Ezra Klein

From Dennis Blair’s office: Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman’s decision with regret. Chuck Schumer is taking credit, which will be no surprise to readers aware […]

Simon Johnson — yeah, that Simon Johnson — thinks Barack Obama should reconsider his opposition to blogs. Having the smartest people in a room is nice, but rooms have hierarchies, and a limited number of chairs, and social dynamics. Sometimes, they even have the insurmountable duo of Summers and Geithner. Blogs, says Johnson, allow for […]

Peter Orszag testified before the Senate Finance Committee today on health care reform. The testimony, and his associated slides, can be downloaded here. You won’t get a much better introduction to the health policy thinking of the country’s most powerful health policy wonk. I’d just add that since coming into the administration, Orszag’s slides seem […]

Today is Employee Free Choice Act day in the Senate, with Tom Harkin holding a hearing on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that will serve as precursor to the bill getting sent to the floor. Elections, as they say have consequences, and one of the consequences of the Democratic control of Congress is […]

In comments to the earlier post on appointments, Bill writes, “if you’ve never watched Yes, Minister, the BBC classic on how the bureaucracy manages the politicians, you simply must. It is an essential part of one’s political education.” He’s right:

Everything you ever wanted to know about smart grid technologies but were afraid to ask.

We’re not even going to talk about the tendentious Matrix analogy laced into this column Amity Shlaes wrote for Bloomberg. Not. Even. Going. To. Talk. About. It. I already read the thing for you. I refuse to relive it. But someone should ask Bloomberg why it keeps letting columnists lie about the same fact in […]

As there are about six dozen health reform coalitions and dialogue groups operating right now, I’m not particularly moved by news that SEIU and AFCSME dropped out of one of the least known dialogues. Indeed, I’d suggest this is signaling more than anything else: Loudly pulling back from the generically named “Healthcare Reform Dialogue” and […]

It’s hard to imagine how the Boston Globe could’ve picked a worse picture to accompany their profile of Max Baucus. He looks like a happy skeleton. But maybe the reporter was trying to get Baucus’s communications people back for taking this quote off the record: “For 30 years, Max Baucus has only been influenced by […]

I’m fascinated by Chris Dodd. As a politician, he’s long been just on the cusp of greatness: Losing to Dasche by one vote in the race for Senate Minority Leader, losing to Joe Biden in the race for the 2008 campaign’s breakout graybeard, losing to Barney Frank in the tussle to emerge the leading voice […]