Now that Obama’s healthcare bill is law,
the opposition’s view becomes clear:
Insuring pre-existing conditions is fine.
Extending family coverage to 26-year-olds
and slowly shrinking the donut hole –
no problem, but don’t stop paying extra
for Medicare Advantage, and don’t
raise any taxes, anywhere, any time.
They believe in Republican reform:
buy now and let someone else pay later.

The census form arriving mid-March
asks who lived at this address on April 1?
Please respond immediately.

A few days later, well before month-end,
a postcard reminds us to complete the form
and mail it right away.
Maybe it’s a good idea to count expectations,
but better English would make us less skeptical
of more federal involvement in education.

Any member of congress
considering a vote against
starting to reform healthcare
should know there’s a place
in the brain where blunders
are stored until you get old
and have time to ponder
them the rest of your life.

Mr. President, you promised us
change, and it’s time to deliver.
So far you’ve stayed with Bush
in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and
Wall Street wars, surrendered
the high ground on healthcare,
detainees, and economic stimulus.
Your other campaign pledges
haven’t faired so well.
We knew you had your heart set
on bipartisanship and building
consensus, but we didn’t realize
you would pursue that aspiration
like a knight [...]

The New York Times suggests
Governor Rick Perry’s victory
in Texas was a loss for Washington.
My recollection is Hutchinson
supported W, and joins her party
in rejecting every Obama idea.
That makes it sound more like
rejection of Republican leadership
and a victory for the Tea Partiers,
and gives Democrats an easier
target. Those people have political
ADHD and there are pills for that.

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat,
suggests Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana,
might be a Republican candidate for president.
He says leasing the state’s toll roads “reaped
$3.8 billion,” but doesn’t explain how selling
future income differs from borrowing money.
He says Daniels’ Healthy Indiana plan, “aspires
to eventually cover 130,000 people, about a third
of the state’s long-term uninsured,” but [...]

Frank Rich demonstrates what’s wrong
with the Democratic party in Sunday’s
New York Times. He is too smart,
too nuanced, too intellectually honest.
“There is a clear distinction between the
tea party movement and the Republican party,”
he asserts, “and we ignore it at our peril.”
Yes, but there’s no danger for Democrats.
It seems to me Democrats are best served
by conflating [...]