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Sunday, April 16, 2006
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Oval Office 2008: "Central to Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney's claim to be the presidential candidate who can get things done is going to be his track record in the Bay State. He was helped a couple of weeks ago by the passage by the state legislature of a healthcare plan, seeming to resolve for Massachusetts an issue that appears so intractable on a federal level. As well as giving Romney a major policy accompishment to boast about on the campaign trail, the healthcare plan also allows him to demonstrate his ability to work across party lines and gain bipartisan support - which could boost his claims of electability and help build a broad coalition of voters if he is nominated.
"The basic purpose of the plan, which Romney signed into law on Wednesday, is to reduce to as close to zero as possible the number of people who have no health insurance by making some form of cover mandatory, with a financial penalty for those that hold out. There are three elements to the plan ( you can read Romney's own article about it in the Wall Street Journal here, or in the Boston Globe here; one of the neatest summaries of it, in my view, is in USA Today here). First, those eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled in it would be enouraged to sign up through various state initiatives including internet marketing and in-hospital registration. Second, insurers have been provided with the regulatory flexibility to make health policies more affordable, lowering one of the key barriers to take up of health insurance. Third, for those on low incomes but ineligible for Medicaid, the state will provide a subsidy to help pay for health cover.
"The Boston Globe describes the plan as 'the first-of-its-kind,' which is exactly the kind of language you want to hear of you're hoping to persaude the country that you can come up with innovative solutions to its problems. But, while Romney has won praise from many quarters, not least from Hillary Clinton, not everyone is so impressed.
"A key concern, naturally enough, is how the plan will be paid for. Romney's claim is that it can be afforded without raising taxes, and he has vetoed a provision to include a $295 fee for businesses in the state, under pressure from conservative lobby groups. Nonetheless, the Globe reports, 'the plan has already come under attack from the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., the op-ed columns of the Wall Street Journal, antitax activists such as Grover Norquist, and MSNBC pundit Tucker Carlson.' Now there's a crowd you wouldn't want to bump into in a darkened alleyway."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
11:22:53 AM 
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Real Clear Politics: "A Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army sent the following email in response to David Ignatius' assertion in the Washington Post yesterday that 75%+ of senior military officers want to see Rumsfeld gone."
Thanks to Blogs for Bush: for the link.
The Moderate Voice: "Arizona Senator John McCain has said he's in agreement with the retired generals who are suggesting that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should consider moving onto new challenges or suddenly decide to spend more time with his family. But he has a qualifier: the President, he says, has the right to have whomever he wants as Secretary of Defense."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
11:12:00 AM
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Spot-on: "But the people pulled a fast one on Congress, rejecting the false dichotomy of the partisan choices. Forced to choose between one solution or both, those polled said by a 2-to-1 margin that they'd take both stronger enforcement and a guest worker program. Heh."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
11:07:31 AM
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Oval Office 2008: "Gravel last held elected office in 1981 - a quarter of a century ago. That's so long ago that Joe Biden wasn't even thinking of running for president back then."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
10:59:56 AM
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Here's a look at Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico and potential presidential candidate, from today's Denver Post. They write, "New Mexico's relatively small stage has never quite fit a man who has led an oversize political life: former U.S. secretary of energy, ambassador to the United Nations, a seven-term congressman, and now the state's most powerful governor in living memory. Richardson has spent a lifetime positioning himself for this moment: He's a Latino at a time when the ethnic group's influence is growing. He's a Westerner as the region is becoming critical to the national strategies of both parties. And he's a powerful governor with impeccable foreign-policy credentials. It may be the best résumé of any potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, and Richardson knows it. With the exception of Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Richardson, 58, may be the West's biggest political star. He is bright, accomplished, hot-tempered and charming - as famous for his political skill as for his love of lavish dinner parties and inch-thick Cuban cigars.
"But for a man with a storied political past (as a global troubleshooter for President Clinton, Richardson brought home prisoners from Iraq and a pilot from North Korea), it's the future that's on his mind. He's increasingly being talked about as a White House contender. A sports book has ranked his odds at 13-1, behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (5-1) and former Sen. John Edwards (9-1) among Democrats...
"He's a proponent of both an expansive guest-worker program and amnesty for millions in the country illegally. He calls a controversial House bill that makes illegal presence a felony 'horrendous.' But that's only part of the picture. Analysts say that as the immigration issue increasingly divides the country, it creates tricky terrain for a Latino politician with national ambitions. Last year, Richardson declared a state of emergency in reaction to the growing flow of illegal immigrants through New Mexico, releasing more resources to law enforcement and distancing himself from pro-immigrant forces...
"As the Democratic Party struggles for direction, the governor and his supporters have been eager to offer one: the West. Party strategists say that as the country's political landscape shifts, four of the biggest swing states are now in the West - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada...
"But listen carefully to Richardson's Spanish and you won't hear the musical accent of the border but the fluid tones of upper-class Mexico. The governor's father was a wealthy American banker, his mother Mexican. Born in Pasadena, Calif., Richardson grew up in a privileged household in Mexico City before attending prep school in Massachusetts. He studied diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, then veered toward politics. Moving to New Mexico in 1978, he landed in a place where his background and fluent Spanish were assets. By 1980, Richardson came within a hair of unseating Manuel Lujan, a popular Republican congressman, before being elected to Congress in a newly created district two years later. His ability to move between worlds has given him a chameleon quality, observers say - one that has mostly played out as an asset in his political life."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
10:32:51 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 11:26:50 AM.
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