points to the legislative language that shows they are :
(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE
(i) REQUIREMENT-
…
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–So health care is done for now. Congress is running off on recess and President Obama is headed to Camp David for the weekend. Everyone could probably use a rest.
–Majority Leader Reid, caught up in the moment, accidentally voted “no” on health care (again) yesterday before …
The House just voted 220-207 to pass the tweaked package of health reform fixes approved by the Senate earlier today and sent back to the lower chamber for one final vote.
It may be hard to believe, but after all the vitriolic town halls, the missed deadlines, the desperate search for 60 in the Senate, the thousand deaths and rebirths …
