44: The Obama Presidency

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Friday, July 17, 2009

The House health-care bill that President Obama is celebrating falls short

IN ASSESSING proposals to overhaul the health-care system, there are three overarching questions: First, would the change make insurance more accessible, affordable and reliable? Second, is it paid for -- not only in a way that makes sense but that is sustainable over time? Third, and related to the... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Dangerous Side Effects

EVERY YEAR, American consumers pay an estimated $3.5 billion too much for health care because of a loophole in a law regarding the marketing of prescription drugs. The 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act was supposed to help consumers by offering a 180-day exclusive marketing period to generic companies that... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Kim Jong Il's latest provocation is the sentencing of two American women

LAURA LING and Euna Lee are American journalists who traveled to northern China in March to tackle a tough and important story: the trafficking of North Korean women to China. Their work would have been risky at any time. But the two reporters for San Francisco-based Current TV happened to undertake... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

No Crisis for North Korea

NORTH KOREA's detonation of a nuclear warhead in an underground test yesterday is, of course, cause for serious concern -- particularly as the blast appears to have been considerably larger than the regime's first test nearly three years ago. It is certainly cause for swift action by the U.N.... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Paying for Health Reform

WHAT IF there were a way to pay for expanding health coverage that would also help hold down health-care costs and be fairer to low-income Americans than the current system? You'd think that President Obama would leap at this opportunity. Well, there is such a way. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Courting Mr. Chávez

ONE OF Venezuela's most important politicians was granted asylum in Peru this week. Manuel Rosales, a former state governor who challenged Hugo Chávez in the 2006 presidential election and won election as mayor of Maracaibo last fall, fled the country to avoid imprisonment. He was being prosecuted... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Obama in Need of Courage

PRESIDENT Obama's speech on the economy yesterday was, on many fronts, very good. He explained with clarity the causes of the economic meltdown. He pushed back on faulty arguments from the right that stimulus spending is irresponsible and from the left that money shouldn't be funneled to the banks.... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Americans More Optimistic; Still Hate GOP

The latest New York Times poll is loaded with good news for the Obama administration and news that would be devastating for the GOP if it were ever able to penetrate the conservative-media echo chamber. While the public is still pretty pessimistic about the future, it's considerably less so than it... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Obama's Wish List

WITH CONGRESS poised to rewrite his budget, President Obama subtly signaled last night that he understood that he could not have everything on his ambitious wish list. Granted, you had to be listening pretty closely to hear that. Mr. Obama reaffirmed his triumvirate of spending priorities -- health... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Politicians of both parties pile on AIG.

YESTERDAY, we were more skeptical than most about the "populist" backlash against the $165 million in bonuses that went to some employees of government-owned AIG. The events of the past 24 hours have only confirmed our view. We don't love the fact that the men and women of this disgraced company are... Sign in to see full entry.

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