Cast your mind back, if you can bear it, to the frenetic last days of the campaign in the mid-terms. The world, the GOP kept insisting, was coming undone – and everything was Obama’s fault. Somehow, Obama had fumbled the response to Ebola, letting infected people into the country, and risking a huge and fatal … Continue reading Ebola, ISIS, Putin: Meep Meep Watch
And about using BUK by “rebels”. Here’s a control panel. Go on, sort it out. @lennutrajektoor pic.twitter.com/1q2HU6Pw5X — Скептикобандеровец (@nahtrezer) July 18, 2014 It’s been a study in contrasts for quite some time. One global leader whips up nationalist sentiment to get sky-high ratings at home; the other glides through another summer of Tea Party … Continue reading No Drama Obama vs High Drama Putin: Meep Meep
I’m sure my Republican readers will wince at that headline – or mock it. The news narrative of the summer is the floundering of the president in any number of ginned-up stories: he “lost” the Middle East (as if that’s a bad thing); he’s created a crisis in illegal immigration (even though the bulk of … Continue reading Meep Meep Watch
by Jonah Shepp News that Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has been invited to Saudi Arabia is music to Paul Pillar’s ears. He attributes the emerging thaw between the two regional giants in large part to American leadership, though the usual suspects will deny it: Rapprochement between Iran and its Arab neighbors is good for the neighbors as … Continue reading A “Meep Meep” Moment In The Gulf?
The neocons don’t want you to notice, but Obama’s attempt to disarm both Syria and Iran of WMDs is actually on track. On Syria, I remember being on the AC360 show last fall, when the overwhelming consensus was that Obama had been duped, that his pivot in asking Putin to enforce the removal of WMDs … Continue reading Meep Meep Watch In Foreign Policy
There are plenty of imponderables left on the fate of the ACA, Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. Premiums could still spike later this year; the full data on the numbers with actual, paid-for health insurance via the exchanges is not yet known; the resistance on the right to it is still mighty; in many states, … Continue reading Obama’s Meep Meep On Healthcare
Yesterday, an ABC/WaPo poll registered a “new high” for Obamacare support: The Fix summarizes the poll numbers: Overall, 49 percent support and 48 percent oppose the health-care law in the new poll, hardly changed from January (46-49 support-oppose) but clearly better than November, when 40 percent expressed support and 57 percent were opposed. The growth in support … Continue reading Meep Meep Watch
It’s worth recalling the glee with which many hacks determined that the Obama presidency was over before the second term had really kicked in, well, only a month ago. The Healthcare.gov fiasco was Katrina; the Syrian pivot was a disastrous wobble; the Iran negotiations were abject surrender; the economy was going nowhere. And it’s not … Continue reading Meep Meep Watch
The deal just announced strikes me as an even bigger defeat for the Cruzniks than seemed possible even a day ago: The deal, with the government shutdown in its third week, yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans, other than some minor tightening of income verifications for people obtaining subsidized insurance under the health care … Continue reading Meep Meep
David Corn echoes a lot of what I’ve been arguing about Obama’s trajectory at this point in his second term. Politico-style pageview-grabbers keep talking about a “lame duck” while the GOP keeps talking as if Obamacare, which only truly gets going next month, is already fatally wounded. McCainiacs talk as if getting Putin to take … Continue reading Meep Meep Watch
The Dish 